It is ultimately very good for American soccer. The long-term consequence of this (hopefully) will be that more foreign talent will consider MLS as a viable option and as a way to live the “American Dream.” Also, talent in Central and South America will hopefully start to view MLS as a proving grounds for Europe, as hopefully Beckham grants the league some level of credibility (esp if Ronaldo comes this summer as rumored).
And the number $250 Million is so huge because Beckhams gets a piece of the marketing. The Beckham brand name made Real Madrid (his last team) $44 million in marketing last year alone. Just him. MLS is paying 400k a year, the team is kicking in 3-9 million (depending on source) and the rest is all marketing. MLS has worked really hard to learn the lessons from NASL (yeah, I just dated myself) and I don’t think they are making a mistake here.
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01-11-07, 05:53 PM
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