What is Digg?68 Comments
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19It's Péle all over again. Galaxy = Cosmos
I guess if history repeats, the MLS will be gone in under a decade. - freff, on 10/12/2007, -6/+23I would have whole heartedly agreed with you 10 years ago. Now, Ms. Beckham looks a bit like a football that's been left out in the rain overnight, and then left to dry out in the sun.
Who am I kidding. I'd hit it just to say I did. - drlha, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Your rant seems to suggest that you feel threatened by Soccer. Why is it that whenever anyone talks about Soccer in the USA they feel the need to berate it and say how it will "never be popular". The facts are the facts, its the biggest game in the world and the effects of globalisation and immigration into this country means it will eventually gain a large foothold into the country's psyche. It might take 50 years, but it will happen.
I know plenty of Americans who do about soccer. For example the 20,000 that go to LA Galaxy games every week. Large broadcasters are already showing Soccer. The World Cup was on ABC (and got higher ratings than the Stanley Cup), MLS is on ABC and ESPN. Advertisers must care if its on TV at all. - keyrat, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17Why would any high profile player want to play in this ***** league? I guess it's a start but I don't understand why Beckham would even care, unless they're paying that much more than the european leagues.
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13He's over the hill now. Again, it's like Pelé (put the accent in the wrong spot above!). Once you've run your course elsewhere, you can still come and do well in the lower level of US soccer comptition and get paid well. Additionally, you can raise your profile in the US, which can lead to endorsements and other things in the US market which you wouldn't get otherwise.
In the case of Beckham, people refer to him and Victoria as the "Beckham brand". - HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12The Beckham news was reported a week ago. This change is to make it possible (financially) for him to come here. He wants to come here to raise his profile in the US and so his wife, Victoria (Posh Spice) can try to make a break into Hollywood (or other US entertainment), much like Janet Jones (Wayne Gretzky's wife) wanted to.
- JurneyAhed, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12I think the BBC summed it up nicely - "Despite the strides made by football in America and the MLS a move to the US would still be seen as an admission that his career is winding down."
- Xfrost4, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Soccer does not have to rule over all the major sports in america to be succesful. Soccer will not be as popular as the NFL, NBA or Nascar, but the MLB and NHL are up for grabs. The market for soccer is only getting bigger, soccer is growing, slowly but surely. I would love to see soccer succed here in the US, I love soccer, I want a more competetive and entertaining league. I watch every sport, and I being a true sports fan would not mind having soccer around, specially with world superstars that just wow everybody*ronaldinho*.
- Easty, on 10/12/2007, -7/+14Err, what? Title is inaccurate.
They're allowed to raise salaries. This doesn't mean Beckham is going anywhere near America.
Marked as inaccurate. - duniyadnd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8His options are quite limited: Real Madrid doesn't use him in the first lineup, he can't really go back to England after playing for Man Utd after all those years (he said he doesn't want to play for any other Premiership club), I guess Italy doesn't entice him. Any other European league can be seen as a step down, though they're all competitive in their own right. Might as well stick to an English speaking country (he still has problems with his Spanish) where his wife will be happy.
- wordsthatendini, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10No doubt Becks is not at his prime anymore, but he is still leagues better then the best MLS player. I don't see him being happy playing in the US. Plus if he comes to the states he would pretty much give up any, if there is any left, of him playing on the England National Team.
- mikev, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Those two names shouldn't be in the same sentence. Pele is outclasses you know who in almost every aspect of the game. ;)
- whatthehell, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I'd take beckham for shaq
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4In Russia they send Shaq to America
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Ha! All this time people are talking about how well soccer is doing in the US... Did anyone notice the MLS cup is on RIGHT NOW? Which of you has been watching it?
It's half over and of course 0-0. ZZZZzzzzzzzz
It's not even in HD. I can see regular season hockey games in HD. - laxsox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think some people are missing the point of this story ... It does not say that David Beckham is coming to the US to play soccer. It says that this new policy opens the door for players LIKE Beckham to come play here. Another version of this story can be found here:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/grant_wahl/11/11/beckham.rule/index.html
Here is a brief synopsis:
"...The league has passed a new rule that will allow its teams to sign a limited number of international superstars -- a major change that opens the door for world-class players like David Beckham, Ronaldo and Luis Figo to join MLS.
The so-called Designated Player Rule (commonly known as the Beckham Rule) will allow each of the league's 13 teams to sign one player whose salary is not limited in any way by the league's $1.9-million-per-team salary cap."
On another note, soccer is very popular is certain parts of the country. Here in the Northeast we didn't have a varsity high school football team, even though we had a gorgeous stadium, lockers, equipment, and coaches. We had 180 kids try out for 36 spots on two teams. Soccer IS growing in popularity very rapidly in certain parts of the US, while other areas have other sports that seem to squash whatever strides soccer has made. Just my opinion. - Brodels, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3His moves aren't confirmed, it's simply a club showing an interest. I think more than anything that the draw for him would be being able to spread is football academy in the US after his playing career is over too. He realises he is at the late end of his career and looking to the future IMO.
http://www.thedavidbeckhamacademy.com/main.html
I think the ruling sounds like a good one if it can attract better players, whilst the US league might not be very strong and the sport itself isn't as popular as others, football (soccer) still has a fairly big following and some strong players playing abroad. They didn't exactly make fools of themselves at the WC either. - indraneel24, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3but seriously, who else would this rule affect? oh maybe the red bull are going to sign edson buddle to a 2.5 million deal! yea!
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3driha:
MLS airs on ABC/ESPN because it is provided on a "free to air" basis.
(see mention of no fees in article)
http://www.soccertimes.com/worldcup/2005/nov02.htm
ABC/ESPN is presented with the choice in either developing some content to air or taking free content from MLS. They take the MLS content.
There are many events that end up on TV this way. My understanding is that all auto racing except NASCAR is provided on this basis in the US. (Now you can see why SPEED exists, they get a lot of free content). Some content is even placed on an informercial basis (get paid to air).
The NHL would likely be airing on a free-to-air basis on ESPN or whatever if they hadn't gotten an oddball offer from vs. (OLN).
The World Cup is something different. Yeah, it gets better ratings than the Stanley Cup in the US. - gaoshan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Except that Pele was waaaaaay past his prime when that happened. Becks is more like a day old loaf of bread (and I'd still pay to see him).
- garyh84, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3MLB is up for grabs? Uhm... no. You do realise that you can't compare viewers from MLB and NFL right? There are only 512 NFL regular season games, while there are 4860 MLB games. Of course there isn't going to be the same amount of people watching one single MLB game as there is watching an NFL game.
Firstly, most of MLBs games are during the week while NFL is on the weekend/Monday night and is usually an event for most US males. Second, around 1/2 of all MLB games are during the afternoon, which are during the week. How is someone suppose to watch the game when they are working at this time? And thirdly, if you add up all the attendance, all the viewers, the numbers are far, far, far greater for MLB than the NFL.
If you think the MLB is struggling, you are very, very wrong. If you add up the 5 game World Series this year vs. the Superbowl, the WS was only 5 million short, now, many of the viewers are the same, but what does that matter to advertisers, the players, etc. Plus all the additional money coming from getting into the stadium since more people can watch it since there are more games.
Sure the MLB isn't doing as well as it was 20 years ago, but it is by no means struggling as many try to suggest. - swOhio, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6LeoStewart,
As you can see by my current -10 diggs, you apparently don't have to insult soccer to get dugg down, you just have to state the FACT that soccer is nowhere near the popularity of other pro sports in the US and it doesn't look like it will be soon.
Basically unless you're making a "YEAH SOCCER IS THE BEST" kind of post, you're getting dugg down on this story. - acff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2great! signing up elite footballers AFTER their prime will definitely make soccer huge in the US!
-signed,
pele
franz beckenbauer
johan cruijff
george best
carlos alberto
bobby moore
bah, i cant do this anymore - acff, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4college baseball? no one talks about college baseball. or cares about it. ive had more conversations about soccer in the past year than college baseball has ever been discussed around me
well thats kind of unfair with the WC and all but make this any year in the past 5 - adizzy615, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Its also an admission that he is putting his wife career over his. If he was married to anyone else, some one who is content to just mrs. David Beckham, the whole talk about moving to the U.S would be rubbish.
- greygoose, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Marked as inaccurate. No mention in article of Becks coming here.
- adizzy615, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25 months ago, he guided the english team to the world cup quaterfinals as their captain. Yes his fame outshines his playing ability but he is stilll a really good player. Only on a few teams he wouldn't be a first choice player (chelsea, real madrid, ac/inter milan), and thats only because these teams are loaded with start players.
- rileygman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3to say that soccer is not growing in America, or will never be big is ignorant. People forget that the growing population of this country is largely made up of Hispanics, who love soccer(football). Also to say how when 20,000 people attend galaxy games that it is barely any of such a large city, people forget that the home depot center only holds around 20,000 people and it is always packed during the big games. Also when you have rich American businessmen buying European soccer clubs (which they have no business buying, but he had the money so that's that) that is showing just how they are preparing to make money off a sky rocketing business.
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4How about just saying soccer?
Then people will know you don't mean American Football, Australian Rules Football or Rugby (which has the oldest football club in the world).
If the proponents of soccer want it to take off in the US, they could begin by not trying to tell every American they're wrong. - csfreakazoid, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Ok first of all you said that advertisers dont care because broadcasters dont. Thats entirely backwards.
And about college basketball. If nobody cares about it than why do more people place bets on the outcome of the NCAA tournament than on the outcome of the superbowl.
Oh and In college station which isnt even know for college basketball, 12,000 show up to games in a town of 80,000, thats 15% - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's Johan Neeskens, the current assistant coach of Barcelona:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Neeskens - swenzel, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Soccer will be big in the US! There is no way back. At the end it will be sports like hockey or even basketball.
Just view what happened during the worldcup. ESPN opened its stream to everybody, ABC.com showed unimportant games b/c rates where higher than for the olympics, Telemundo showed all the games live, Adidas had record US sales, Yahoo.com had record pagevies on their soccer sites, hundred thousands of people ran into bars during lunch time, ...... - Cerebral, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1F.Y.I.
If you are referring to Glazer... Just so you know Mr. Glazer made all of his money off of buying businesses that were on the decline and turning them around to make a profit. I think that he is a very smart businessman however saying that he bought a european league team does not mean that he is going to cash in on soccer becoming popular in the states. If he thought that then he would have put money into an MLS team.
Regardless, it is true that many americans who have never lived in a part of the world where soccer is popular do not care about it. There are a myriad of articles out there about why people in america don't understand soccer, don't like soccer etc. Basically it just comes down to the fact that it is not commonplace in America.
I also agree with an article that I read a while back that explained one reason why soccer is so large in the rest of the world and that is because they don't have alot of other sports in other countries. You only need a soccerball to play soccer in it's simplest form; no pads, helmets, goalposts, bats, gloves, backboard, rim, ice, skates, puck etc.
Soccer will become a large sport here, more like NHL than NFL or MLB but it will take a long time for our culture to embrace the game and produce our own style of soccer that can compete on a global scale. That is the reason that right now watching an MLS game is like watching college guys... because they are. I recall a game (within a year or so) that was a friendly between the LA Galaxy and I believe either the England national team or Real Madrid (can't remember but beckham was in the match) where MLS was in the middle (or so) of the season and the european leagues were not even reporting back for another week or so and the european team wiped the floor with them. It will take a while but like I said until America embraces soccer and develops it's own style of play and can compete on a global scale then soccer will not be popular. - DevlinD, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Except Shaq wins rings...even if he cant hit a free throw.
- acff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1it was an amazing game.
- K-Flow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1who said he is for sure going to mls? he has said he would like to stay with real even if he doesn't start all the time. he is also supposedly talking to blackburn, not that he would really go there though.
- tomashb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1See this video and learn if Sir Davis Beckham is a wanted personage in the US(or maybe in Italy :) http://www.scoreguru.com/story.php?title=Funny-Beckham-Video-1
- MikeHUK, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2No mention ? I presume you mean aside from his name being in the headline, and the part about him having been linked with a move to LA or New York.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My feelings exactly. On regular cable here especially on weekends you can watch Italy's Serie A, England's EPL, Champions League, etc. America is the country who self-admittedly cares the absolute least about soccer!
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The head of MLS is about to be on TV at half time at the MLS Cup, the announcer just hinted they will talk about Beckham. Stay tuned.
- scatpack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Bring back Johan Neskins.
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1He said nothing really. I guess the prohibitions of talking to players outside of the transfer period applies in the US too. No news until January.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There is absolutely no way that Beckham signs with an American team. He plays in one of the world's best soccer leagues, one one of the best teams, why would he downgrade? He could easily just go play in the EPL again
- Lou3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I agree that this is less about Becks and more about marquee talent.
There have been several rumors that Chelsea striker, Andriy Schevchenko, who is married to American model, Kristen Pazik, would eventually end up in America. - HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Second half was boring, the players could barely move up and down the field.
There were 25 seconds in the 2nd OT that were exciting.
The winner was decided by penalty kicks. Lame as hell.
And people wonder why soccer doesn't take off here. Real men play to see who wins, not go to penalty kicks. World Cup 1994 went 0-0 and ended up deciding who would be the first 4-time winner of the FIFA World Cup by penalty kicks. - IronSimb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Sure, this could bring new players into the US, but it is allready just like the Canidans mostly with their own national players. So if this is somthing to get forward, go ahead but I am sure the football fans around the world wouldn´t mind until it happens. Another thing is that Beckam would come to US is absurd, becouse the player has allready said otherwise.
- spaceboyuk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You gotta go where you can. No-one in the Premiership would touch him now and he'd have to take a major drop in salary. He's over the hill to go to Italy (and I don't think he would do well there anyway) and all other Euro leagues are a bit of a step down.
Go to MLS and he could top up his pension, plus Vistoria still seems to be under the illusion that she has something to offer to the world of entertainment, in whcih case, the US is a good place for them.
Oh and he could be close to Tom and Katie and really get into that Scientology thing.... - form3hide, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0People care about college baseball? Get outta here.
I grew up playing soccer; most of my friends, too. I lost interest when i got older simply because it wasn't on tv or anything like that. As kids, we couldn't relate to any "stars."
Growing up playing baseball, however, was quite different -- we always strived to pretend we were some major leaguer. It was fun to do so. - dustbin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0He has also started some soccer academies in LA - if he could promote them though the MLS, $$$.
FWIW, I'll take Becks in Chicago anyday. - Dmitrief, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Beckham is an idiot. MLS is not the League. Football in MLS for kids.
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