David Beckham to LA Galaxy: What does it mean for American Soccer?

By: Bob | January 11th, 2007

There have been entire forests cut down just to provide all of the paper over the years that has been needed to cover the rumors of David Beckham coming to play in the United States. Today the rumors became reality with a statement released by Beckham that he will leave Real Madrid at the end of the season and head to the bright lights, big city of Los Angeles to play for Major League Soccer’s LA Galaxy starting in August. The price is not cheap, with the deal reportedly worth £128million ($250 million) over five years.

With that kind of money and the opportunity to play in a much more relaxed environment near his Hollywood pals while his age further erodes his skills, one can hardly fault Beckham for his decision. He still has the talent to play for a big club or to return to the Premiership for a few more years, but if he waited a couple years from now the move to MLS would not have been as lucrative for him either on or off the pitch.

What does this mean for soccer in the United States?

I am sure that many a tree will be chopped down in the coming days, weeks and months in an attempt to answer this question. Personally, I am of a mixed opinion on the matter. There is no doubt that a player like Beckham will raise the level of media interest in soccer and MLS, at least initially. Every city he plays in will have stories about him and expanded television coverage that will reach casual fans and non-fans alike. As much as anything he is a celebrity name in the United States and people are always curious about celebrities. He will undoubtedly be a visible marketing force helping to sell all kinds of products. Again, this will also penetrate a segment of the population that could care less about soccer.

All of this will have the effect of increasing attendance at MLS matches, at least the ones in which he is involved and at least initially. We saw this when the hype machine known as Freddy Adu joined the league. Will this still be the case five years from now when Beckham is on his last legs as a player? Will this still bet he case when people come to realize that he is unlikely to score every match and that he might not be a dominant player? Maybe, maybe not.

Helping to expose the sport of soccer to more people is unarguably a good thing. The one thing I do fear is that people will come to associate MLS and American soccer in general with David Beckham. Once he is gone, will their interest leave as well? If there is not another celebrity superstar to take his place, will anyone care about watching obscure players from who graduated from American colleges play against one another? If his play doesn’t provide a thrill each match will people fall back on the common American mantra that soccer is boring?

The best hope is that at least a percentage of fans who come out of curiosity to see Beckham play will come to find that they enjoy the Beautiful Game and that MLS is as good of a way as any to enjoy the Beautiful game. The other hope is that he will inspire a future generation of players to fall in love with the game just like the NASL inspired many oft he current players today.

MLS is obviously investing a lot of its resources into this because they thing the Beckham impact will be long lasting. Time will only tell if this is a wise investment.

Your thoughts?