This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.
Written by Laurie.
Question: What do soft-core photos, star-studded parties and a (probably) non-existent diamond-encrusted vibrator have to do with “saving” American soccer?
Answer: All are part of the complicated package that is Brand Beckham.
In case you missed it, David Beckham came to the LA Galaxy in the summer of 2007 to “save” American soccer. This must be true, because that’s what all of the world’s press told us at the time.
Of course, nobody ever really explained what this actually meant. Some vague “quality of play” thing, apparently, combined with bringing in new fans and dumping gazillions of dollars into the pockets of MLS (and, consequently, David Beckham.)
Now, several months in, how is this whole Beckham-saving-American-soccer thing working out?
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