[Archived] Beckham Signs Five Year Deal At La Galaxy

[Rover The Seas]

As an American and a soccer fan, I see another problem with this deal than merely the finances of the MLS. The problem for me is that the recent world cup has garnered more interest for soccer in the U.S. than anything other than the world cup before that, but at the moment when our national team is achieving a modicum of legitimacy, the soccer association refuses to pay Jurgen Klinsmann the wages he would have taken to coach us, and he says that he would've jumped at the chance if he'd been paid. Couple that with the fact that we're making Beckham the highest paid player ever, and I see a problem for U.S. Soccer. The focus is on promoting the MLS, not promoting the game, which is wrong in my opinion. American soccer fans will still follow the English Premier League, as my friends and I do.

I would've been far more excited about the prospect of Jurgen Klinsmann coaching our national team than I am about Beckham playing MLS soccer. In fact, I would've been more excited to watch MLS games even, if only to see players like Eddie Johnson, Freddy Adu, and Taylor Twellman who will all likely feature on our future world cup teams.

There's nothing wrong, in my eyes, with players leaving the MLS to go on to greener pastures (Nelsen). I don't think anyone thinks that soccer is ailing in Brazil because Ronaldhino plays in Spain. It's wrong for the MLS to ignore the health of the game overall in our country in favor of promoting a soccer league that will always play second fiddle to Britain, Spain, Italy, France, and Germany.

[American]

I think Bradley will do wonders for the MNT. Klinsmann is a great coach, but he did have talent and home field advantage in Germany. Of course, after the Gold Cup I might be singing a different tune (I don't count Copa America, as we will likely be bringing our B team).

As for Beckham, he will sell tickets (already has) and merchandise and bring at least a short-term bump to the league. There are still lots of talented young players and playing with one or two "over the hill superstars" will only help their development.

[neekoy]

Just heard though that Beckham maybe signing a loan deal with Newcastle

[American]

They'd have to be paying a lot of money. He's already made the Galaxy a profit with increased ticket sales. The Revolution (local team to me) is only selling tickets to the Galaxy match in 4 match packages and have almost sold out - 2 months in advance.

[Eddie]

Just heard though that Beckham maybe signing a loan deal with Newcastle

It's been hanging around for a bit now, but he said the other day that he won't be going on loan when the MLS season ends.

[USRoverME]

I just had to point out a few of the errors in this post. I'm glad to see concern for the MLS, but I really wish they could somehow be even MORE honest about their finances, but if they did, the American Media would chew up the MLS and spit it out, giving the league even less of a hope for success that they arelady have, and with the media being even more of a deterrent to growth than they already are.

Couple that with the fact that we're making Beckham the highest paid player ever, and I see a problem for U.S. Soccer.

In terms of the payment he gets from a footballing standpoint, he gets paid less than HALF of what Terry and Lampard were asking from Chelsea as a salary (~5 mil USD is beckham's actual salary from the Galaxy and the MLS). Heck, that's about 50000 GBP/week. Even Lucash Neill makes mroe than that! All of the remaining "income" that is being reported in the over-hyped mega-deal are estiamted figuers that come from merchandise, sponsorships, and a part-ownership in the club. Something tells me that if you added up the same figures for the other top players in the world like the Ronoaldinho, Ronaldo, Terry types, you'd see similar numbers, really. Its and apples to oranges comparison due to the financial differences between the leagues.

The focus is on promoting the MLS, not promoting the game, which is wrong in my opinion. American soccer fans will still follow the English Premier League, as my friends and I do.

Again, this is wrong in many ways. Agreed that the MLS is trying to not become a pure feeder league, but they are walking a thin line. If they sell players on at the first chance, they lose what little attendance they have, the league folds, and then USA players are again up the proverbial creek. Please note that the MLS posted its first yearly profits EVER last season. That's after 10-11 years of debts. This league is still on very tenuous footing financially, and all sales will continue to be taken as serious business, and therefore will take a while. And in this case, growing the sport means having a recognizable professional sport in the country.

Also check the ratings fox sports channel and setanta get on Premiership matches as opposed to the ratings ESPN has been getting on the primetime Thursday games. In all honesty, I'm pretty sure you'd find that the mexican league gets better viewiership in teh states than the Prem league.

I would've been far more excited about the prospect of Jurgen Klinsmann coaching our national team than I am about Beckham playing MLS soccer. In fact, I would've been more excited to watch MLS games even, if only to see players like Eddie Johnson, Freddy Adu, and Taylor Twellman who will all likely feature on our future world cup teams.

As much as I would have liked Klinsmann as coach, and as much as Sunil is an idiot, I have no problems with Bradley as coach. We are stil heavily lacking int eh attacking tanlent portion fo the squad to be considered a reall World Cup threat in my eyes, and until the system can develop some more attacking flair, I persoanlly prefer a developmental coach to a "win-now" coach, which I'd see Klinsmann to be.

It's wrong for the MLS to ignore the health of the game overall in our country in favor of promoting a soccer league that will always play second fiddle to Britain, Spain, Italy, France, and Germany.

Wrong on many levels. #1 Nelsen isn't American, so he's a poor example for this point. The USA needs a league to let these players start here and have more options to play here and not rely on going overseas to play, until they reach the . If the entire team depended on stories like Jay Demerit, our national team would revert to its circa 1980 pathetic status quickly as players would lose that link from the college/ODP/U-21 to the professional level. Once the MLS gets itself established financially (say 5-10 more years)

[Rover The Seas]

Well, wrong about a lot of things, yes. I'm not retarded though. I know where Nelsen is from, my point was that he was a D.C. United player who went to the premier league, like a number of other players who have moved on from playing in the MLS, many of whom ARE American.

My question is this. Since the league did make a profit in the most recent year, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume it will continue to do so even without Beckham? That having been said, I understand that it will take a fair amount of continued investment to ensure that the league continues on at the level it is currently at, and a substantial investment to improve its fanbase to any real degree, and that signing Beckham will accelerate the process towards financial stability. But will all of this improve our World Cup chances in 2010? And wouldn't fielding a good team in 2010 also do wonders for soccer in the United States? I've just noticed personally, anecdotally, the effect that this past world cup had on our soccer fans, and we didn't make it out of the group stage even, as we did in 2002.