$1 million a week for playing tag

1/17/2007

Proving yet again there is always someone out there with more money than brains, the L.A. Galaxy of Major League Soccer is shelling out $250 million to bring English soccer sensation David Beckham to North America.
Forget that $250 million—which will work out to a weekly salary of around $1 million or so—is an obscene amount of money for any individual, even one so talented and charming and lovely, and lucky, as Mr. Beckham.
Forget that the world’s biggest soccer star, along with his posh and pretty Spice Girl wife Victoria, and three sons Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz, are probably a perfect fit for the freak show that is Los Angeles and Hollywood.
Forget that the move to buy Beckham is much more entertainment and marketing than it is pure sport.
The real issue here is if soccer in North America is actually going to get the boost that $250 million can buy.
Major League Soccer’s brains are expecting Beckham to transcend the sport, and bring the game to a whole new level of awareness and appreciation in North America.
I wish them all the luck. It isn’t going to be easy.
Soccer is more than a game in countries all over the world. In Europe and South America, “football” is part of the very fabric of the culture. Most North Americans simply do not see soccer on this same level, and never will.
For a vast majority of average Americans, soccer is a boring pursuit, played by crybabies who do little more than run a glorified game of tag, and then tear off their shirts and go goofy whenever they score a goal, which happens about as often as an ice age or a hit Ben Affleck movie.
David Beckham is the epitome of the modern celebrity athlete, but he will have a long row to hoe for his weekly $1 million if he thinks he is going to be soccer’s messiah on this side of the pond. So, can he turn the tide of apathy?
If history has anything to say about it, the answer is no.
What the Galaxy organization may be forgetting is that North American soccer tried buying stars and recognition 30 years ago, and the movement failed miserably.
In 1975, Edson Arantes do Nascimento arrived in the United States to play for the New York Cosmos. The world knew him better as Pele, the holy king of all footballers.
Pele was revered for his passing, pace and power on the field, and was not only the greatest Brazilian soccer player of all time, but the world’s greatest goal scorer.
Although newly retired and well past his prime, Pele helped the Cosmos draw 40,000 fans to his games, when other clubs were averaging less than 5,000 per night. New York signed Pele for just over $1 million, what was then an astronomical, unthinkable amount for a single athlete.
Bringing in Pele forced other teams to follow suit, and the league could not sustain the bloat. It crumbled into dust within ten years. Pele, who could hardly run with all that money in his pockets, was the only one laughing.
Last week’s deal with Beckham seems strangely reminiscent of Pele’s arrival 30-plus years ago. The climate and motives are the same, and I suspect the result will be as well. Only Beckham will come out ahead. Tag anyone?