Beckham comming to America to join MLS

[ARMAN]

Originally Posted by dm_h_2007 I posted it because I was the first person to post this big headline on this board.

oh aha i see

[SFDMALEX]

Just shows your utter ignorance buddy.


I dont like American football, yet I know more then your average guy about NFL and the game, I follow basketball, which americans cant even win anymore, and I follow NHL, and I follow european football.


Your not a sports fan. Your a hater. So STFU!



Drij- I think Ill walk around pimpin a T.O F.C jersey if I can get my hands on one

[dm_h_2007]

Originally Posted by SFDMALEX Just shows your utter ignorance buddy. I dont like American football, yet I know more then your average guy about NFL and the game, I follow basketball, which americans cant even win anymore, and I follow NHL, and I follow european football. Your not a sports fan. Your a hater. So STFU! Drij- I think Ill walk around pimpin a T.O F.C jersey if I can get my hands on one

I'm a huge football, baseball, and college basketball fan. I guarantee you I know more about them than you.

And one final point Beckham is coming here to play "SOCCER" not football; it’s called the MLS NOT the MLF!!!

P.S. DrijF360, fuck thats a hot car in your sig!!!! Do you have a link to the specs etc?

[TopGearNL]

Its Football not Soccer

[dm_h_2007]

Originally Posted by DrijF360 Originally Posted by dm_h_2007 Originally Posted by ARMAN Originally Posted by dm_h_2007 Why cant you just except that I hate the game of soccer and just be OK with that? We don’t all have to like all other sports. I have no problem what so ever with you hating baseball, which is my favorite sport. eskuzemua WTF you have posted this thread here for then? what was your point? Footbal is a huge business and clubs owners want to make money in US too so whats so hard to understand why Bekham going to US? :roll: I posted it because I was the first person to post this big headline on this board. And I understand why the MLS did this, to try to promote soccer in America. I just don't think it will work. You could bring the top 10 players in the world here, that ronaldoho guy (thats the only other player i have ever heard of and I have no idea how you spell or even pronounce his name) and it still would not make the MLS catch on in America. That is my opinion. You're going to be wrong, there's no way football isn't going to have growth in North America excluding MEX. Even T.O. is getting a team.

Here is something interesting that someone on another board posted about this -

"If MLS were going to sign an international "superstar" this was the guy to get.

But the problem runs deeper than just this one huge deal to one player. The truth IMO is that the Americans who care about this news, the Americans who post here or even the people who click on the link to read the article do not represent "the majority" of Americans...not even the majority of American sports fans. Soccer in the US fills a niche for diehard soccer fans, hardcore "sports fans", patriotic sports fans, and European immigrants, but pretty much nobody else. The other people will not be swayed to take greater interest no matter who you bring to the league at this point in time.

The long-term success of soccer in the US depends on the success of the national team in international competitions (something they botched with this latest WC) and having a well-run professional league to develop talent and give youth players something to aspire to. The MLS was that league, but this was a major goof IMO. They tried to take a twenty-year leap forward in popularity with one signing, and opened the door to a series of problems that will pose a threat to the league's existence over the next decade.

Because it's not just Beckham. As has been pointed out, the disparity in the "deals" given to current players and what Beckham will get overall is huge, and it's going to raise a lot of eyebrows and possibly labor troubles. On top of that, the league is effectively forced to allow Chicago, New York, New England, and DC to sign aging superstars to over-priced deals to keep them relevant, if not competitive. And that's something the league simply cannot afford. It's a net loser over it's history, which is now over ten years. Yes, a lot of money went to building the league's "infrastructure" but it's not giving itself a chance to recoup that money.

History has shown that leagues signing players to outlandish deals (compared to what they can afford) has been the downfall of a number of "lesser" leagues in American sports: the USFL, AFL, WHA (despite the future successes of teams from these latter two, the leagues themselves were broke and forced to merge with the NFL and NHL respectively), and the NASL, the last major soccer league in the US."

This is basically what I was saying. This will undoubtedly lead to other big name signings by other teams that want to compete, if not just on the field (or pitch) then in the off the field big star name dropping game. While this makes for great headlines there is no amount of famous big name European players that are going to make MLS popular enough to generate ticket sales or TV ratings to begin to pay for all this. So the league will ultimately collapse in on itself.

[ViperASR]

^^^^
lol, owned 0X

(at the F-150 comment)

[novass]

I just heard about this on the radio a few hours ago. Im curious to see how it will work out and I am sure it will bring in some extra fans as even people that dont follow soccer, yes I said soccer :shock:. I have gone to a few LA Galaxy games and I must say that the crowd is always pretty large. Dont forget that, at least in LA, we have a large population of Mexicans and they love soccer. I love soccer too and played it for over 18 years and have coached a youth team for about 5 years.

Saying that Americans dont care about soccer is bullshit. American media doesnt care about soccer. This is primarily due to the fact that there is very little room for commercials (think about how long it takes to air a one hour football game, roughly 3-4 hrs) therefore the majority of people arent exposed to it enough. The AYSO has an enormous amount of participants of youth players and adult volunteers.

So, in closing, there are Americans that care about soccer they just arent currently being catered too by the mass media. Look at how long the AYSO have been around for example, 43 years, you think it would continue to exist if no one liked the game? Yes, there are people with the desire to play but there arent as many with the desire to watch.

[yg60m]

Pressure from his wife ? £ 128 Millions for 5 years, it seems too much to believe ...

[dm_h_2007]

Originally Posted by novass I just heard about this on the radio a few hours ago. Im curious to see how it will work out and I am sure it will bring in some extra fans as even people that dont follow soccer, yes I said soccer :shock:. I have gone to a few LA Galaxy games and I must say that the crowd is always pretty large. Dont forget that, at least in LA, we have a large population of Mexicans and they love soccer. I love soccer too and played it for over 18 years and have coached a youth team for about 5 years. Saying that Americans dont care about soccer is bullshit. American media doesnt care about soccer. This is primarily due to the fact that there is very little room for commercials (think about how long it takes to air a one hour football game, roughly 3-4 hrs) therefore the majority of people arent exposed to it enough. The AYSO has an enormous amount of participants of youth players and adult volunteers. So, in closing, there are Americans that care about soccer they just arent currently being catered too by the mass media. Look at how long the AYSO have been around for example, 43 years, you think it would continue to exist if no one liked the game? Yes, there are people with the desire to play but there arent as many with the desire to watch.

While there is some truth to this you can not explain away lack of interest in soccer in America just because of the commercial issue. Its a fact that the average national attendance of MLS is only a little higher than the attendance of the WNBA!!!

MLS attendance remains terrible despite the big push to help it catch on by ESPN during the world cup. The reality is Americans don't like a sport that has no time outs or commercial breaks!

Here is a big article about how bad the MLS ticket sales numbers are. 25% of all tickets used each year were obtained by the attendee for free. It says the sport is so unpopular that the tickets are practically "worthless".
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports...z1s27goal.html

"Only one team, the Los Angeles Galaxy, had an average paid attendance above 13,000 last season, and six of the 12 teams were below 10,000."

[novass]

Originally Posted by dm_h_2007 While there is some truth to this you can not explain away lack of interest in soccer in America just because of the commercial issue.... The reality is Americans don't like a sport that has no time outs or commercial breaks!

LOL your second point kinda negates your first.

I do admit that the only LA Galaxy games I have been too were because I had free tickets.

[dm_h_2007]

Originally Posted by novass Originally Posted by dm_h_2007 While there is some truth to this you can not explain away lack of interest in soccer in America just because of the commercial issue.... The reality is Americans don't like a sport that has no time outs or commercial breaks! LOL your second point kinda negates your first. I do admit that the only LA Galaxy games I have been too were because I had free tickets.

LOL well no it doesn't. You were making it sound like the "mass media" is killing soccer because they cant make money off it with commercials and that if it was on TV Americans would watch it. But in reality Americans still would not watch it because among many other reasons, it doesn't ever have a time out or break besides the middle!

And by the way from what I saw when I looked up MLS attendance the Galaxy have by far the highest paid attendance in the MLS even without Beckham! So the fact that even you have not paid to see a Galaxy game is that much more funny!

[Mattk]

I was a referee once. On my shirt, it said NSW Soccer Referee. It's soccer here as well.

Beckham going to America is interesting. He's probably trying to enhance his global image.

[Mattk]

But in reality Americans still would not watch it because among many other reasons, it doesn't ever have a time out or break besides the middle!

Now why is it that Americans cannot live without television time outs. I hate that when I watch NBA or NCAA games and every so often, everyone randomly stops playing because ESPN wants to show some commericals.

If a sport is not shown on free-to-air commercial television, it generally cannot be financially successful. Take basketball in Australia, for example. Lots of people play it. I'm a basketball referee, and even as a relatively lowly referee, I can ref on 4 of 7 days because there are just so many games going on. The same goes with soccer. A lot of people play it. However, the professional games are only shown on cable TV, hence less exposure, not a lot of general popularity outside those involved in the sport.

[gigdy]

This isn't even that far out. why? because its been done before. But with who? well Pele of course.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/etick...ry?page=cosmos

[dm_h_2007]

Originally Posted by gigdy This isn't even that far out. why? because its been done before. But with who? well Pele of course. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/etick...ry?page=cosmos

Wow great article!! When was that written? Unless that was written today that closing statement just predicted everything that is going on-

"Then, just to make sure I got the point, he added this coda: "There will never be another Cosmos. Big names may come over here eventually — Beckham, Ronaldo, Zidane — but they'll all be past their prime, and they'll be doing it for the money. We had guys who were at their peak — Beckenbauer, myself, [Johan] Neeskens — and we were on a mission.""