Spend It Like Beckham
Question: How many dollars does it take to put Major League Soccer on the map of the mainstream media?
Answer: Apparently about 250 million of them.
That's how much David Beckham will be paid to play out the rest of his futbol career in the U.S. for the Los Angeles Galaxy. It's a marketing stunt that harkens back to the 70's when the New York Cosmos brought Pele to America to try to make the NASL a viable professional league. The biggest difference is that Beckham is no Pele on the field, but he is a much bigger star off the field. Whether that will translate into more eyeballs on televised MLS games or more readers in American tabloids is the real question. The only reason that most non-soccer fans know Beckham's name is because he's that "hot guy who married Posh Spice."
I applaud MLS for making a bid on Beckham and trying to push their league past the NHL and PBR ranks and closer towards the Big 3 of the NFL, MLB and NBA. I just don't know if it will work. I just can't picture Jack Nicholson getting a box seat for the all the Galaxy home games. Maybe Leonard DiCaprio or Tobey Maguire will step up and be the cultural trendsetters for a new generation of sports fans ready to embrace soccer like the rest of the world has.
Answer: Apparently about 250 million of them.
That's how much David Beckham will be paid to play out the rest of his futbol career in the U.S. for the Los Angeles Galaxy. It's a marketing stunt that harkens back to the 70's when the New York Cosmos brought Pele to America to try to make the NASL a viable professional league. The biggest difference is that Beckham is no Pele on the field, but he is a much bigger star off the field. Whether that will translate into more eyeballs on televised MLS games or more readers in American tabloids is the real question. The only reason that most non-soccer fans know Beckham's name is because he's that "hot guy who married Posh Spice."
I applaud MLS for making a bid on Beckham and trying to push their league past the NHL and PBR ranks and closer towards the Big 3 of the NFL, MLB and NBA. I just don't know if it will work. I just can't picture Jack Nicholson getting a box seat for the all the Galaxy home games. Maybe Leonard DiCaprio or Tobey Maguire will step up and be the cultural trendsetters for a new generation of sports fans ready to embrace soccer like the rest of the world has.
posted by cvo @ 5:07 PM
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