March 6th- This week Champions League action returns with some of the best match ups that we have ever seen in the round of 16. Some of the more glamorous match-ups include two of the most successful clubs in this completion between Liverpool and Real Madrid, Roma versus Arsenal, two of the most exciting sides in the tournament, and the crème d la crème of all the match ups, Italian champions Inter Milan versus English, World, and defending Champions League champions Manchester United. Most of the world’s eyes will be in Milan for the glamour match between two of Europe’s best teams. The city and venue is also (temporarily?) home to one of sports most famous names, David Beckham.
David Beckham is currently on loan to Milan’s other team, AC Milan, from Major League Soccer’s L.A. Galaxy. In the past few weeks, Beckham has made it clear that he would prefer to stay in Milan because it gives him a better chance at continuing to earn call-ups to the English national team, and play in the 2010 World Cup. Beckham’s reasoning for wanting to play for AC Milan instead of staying in the United States is simple: the quality of MLS is not good, and the MLS season is not in harmony with other football leagues all over world.
The other reason for Beckham running back to England is because he has not taken over the USA like he envisioned. Since touching down in the States in July 2007, Beckham has had little to no impact on the popularity of MLS domestically or around the world. Sure, MLS attendance has increased about 6.8% in Beckham’s two seasons in the league and TV ratings rose from 0.2 to 0.3, according the Sports Business Journal, but has Beckham entered the American conscience like he and MLS envisioned when they signed him to a $250 million contract in January 2007? The answer is a resounding no.
Sure, Beckham has helped moderately improve the league’s image, but his American adventure was to help further his brand and help bolster the league’s profile in the U.S. In the end, he has not done much of either - and he was never going to be able to do much for soccer in the States. David Beckham is not, and never has been, the type of player that you build your team around like a Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, or Pelé, who the media often compared Beckham to when he arrived due to the similarity in profile at the time of their respective American invasions.So what are the lessons learned for MLS? For starters, MLS needs to realize that ready-made stars will not build the game’s profile. Stars have to grow organically from the bottom up, not from the top down, especially in the United States. The MLS - and US Soccer - needs to focus on building up its own stars by developing top-of-the-line talent amongst the large number of kids playing soccer throughout the country. Another problem with the superstar quick fix is that they come in thinking they are bigger than the league. David Beckham was practically untouchable for the Galaxy because his every coach knew that his status was completely independent to the health of the league. David Beckham was practically untouchable for the Galaxy because every coach knew that his status was completely independent to the health of the league.
The MLS must also increase salaries to keep homegrown talent in the United States, as well as attract quality talents throughout the Western Hemisphere. Many American players leave MLS to ply their trade in Scandinavia and other European countries because of the small compensation in America’s top league. The MLS salary cap last year was only $2 million. Granted, David Beckham, and a few other franchise players made more than that (and the league allowed this for only one spot per team) and those players accounted for $400,000 towards the cap. A lot of the Galaxy’s problems over the last two years were that Beckham and his teammate Landon Donovan, a star on the U.S. national team, accounted for nearly $800,000, thus making it hard to build a good team around them. Some players in MLS are on developmental contracts, which only pay $12,700 a year. MLS would be wise to give players an incentive to stay home and bring in quality talents from other leagues in this half of the world.
Lastly, MLS should stop targeting casual fans until they have a solid fan base that will always support the league. By doing this, they need to target the hardcore soccer fans who are looking to watch the game at all cost. The CEO of Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz, bought into the MLS, rebranded the New York franchise, and named them Red Bull New York…and he had good reason. Eighteen million Americans actively play soccer in the USA and up to 60 million follow the games every weekend as fans or players Millions of Americans follow this game passionately, yet the MLS feels it needs to reach the casual fans first before targeting the true die-hard supporters. By doing this, they need to improve the league's on-the-field product.
MLS has done a very good job slowly building the league in its 13-year history. But in order to move from the Beckham Era to sustained growth, they need to adopt a grassroots approach instead of a top-down approach.
(editor's note, MLS and AC Milan have agreed on a timeshare agreement to keep David Beckham until June in Milan. Beckham will then return to the Galaxy in July to see out the rest of the season. And then Beckham will go back to Milan in December. Details are here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7926933.stm)
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