The Beckham Impact So Far
Quick. Name a soccer player. David Beckham’s name is generally the first name that comes to mind to the average American followed by Ronaldinho in most cases. Sometimes Pele will be named, but for the most part, its Beckham.
Becks has been playing with the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer for almost a year now, and needless to say, he has made an impact with that team, as they sit in first place, in large part because of his play (also thanks to the play of Landon Donovan, who is despised by his own countrymen, but that’s for another day).
But can anyone remember the quotes of made about Beckham as he sat next to a glowing Alexi Lalas on the day he was introduced to America as the Galaxy’s new superstar?
“David Beckham will have a greater impact on soccer in America than any athlete has ever had on a sport globally.” — Timothy J. Leiweke, president and CEO of AEG, the owners of the Galaxy.
Nearly a year later, how is this progression going?
To be honest, I took part in Beckhamania last summer, when the Galaxy came to face my hometown DC United on a rainy August evening. But since then, I personally have become less interested in what he brings to the table when it comes to his play on the pitch, because I know the guy can still bring it.
Now I’ve become more concerned about what Beckham is actually doing to raise the profile in America. He has had some camps, made appearances, and taught Snoop Dogg’s kids how to take free kicks, but what has that really done?
I’ve been disappointed with the Beckham agenda so far. His arrival peaked interest in his first few months here, but since then, he has just been a player, at least in the eyes of myself, and people I’ve talked to. His teammates like him, and his opponents seem to hate him, due to the number of hard and unnecessary tackles during his time in America. But he has yet to raise the profile of soccer here in the way that we hoped he would. Ask your kid…who would he rather be. Tom Brady…or David Beckham? Most kids will say Brady. Beckham, for all of his exposure, is getting the wrong kind of exposure.
I wrote at this time last year that Beckham would be a walking billboard. I was wrong. Beckham is what I wanted him to be, a player first and foremost. I did not take into account that as a player playing in MLS, that would not be enough. His time here has bene great, and I am happy to see him playing, and playing well. The fact that he is still earning callups to the English National Team are not only a sign of his great play, but of the overall quality of MLS. The English press can say what it wants about MLS, but the play has improved since the league’s inception over 10 years ago.
I’m afraid that it will not be possible for David Beckham to raise the profile of American soccer here by himself. Much like Pele in the 1970’s, he doesn’t have the support, nor the Gatorade, needed to climb the mountain and put soccer on the same summit as football and baseball.
There’s only one way for soccer in America to raise its profile, and that lies with the US National Team. Sunil Gulati knows it, Bob Bradley knows it, and we as fans know it. Americans love their winners. Look at the 3 major sports in America. All of them have winners that people look up to. In football, Brett Farve, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning. Baseball, Derek Jeter, The Boston Red Sox. Basketball: Michael Jordan, arguably the ultimate winner. US Soccer needs to win something, and something big. The opportunity is here though. Beijing awaits.
Ah, the Olympics. The time when the world comes together, and they compete against each other in the name of competition. In a time where politics dominates the world, the Olympics are a great reminder of what is good in this world. For Americans, the Olympics are a time to show what we can do. What better way to raise the profile of American soccer than to win the gold at the Olympics? A gold medal win would draw attention to the US Soccer program. It would be the best thing to happen to US soccer in a very long time. Is it possible? You better believe it. The US will send one of the strongest squads its ever sent, and I like their chances. But that’s for another day too.
The fact of the matter is, US soccer’s profile is still where it was when Beckham signed a year ago. It won’t change because of Beckham, because Beckham can’t do it by himself. The responsibility of raising US soccer’s profile lies with the US and the US alone.
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Of course, we can always play the “what if” game - what if Beckham had been healthy last summer, when Beckhamania was in full swing?
hi Brian Lomax…i think you have been confused between a Soccer/Football’s profile (okay..i will use the word soccer since i’ll address my opinion to the US readers) and Soccer’s achievement in US. from what i’ve seen, Beckham has been successful in his quest to raise the profile of the game in US so far.
when you talk about profile, you talk about ticket sales, overall attendance in a game and the whole league and the amount of people watching it and embracing the game.
but when you talk about achievements, then you can talk about winning the game, whether in the league, nationally or internationally.
and in a way (or many ways) Beckham has managed to raise the profile. more and more people know him. more and more people know about the game and watch it. and most importantly, more and more people go to the stadiums and watch the game!! and that is the ultimate evidence of him raising the profle so far. and as for overseas fans of the game, more and more people starting to know, and surprisingly, follow MLS and knowing it’s players and the teams…like me! the statistic has shown that the average attendance has raised throughout the league. and even top players - Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho (eventhough he probably won’t gp there) and other European players - have been talking about MLS or going to play there someday. just look/google about the game and its players, EPL and what not, and you’ll see at least one. and you said that does not count as raising the profile at all?? that is more than raising the profile, that means MLS is certainly going somewhere internationally.
what have you been whining about is the ACHIEVEMENTS, which i agree that the US has a long way to go to win something internationally. but reaching the last 16 in a World Cup Final is hardly nothing for the USMNT. and the top 20 in the World Ranking. that shows that the US probably at the same level as Australia, or even Crotia/Russia right now. and that’s good. and please don’t compare the USMNT achievements with your football or baseball because they are hardly international games, and they don’t have international tournaments. so, yes..the USMNT has to work harder for the next WC.
finally…you have to be carefull of what you say and think back whether you have addressing the right issue or not before you write. but it’s good that you’ve tried to address this thing. and trust me..the soccer’s profile in America HAS been/IS being raised..only there’s still a lot of work to do. cheers!
…Let me see…The fact that attendance is the highest of the season when DB23 visits most MLS teams…The exposure of MLS in England for the first time ever. Other high profile players are now looking to America to come and play… to name a few things I can think of at 1:54 in the morning…are some success…that only DB23 could do.
What wrong exposure???…the guy is a “nice-guy”. He hasnt said one wrong thing…Oh yeah..he did mention that he didnt like playing on turf…then went back the next day and apologized…
So whats good exposure to your sport?…baseball players shooting steroids in their butts or Throwball players bankrolling dog fighting rings… Whats David Beckham have to do??
The guys a freakin’ saint compared to some people in the “crap-three” sports in America… Is it perhaps the underwear ads that people are scared of??
Lets have this conversation in a few years…we are just now witnessing the groundwork of what DB23 is doing!!
And also the fact that he does score quite a few for the Galaxy. Much more than his Madrid / MU days.
That perhaps has enhanced his profile. As for a common soccer fan, the goalscorer is the team’s saviour.
Outsider, Ultimately, the goal is to achieve something right? For me, I could care less if Beckham wins an MLS championship every year until he’s 40. Beckham can’t win anything for the United States. What Beckham can do is ignite a fire among youngsters and potentially unearth the kid that will lead US Soccer to the promised land. Has that happened yet? Perhaps.
Simon, When I say the wrong exposure, I mean, you don’t see him taking advantage of his name and brand here in America. I’ve never seen a Gatorade commercial with David Beckham. I can think of one commercial, with Reggie Bush, that he has done since he’s been here. You see him at a Lakers game or something, and that’s cool, he can do whatever. But we need him shown doing what he does best for it to really hit home, thats all. I’m not trying to say that the 3 other major sports in America are better than soccer,, its just that because we get exposed to them more in both the good and the bad ways, we tend to pay more attention to them. Thats all.
For the record, I love how Europeans knock the 3 major sports in America, especially when they know nothing about any of them. As if cheating doesn’t occur in European sports.
“Look at the 3 major sports in America. All of them have winners that people look up to.”
American football - only played in the USA and a few other countries where the US has an army based, so no global competition, even though you like to call it the “World bowl”.
Baseball - only played in a few countries apart from the US, (Cuba, Japan), so again not global.
Basketball - The only real global sport out of the 3….and from what i’ve read Argentina are the olympic champions. But with the only proper international competition being once every 4 years (olympics) this limits its coverage.
Beckham is trying to crack a global market which is why the Galaxy/AEG bought him, rather than just the USA market. Paton Manning is termed a winner, but only because he’s the best in the USA. Backham is rated against players from all over the world. In his prime, Beckham was in the top 10 players in the world, we could argue this is MORE of an achivement than Manning who was rated #1 for the USA.
The “american’s only like winners” is a bad reflection upon their citizens, because it impies that they only appreciate a sport when its team is winning silverware.
I didn’t say that Americans only like winners. I’m a Dallas Cowboys fan, they haven’t won anything in 10+ years. And its the Super Bowl, not the World bowl. I’m not really sure what you’re tying to get across here, because Beckham isn;t trying to crack the world market…that’s already been cracked.
That last statement isn’t true though. For instance, the Super Bowl is one of the most watched events in America. Not all of the ppl who watch it root for the teams in it.
Landon Donovan is not despised by his countrymen. Only a sad few, who for some reason only feel validated if their soccer players are playing in europe, thus vicariously living their lives through them.
hi Mr. Lomax. yes, the ultimate goal is to achieve something. like Homer here said, bringing Beckham is a part of the plan FOR MLS, and of course, for Galaxy too, to break the global market. he’s not trying to crack the global market for himself, but rather for American soccer a.k.a. American league a.k.a. MLS. and he has succeeded in doing that..he’s bringing MY attention (for example) - an Asian, in South East Asia, fact i’m writing this from somewhere in the region - to American soccer and MLS when in fact i’ve never heard of the league, honestly, before he went there.
and the goal for raising the profile of MLS (and the Galaxy) is of course to make the league more internationally standard. how? by raising the standard of play first. how? by bringing the top players in.
i think many fans now can see how the level of play that Beckham alone brought was totally different than the whole of the league. (well, maybe apart from Donovan and other top league players, but overall, they have more work to do to achieve the Beckham’s level/international level). but they also can see now how the standard of play has changed a bit - been raised a bit - since Beckham went there. there are no more boring football, sorry, soccer especially everytime the Galaxy play, and the top players there have really showed some very good performances.
and these eventually brought in the media attention, and people like me can now see that soccer in America is not so bad, that they have potential, the players have potential, but needs more exposure of the higher level of play..and this is exactly one of the Beckham’s jobs there. and with a certain amount of global “advice” from the audiences (fans, coaches, players) who have followed, or have been in, a higher standard of soccer, i believe the US’ soccer (and it’s players) will get more great achievements after this. like you said, it might has happened already.
cheers!
I think Becks has done exactly what he went there to do - raised the global profile for MLS plus increase interest in football in the US. If Galaxy win something (and they’ll need to sign a defender or two this summer to get close to doing that) then he will have exceeded his goals.
But you’re right - Becks can’t do it by himself. He needs support, and I think this time around the football community in the US has made a greater effort to supplement his work, and the game itself has enough traction at youth and senior level to rise up.
IMHO, Beckham hasn’t done anything except made himself look like a celebrity over here. I hope people know he is a soccer player.
beckham has done well, in some ways his going over there has shown the rest of the world what the mls is about, i know since him going there ive seen at least 1 or 2 replays of an mls game, him and altidore are making the mls a little more respected.
That said in the olympics the USA has no chance, check out the argentinian and brazil line ups, those line ups are good enough to play against america’s and most other countries first teams. The level of football is just too low in america because many athletes able to step into a soccer shoe prefer basketball or nfl. Hell athletics in america probably gets more funding than soccer does.
I think we can compete in the Olympics. Argentina are the clear favorites, but I think we can hang with them.
The United States doesn’t even have to win Gold I don’t think. It’d be great, but if we win silver or bronze, that would be huge for the game here as well.
no one cares cares for olympic soccer and no one ever will. the time to make an impact is during the world cup. the time to start it is perhaps the olympics but if the us does win something there it will still be a big fat yawn. and donovan never performs in the big games. him saying that he came back to the us because he became homesick, wanted to raise the profile of mls, etc. is just bull. he wasn’t good enough and he knows it. ambitious footballers always go for the top and mls is everything but.
Olympic Football is a point of prestige for the players even if the IOC gives it the middle finger at times (team sports just aren’t as popular).
Well the 4th place finish in the 2000 Olympics in Australia didn’t raise the profile at all in the states. Now, they never really looked the same after the Spain loss, but regardless Americans just don’t care about soccer - I’m not even sure soccer fans took notice. Realistically, the average viewer follows Olympic swimming, gymnastics, basketball, etc much closer than they likely ever will soccer.
The more important measure of Becks impact is how much more American soccer fans start following MLS (as many only follow Euro leagues now). I also agree what the others said in that MLS on a global scale has a much larger following and thus reputation than it did before last year.
Now, having said all that, I agree that I wish Beckham was doing more to push the sport via his commercial impact. Little things like his appearance on Snoop Dogg’s show help to make soccer a hipper sport.
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Primachenko: I really don’t understand the hate Donovan gets. When he got recalled to Bayer Leverkusen he only played in a few games before he wanted to go home. Have you seen who he is married to? He said many time he missed the girls, weather and food of California (having grown up there). I really don’t blame the guy. If he had spent more time, I do think he would have become a regular starter.
Generally though i think MLS is most important to the growth of the sport not the National team. The national team gets attention every four years then it’s four years of nothing. The national team could win the world cup and in two weeks the hype would go away. The other thing i’d mention is none of the major sports, nfl, mlb, nba are popular because of success internationally. They are popular because of the domestic game. If you want to grow soccer it can’t be a once every four years event. Then it’s nothing more then gymnastics and track and field. It has to be an every week thing, just like everyother major sport in this country.
Yeah Landon is despised by his countrymen. Regardless i saw all but two of his games for Bayer and he was crap for most. Don’t care why but he went to Europe and didn’t prove himself. Doesn’t mean he’s crap but he hasn’t proved he’s world class. He’s only proved he’s a good MLS player. And the bottom line is really no player in modern football is considered world class that hasn’t had to prove their ability under the best competition, Europe. None. People want to consider him world class they just don’t want the burden of having to prove it. That’s like a some guy in the Greek basketball league saying he’s great. Nobody will believe it unless you go to the states and prove it. And you can’t go to the NBA, get your chance, get benched, go back to Greece after 7 or 8 games and say, “yeah i’m still better then those NBA players.” Donovan is a good little player. But he hasn’t proven he’s can play outside of MLS. That’s reality. Truthfully i think he definitely can. But he has to prove it.