I wrote a really depressing blog about Iraq, and admittedly, needed to raise my own spirits a bit after having done so, and figures I should do the same for anyone else that happened to read my blog at the time, lol. I still have faith that interest in football (soccer) in America will eventually soar as a result. (Advertisers might not be happy about this, but hey, maybe the television networks can figure some other way out to make televising the games more profit-friendly.)Yes folks, that's right. David Beckham just became the highest paid soccer player and sportsman in the world, with his move from Real Madrid in Spain (the "evil empire" - the New York Yankees of soccer, for those of you that don't follow the sport) to the LA Galaxy in the ML). It's a 5-year $250 million deal.
So what does this mean for American Soccer? Obviously, having as big a name as David Beckham playing the sport is going to be great for marketing and publicity. It'll draw alot of people to the follow the American soccer league, both in the US and outside.
But I predict that the biggest impact is going to be the result of the price tag on his contract. This will probably be Beckham's final move of his career. Firstly, he's a phenomenal player. Not only is he a phenomenal player, but he will easily dominate soccer in the US, being head and shoulders above the rest. At that MASSIVE salary, will other US teams now seek to woo other big name international players to the sport? If LA Galaxy merch and tickets start selling like hot cakes, you bet your bottom dollar they will.
So I HOPE that this is the start of something great. I hope this helps build soccer into the world religion it is for the rest of us to something at least approaching that greatness in the US. (Because hey, as much as I like baseball, the season is too damn long.) Hopefully Beckham's employment in the US will be a milestone in years to come, as the moment that the sport made it's turnaround in the United States.
No comments:
Post a Comment