250 Million Reasons Californians Are Nuts!

[garyfrogeye]

"250 million bucks for a soccer player?  WTF?
YEESH!"

Who may possibly earn the club double that in sales and free advertising

How many of you had heard of the club two days ago?
How many kids in Japan and the USA will buy the Beckham shirts etc.

[Boorish Grobian]

I see the same thing happening with Beckham that happened with Pele. They'll be some interest in the beginning, especially with the LA celeb crowd, just like when Wayne Gretzky signed with the LA Kings, but eventually it'll fade (like that did).  People thought when Pele came here that it would bring soccer to the level of football, baseball, basketball, and hockey...and it never did.
It's still seen as a game played by school kids, and MLS is still a third tier professional sports league in the US.  At the end of the day, as you very well pointed out, its still a game that often ends in a zero-zero score.  That's one of the biggest jokes that comes up when you hear soccer mentioned on sports talk radio.  The TV contract for the NFL is eight BILLION dollars, the TV contract for MLS is eight million.  That'll tell you where soccer rates on the US sporting radar.  The news about his signing so far as been
more about he and his wifes celebrity than his athlectic ability.  Full marks to him for making a buck, but I just don't see it having much impact on the sport here at all.
Fax

[oldtimer]

Fax - to be honest I don't care either way whether his presence raises the profile of football in the US (what is played in the States is NOT football) or not.  I just find it rather amusing to think a lad from NE London can relieve such a large amount of cash from an American football club.

Bye the way, who is Wayne Gretzky?

[monkey]

Actually Oldtimer it is interesting, we just finished paying back all that money that USA and Canada so kindly leant us (last instalment 31/12/06) while we were struggling, ALONE to overcome the Nazi's and good old Becks has gone in there and taken it all back again in one hit.

Nice one David.

[Boorish Grobian]

Oldtimer, I find it amusing that a lad from NE London can relieve a American Club of that kind of money.  Actually probably 99% of Americans find it amusing.  Only a team from LaLa Land (or possibly New York) would do something as stupid, hence my title for this thread.
Wayne Gretzky is widely regarded as the greatest hockey player in history, a native of Toronto, he played for the Edmonton Oilers for years before being traded to the LA Kings in what Canadians saw as nothing short of treason by the Oilers owner.  The Kings purchased him to "raise-the-profile" of hockey in the US. He and wife actress Janet Jones (using the term as a stretch with her, kind of like calling Victoria a singer) were the darlings of LA, until the latest darling du jour took over a few months later.
Becks will be just another high dollar athlete in a country up to its eyeballs in them.
Fax

[oldtimer]

Thanks for enlightening me Fax.

Presumably Wayne plays the 'ice' version of hockey rather than the 'girls in short skirts and knickers' version preferred in the rest of the world.

Tough choice isn't it - guys in padding and helmets or girls in short skirts... Perhaps not so tough after all 

[Andy Zarse]

Good point Oldtimer until of course you realise that 90% of serious adult female hockey players are kipper lickers with sensible shoes and suspiciously short hair. Puts me off a bit, does that. 

[oldtimer]

Sorry Andy didn't mean to suggest we should be considering the 'serious' players...

[Steve Pyro]

Also, a hell of a lot of (field) hockey players are men - those in the southern central bit of Asia are especially good at it.

[smokie]

Interesting 2006 sportsman earnings table in yesterday's Times, courtesy of Forbes business magazine.

Mr Beckham is 10th (of 10) on $27m. He is outranked by:

1. Tiger Woods ($90m)
2 M Schumacher ($58m)
3 Muhammed Ali ($55m) - not bad for his condition!
.
.
8. Valentino Rossi ($30m)

So considering the widespread appeal and number of fans of soccer, I was surprised he was outranked by Schumey and Rossi.

[Boorish Grobian]

Tiger and Schumacher I would have suspected at the top, but Mr "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" at third? As you say not bad for someone who hasn't fought in over a quarter century, and it is heavily afflicted with Parkinsons.  I'm glad to Rossi up there, arguably the most charismatic figure in all of sports, and his CV speaks for itself.
Fax

[Brad Zarse]

Fax you may be able to confirm a couple of things here....

The way I understand the MLS works is that the contracts are all held BY the MLS governing body?  I know when my team bought Marcus Hahnemann and Bobby Convey, the negotiations weren't fully with DC united etc....

In which case I would imagine that Becks coming over to the US to play for the Galaxy is actually costing the whole of the MLS, not just LA? 

As for being another super athlete in a country full of them, I would argue that point quite veciferously.

Beckham is more than an athlete, he's a global marketing brand of his own, 10 times bigger than anything the US currently has to offer. 

The biggest stars in the US play games (if you can call them that) that don't have world appeal - most people outside of the US have never heard of Wayne Gretzky, hardly care about Michael Jordan, and couldn't give two hoots which Andretti is currently wearing the silver lid....but I can guarantee you that the LA Galaxy ground will be full every week, the shirt sales will go out of the stratosphere around the world, and MLS games will now be beamed across the world.

Do you think if Wayne Gretzky had signed for the Bracknell Bees, or Michael Jordon for the Thames Valley Tigers, anyone would have really noticed?? The only new place that would have thier eyes on it would be the U.S. - but going this way - the whole world, AND the states have thier eyes on L.A.

THAT is why Beckham will more than likely become one of the biggest stars in america - add that to his popularity around the rest of the world, and he is on course to become THE biggest sports personality in the world...and good on him...

Football (or soccer as the Americans scandalously re-named it) is the greatest game in the world....bar none....The quality in the U.S recentely has improved (a couple of players were even good enough to play in the UK) but the presence of a true footballing genius will more than likely kick start the popularity, and America might finally move away from the most confusing and boring sports portfolio on the planet, and embrace the beautiful game for what it is....who knows, they might even learn to be passionate about it....

Oh and just to be clear - the "world series" ACTUALLY INCLUDES the whole world.....So the U.S might not win it.....

[Rhino]

I think the USA is brilliant at marketing. I remember seeing some statistics about the superbowl. I think it was 60% of viewers did not actually know the rules, simple marketing meant they would watch it for the show.
When Nigel Mansell went to Indycars the publicity meant we had Rockingham built. The stadiums were always better. Nascar won't go to a track with a capacity less than 100,000. You have better access and facilities are better(seating, food, toilets).
I think if Nascar spread to a truly worldwide series the States would have a USA series which would still earn more.
And i know the Americans always call it soccer but was it not a term given by rugby (rugby footbal) to describe asSOCAtion football. I belive the Americans used it as they had there own football.
Would the majority of the USA really be interested if for half of any international series they woul have to get up in the middle of the night to watch it? The tv channels would not be happy with the lost revenue.
There very good at what they do and good luck to them.

[Brad Zarse]

I belive the Americans used it as they had there own football.

Which naturally is played with the hands....

Coupled with the fact that the game makes ABSOLUTELY no sense to anyone with a sporting mind....

Its the biggest bugbear I have about the whole US vs Rest of the World issue.....

[Boorish Grobian]

So Snoring Rhino what your saying is that Beckham has greater worldwide appeal than Tiger? Hmm, tend doubt it.  At the end of the day, Americans just don't care about soccer, simple as that.  Having a world famous Brit playing here won't change that either.  He may sell a sh**tload of jersey's, but they'll be to England, not here in America.  The one market he will really be a hit with are Latino's.  They are the fastest growing minority in the US and huge soccer enthusiast.  Its a simple as this, the US is full of sporting fans, we love sports, we live for sports, but we love sports that are native to America, played by Americans, here in America.  Like it or loathe it, that's the way it is.
99% of Americans coulnd't give a sh**t that Davis Beckham is a global brand, he's just another Euro soccer player, to someone in Georgia, or Nebraska, or Oregon, or Ohio.  Americans are going to tune into to watch Peyton Manning, Chad Johnson, or Donovan McNabb, not David Beckham.  Frankly American sporting fans just don't give a damn what the rest of the world prefers to watch,  You can argue till your blue in the face, watch want you want, its not us against anyone, we just don't care what anyone else likes, we'll watch what what turns us on, not you.  As Chris said, to each his own (and we are talking about sports here, remember that).
Just telling it the way it is.
Fax