Does/Will anyone care about Posh and Becks?
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by MegECass110
David and Victoria Beckham arrived in Los Angeles yesterday to dozens of photographers and media people, all trying to capture of Posh and Becks in the United States. In case you forgot, David signed a 5-year, $250 million dollar deal to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS, leaving Real Madrid and his (and his wife's) status as borderline British royalty behind.
This story seems to think Beckham is going to catapult the MLS to another level, that his and his wife's pop culture status will draw more people to watch soccer here in the States. The author Frank Dell'Apa talks about Beckham having an impact similar to Pele back in the 1970s, that "the Galaxy and the league will be drowning in publicity, and this indicates a move forward. There is no going back." Basically, "Beckham's impact on American soccer -- and even the rest of the sporting landscape -- cannot be overstated."
Whoa there, buddy. I think you just overstated it yourself.
Beckham's arrival will certainly bring the MLS publicity unlike any it's ever seen before. The Galaxy's games will have highlights on Sportscenter, Beckham will have press conferences, and all the rest. The Galaxy's games will be well attended, and Beckham will capture a new audience of women and teenage girls more concerned with his looks and his spouse than his game and the game altogether. The national interest in MLS will certainly increase.
But there's just one small problem: WE DON'T WATCH SOCCER HERE.
In Britain, where soccer and the English Premier League is equivalent, if not greater than, the NFL in this country, Beckham was a GOD from a popularity standpoint. Like Tom Brady, only bigger. Soccer is the world's most popular sport, and Beckham is its face. Unfortunately for Becks and the MLS, in this case, the US doesn't follow suit with the rest of the globe.
For a while, it seemed like soccer had finally turned the corner. In 1999, when 100,000 people packed the Rose Bowl to watch the US women win the World Cup, the nation fell in love with these gifted women who proved to the rest of the world that we could play soccer, too (I can't say the same about the men). Little girls everywhere became motivated to play soccer, and those who already played saw their dreams unfold right before their eyes. But just like the sun, the soccer craze rose and fell, with the final straw being the disappointing US men in the 2006 World Cup.
It will take a monumental achievement, either a World Cup or an Olympic gold, for men's soccer to catch on in this country. Sports fans here don't care how good-looking you are or how hot your wife is, they want to see performance on the field. And, last time I checked, Beckham's game is not comparable to Pele. It's not even close. Even Ronaldinho, with his ridiculous skills and eye-popping ability, has barely made a blip on the American sports radar.
One athlete alone can not change the spectrum of a sport. It takes a team to capture our hearts. Look at Michael Phelps, he's possibly one of the greatest Olympians our country has ever seen, and he hasn't given swimming much more attention than it normally would get. Then look at US gynmastics in 1996, with Kerri Strug and her gimpy ankle landing flawlessly on a blue piece of foam, it turned into one of the most memorable sports moments of the last decade.
If the US wins the World Cup in 2010, I'll give soccer a puncher's chance to finally become a spectator sport in this country. The Galaxy will enjoy the spotlight. But David Beckham will not have a major impact on the rest of the MLS. In the end, he'll have more pictures in US Weekly than SI.
