Was wondering how many of the americans on here would be more likely to go to a football (OK soccer for the yanks) match now Beckham is going LA Galaxy? Do people think this will be a big boost for MLS generally?
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Was wondering how many of the americans on here would be more likely to go to a football (OK soccer for the yanks) match now Beckham is going LA Galaxy? Do people think this will be a big boost for MLS generally?
Threads about sport goes in The Lounge. :mog:
*moves*
Uhh I'll pass on the soccer, If I wanted to watch I'd go see the local school games. as they don't lay on the ground for 45 minutes crying then get up as if nothing had ever happend.
I would imagine that it would get more publicity. I don't go to any MLS games, though, as FC Dallas plays in Frisco which is way too far away. And I'm still mad at them for trading away Eddie Johnson so they could keep Carlos Ruiz.
wtf KB you actually care about soccer?
Only until they actually watched him play and realise he's a crap washed up player. :monster:
people watch soccer here? :pQuote:
Originally Posted by DK
Not really. I keep up with it because it's a sport but don't watch games or go to them and only read boxscores in the paper and keep up with the large events worldwide.Quote:
Originally Posted by TrowaBartonIV ^_^
He says he's not going for the money. No, i'm sure £492,000 a WEEK had no impact on his decision.
wait, that would be like a million dollars a week, teams don't have that much money O_o
AEG are paying his wages. Its $250m over a 5 years contract according to reports.
I got a little bit into soccer while watching the 2002 World Cup and really into in during the 2006 one. Other than that, I really like to follow the Champions league as much as I can without any soccer channels or anything.
For some reason I just don't like the MLS. To me there seems to be a pretty big gap in talent and it just doesn't intrigue me like international soccer does. I think Beckham coming will draw people to watch a little bit of soccer who didn't before, but for people who watch other leagues already, I don't think it will really matter.
American soccer is about politics and not about skill. That's why I hate it. Being from a soccer loving family, and having Season Tickets to the New England Revolution since the Inaugaural season, I know what I'm talking about. Some of you may have heard about Charlie Davies, and how he would have been the number one pick in the MLS draft, if he didn't opt to go to Europe. Yeah really? The kid sucks. Why do I say that? My brother was a junior at Brooks when Charlie Davies was a freshman. This is highschool. He was not this great player, at all. Yet he started everygame. Charlie, looked up to my brother as a player, and thought he was great. He thought on first impression, that my brother was the best player on the team, and an obvious starter. But due to BS politics, my brother did not start, didn't even play that much. To this day, Charlie Davies is not that good of a player. Not only was my brother a better player than him, but so was half of the team. Just like Adu. It's political BS. If Taylor Twellman can't play on the National team, if Jason Kreis couldn't play on the national team, why the hell is bobby convey on the national team. What did he ever do?
American soccer sucks, because it's not about talent. You may think I'm trying to say my brother is amazing. And I'm not. While I do think he was a really good player, I'm just trying to prove that Charlie Davies, and half the people who get positions now a day are nothing special.
THE JACKEL
Yeah, he really is, but he'll still be the best player in the MLS by a long way. Play in a crap league for an insane amount of money? Who could say no?Quote:
Originally Posted by DK
It'll draw fans and attention to the league and may also open the floodgate for other washed up players to un-retire and dominate. Whatever you think of Beckham, he IS a very astute businessman when all is said and done too.
Take care all.
England will never see a better free-kick taker. I'd like you to name one more player who can realistically score from midfield, even in his prime.Quote:
Originally Posted by DK
Also, in regards to what Psy said, MLS sucks now because soccer isn't the dominant sport here. It is only now beginning to spread throughout the North America. Beckham may be that catalyst. Only recently would I say that soccer is beginning to have an impact here, which I think was a consequence of by Nike's Joga Bonito.
He said he's in it mainly for the expansion of soccer to North American youths that mainly play baseball, basketball, and American football. They're probably paying him for an even bigger pay off.
I'll name two. Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. According to Wikipedia, Gerrard scored 23 goals last season, and Lampard notched up 20. Wikipedia doesn't have stats like that for Beckham, so I had to look on soccerbase, but during his two best seasons he racked up 15 goals, and that includes goals for England (Gerrard's and Lampard's do not).Quote:
Originally Posted by Scar Tissue
I'll give you the free kick thing though.
I don't care how good David Beckham is. $250 Million is way too much for any athlete, no matter how talented they are.
As for giving the MLS a boost, I'm not so sure. It's always been an international game, and though it was big here before because of Pele, I don't see it getting that popular again.
I think most Reading fans would disagree with you about Bobby Convey. He's not the greatest player in the world but he's decent enough for the premiership. Adu, it appears isn't, judging by Man U apparentley turning him down.Quote:
Originally Posted by ljkkjlcm9
My point is, there are better players in the US than bobby convey.Quote:
Originally Posted by blimI think most Reading fans would disagree with you about Bobby Convey. He's not the greatest player in the world but he's decent enough for the premiership. Adu, it appears isn't, judging by Man U apparentley turning him down.Quote:
Originally Posted by ljkkjlcm9
THE JACKEL
It's a smart move by Beckham, at least from a financial and PR standpoint. It's not a bad move for MLS either, although I'm sure we can all agree that LA Galaxy are paying well over the odds for him. The best thing about this news is that it shows Becks hs given up any hope of returning to the England squad, since the quality of opposition over in the US is nowhere near the required standard. So it's a good move for the English, too. :D
Then why are they still in the US?Quote:
Originally Posted by ljkkjlcm9
Alternative response: Yes, like David Beckham. :p
I'm well aware that David Beckham can take free kicks and corners, that's just great, but it doesn't make him any less of a crap washed up player. I can tackle great but I'm still :skull::skull::skull::skull: at football. Also I don't know where you got the idea that Beckham is the only player who can score from midfield, do you even watch football? :monster:
I wouldn't say Beckham is crap. He's not superclub material anymore, for sure, but he'd probably walk into, for complete random example, the Manchester City side.
They came to Bermuda last year, and one of our players joined that team.Quote:
Originally Posted by ljkkjlcm9
Khano Smith.
I'm not much into any sport really, just thought I'd point out a fellow Bermudian :P
My older cousin Kyle Lightbourne played in England some years ago, between Man. City and Coventry and a few others before he retired. Shaun Goater isn't related to me at all, but he's Bermudian as well and played for similar teams as Kyle.
Yay Bermuda, the tiny country whose name on the globe is bigger than the country itself.
Bollocks :monster:Quote:
Originally Posted by Loony BoB
Tricky Trev Sinclair kicks his arse. :}
I think Beckham would still walk into most prem teams if available on a free on sensible wages, hell i'd love him to come to brentford
I am not challenging your knowledge or anything. I just want to point out that being from a soccer loving family and being holders for season tickets does not automatically make you a soccer guru.Quote:
Being from a soccer loving family, and having Season Tickets to the New England Revolution since the Inaugaural season, I know what I'm talking about.
Anyway. The majority of the majority of the money for the name. Because pretty much everyone knows who David Beckham is. Plus, he is a foreign player playing on an American team. Both of these will automatically increase ticket sales, bringing Galaxy more money.
$250 is a large chunk of money,yes. But I am pretty sure it is given over the time that his contract is for, which is five years. And a lot of celebrities enjoy spending their money on outregeous things that no sane person actually needs.
It's only a matter of time before Lee Trundle follows in his footsteps. Not that he will ever betray Swansea though >:O
Can we have trundle for the Bees?
I watched a totally different World Cup than everybody else apparently, because offensively, Beckham was generating all the good opportunities for England on that side of the field, with Rooney hurt or being a moron and Gerrard underperforming offensively. It wasn't Beckham's fault that Crouch sucked and couldn't do anything with his crosses despite being the biggest guy on the field. So Beckham's not an all around superstar anymore, maybe he never was, but on a team filled with superstars like Gerrard, Lampard, Terry, and Rooney he proved to me that he's still one of, if not THE best crosser and free-kick taker I've seen. That said, what he has to work with in the MLS will be worse than Peter Crouch, so who knows.
And there should be no question that Beckham should take a 5-year $250 million deal. It's just business.
The questionable side of the deal is from MLS's standpoint. The deal is actually only about $10 million a year in guaranteed contract, with the rest consisting of apparel, endoresements, and revenue sharing with the Galaxy. But even that is a huge number. The salary cap is $2 million for each team, and that is financed from the ownership pool (there are only like three or four owners of all the MLS teams and they decided to pool their resources, negotiate collectively, and share costs and revenues). The "Beckham Exception" put in place recently allows teams to sing up to two players for over the cap as long as they finance the salaries themselves. Now, that's fine, except for the factor that (as I understand it) only two teams have operated at a net profit for one season over the entire history of the MLS (Dallas and DC last year I believe). And this was when Beckham's salary next year would have been the equivalent of over 5 teams' combined salaries in previous seasons.
So basically, this is a huge gamble. The league can barely afford Beckham, but they're banking on his celebrity to make the league popular so that revenues skyrocket I guess. It might work for the short term, but there are a lot of issues. If you allow the Galaxy to sign Beckham, then don't you have to allow Chicago or New York or New England or DC to sign, say, Ronaldo to a huge contract to stay relevant (that is, these teams won't be happy if the only games being broadcast and news being reported for the next five years concerns the Galaxy)? Even if the league can afford one salary the size of Beckham's, it almost certainly can't afford ten, or probably even five. But that's exactly what the old North American Soccer League tried when Pele signed with the Cosmos in the 70s, and it bankrupted the league by the mid-80s.
Furthermore, while Beckham is the right guy purely as a celebrity to get lucrative sponsorships and media deals, IMO soccer in the US is still approaching its popularity issue all wrong. A stat I read in an article concerning the league placed the household income of the average family with an MLS fan at $150,000 a year!!! Basically, "United States soccer" is a sport for rich suburbanites. The entire youth developmental system in the US plays to that. What they're missing is that there are 50 million latinos in this country, and 50 million other minorities, a majority living in the big cities. Furthermore, all one has to do is walk through Flushing Meadows park in NY on a summer or spring weekend and you can see a thousand people playing pickup soccer or participating in a "neighborhood" league. But if they have a team to root for, it's Cruz Azul or Atlas, or maybe Boca Juniors, or some team over in Europe with their favorite player(s). Hence, the World Cup roster reflects the current popularity of "United States soccer": most grew up in the suburbs or small cities and attended soccer academies and/or private or public schools in wealthy towns that had a good soccer program.
It sounds racist and classist, but it's impossible for *all* of your players with the most potential to come from priveleged, or at least semi-priveleged, backgrounds. If half your country's pool of athletes are minorities and/or live in major cities, your national team should reflect that a lot more. If the powers-that-be want soccer to be truly popular in the US, they need a good national team backed up by a good pro league over the course of generations, and that eventually means getting at least some of the athletes from the cities to turn away from basketball and/or football and play soccer instead.
I know Khano Smith, he's pretty good. But we just lost our best player on the Revolution, Dempsey, to Europe. He was the best player on our national team in the world cup too. The sad part is Arena didn't want to play him, and he didn't start. The only reason he played was because he ended up scoring a goal when he was a late sub, and he dared not bench him after that. This is the politics I speak of.Quote:
Originally Posted by JKTrixThey came to Bermuda last year, and one of our players joined that team.Quote:
Originally Posted by ljkkjlcm9
Khano Smith.
I'm not much into any sport really, just thought I'd point out a fellow Bermudian :P
My older cousin Kyle Lightbourne played in England some years ago, between Man. City and Coventry and a few others before he retired. Shaun Goater isn't related to me at all, but he's Bermudian as well and played for similar teams as Kyle.
Yay Bermuda, the tiny country whose name on the globe is bigger than the country itself.
And don't feel so bad, even when just taking an enlarged map of the US, rhode island can't fit it's intials inside itself
THE JACKEL
I would go to one of Beckham's games, but Christiano Ronaldo is way better. :)
Ronaldo says he'll come to America in a few years, and he's going to play on the NY/NJ Redbulls, supposivelyQuote:
Originally Posted by Hearts
THE JACKEL
I assume that's around the time America conquers Spain and renames one of the major Spanish sides the "NY/NJ Redbulls".Quote:
Originally Posted by ljkkjlcm9Ronaldo says he'll come to America in a few years, and he's going to play on the NY/NJ Redbulls, supposivelyQuote:
Originally Posted by Hearts
THE JACKEL
But really, you more than likely have your Ronaldos confused.