The New York Times - American Sponsors and International Soccer.

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SouthAmerica

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March 27, 2007

SouthAmerica: On Monday, March 26, 2007 The New York Times published an article about soccer – “Ronaldinho Becoming The Face of His Sport”.

The article was OK until the writer said a few silly things about international soccer on his article. The article said: “He shares a distinction with Jordan: Ronaldinho is the first soccer player to be anointed by his sponsor Nike with a signature line, retrolooking 10R gear (wich he helped to design) that includes soccer shoes and apparel. As perhaps the second-most recognizable soccer player in the world (after David Beckham), Ronaldinho joins the ranks of LeBron James, Tiger Woods, and Lance Armstrong as one of the swoosh’s global pitchmen…..”

The fellow who wrote the article probably works on the PR department of Nike or something like that – but his knowledge of soccer is not that good.

This guy is trying to imply to the American readers of The New York Times that David Beckham is the number one and most recognizable soccer player in the world.

I wonder which world this guy is talking about since David Beckham has been nothing more than a third-rate soccer player based on international soccer standards – and if he was not British, I doubt that he would have ever qualified to play soccer in the national teams of such countries as Brazil, Italy, Germany or Argentina. He has been such a “MEDIOCRE” soccer player during his career that he would not qualify even as a reserve on these top national teams.

I understand that in the land of the blind the fellow with one eye is king – that is why the Los Angeles Galaxy is giving David Beckham such a pathetic deal. Talking about being a “sucker” the Los Angeles Galaxy deserve some kind of special trophy because of this deal.

David Beckham has signed a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team. The former England captain signed for the Los Angeles Galaxy in a deal worth a reported $250 million over five years.

I don’t blame David Beckham for finding a bunch of fools who are willing to give him such a huge contract – it is obvious for anyone who follows world-class soccer that the Los Angeles Galaxy did not give him that contract because of his soccer skills.

I wonder why the Los Angeles Galaxy did not try first to offer a little less money to Brad Pitt instead – and if they were looking for a package deal they still could get the Brangeline act for a few million dollars less than they are giving to David Beckham and his wife. Brad Pitt probably could bring the same audience that the Los Angeles Galaxy is trying to reach by bringing David Beckham to do wherever he does in England. (which it does not include playing world-class soccer.)

But for the real international soccer fans it is an insult to even include the name of David Beckham in the same list of world-class soccer players such as Ronaldinho, Kaka, Ronaldo, Zidane, Romario, Lionel Messy (the new Maradona) and many other great soccer players.


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I don't see anywhere in your quote where the writer says Beckham is the number one soccer player, or even one of the best. There is a difference between being one of the best and being most recognizable. Arguably, he is the most recognizable. Go to anywhere in Asia and show people a picture of Beckham and a picture of Kaka, and see how many people recognize Beckham over Kaka. Beckham is married to an internationally known pop star and had an international hit movie named after him. Of course he is going to be 'recognizable'.

You are just making up shit in your head to justify talking shit about a US newspaper.
 
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Macal425: Arguably, he is the most recognizable.



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March 27, 2007

SouthAmerica: Reply to Macal425


The movie that you mentioned is about a young Indian girl who had a crush on David Beckham.

Pretty boy David Beckham is better known for his looks than for his soccer playing skills.

By the way, being a pretty boy it does not help in the soccer field when you are playing soccer – in the soccer field what really counts it is real soccer skills.

The Los Angeles Galaxy gave this huge contract to David Beckham because they want to attract more young girls and women in general to their soccer games. They could have achieved that same goal by contracting instead Brad Pitt. The girls probably would go to see the Los Angeles Galaxy games if Brad Pitt was on their line up. I understand Robert Redford and Peter O’Toole are bit too old to play that part for the new generation of fans of the Los Angeles Galaxy.

You said: “Arguably, he is the most recognizable.”

If you are talking about Beckham being the most recognizable in England - then I might agree with you, but if you talking around in the world then forget it.

By the way, during the world cup in 2006 I saw the headlines on the news that some gay men magazine decided to publish a list of their favorite players during the 2006 world cup and David Beckham did not make even to the top of that list – the gay people did pick Cristiano Ronaldo (the Portuguese soccer player) as their number one choice. And California, where the Los Angeles Galaxy is located has a lot of gay people that they can tap as new fans when David Beckham come aboard.



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“Bend It Like Beckham” is a British film released in America in March, 2003, directed by Gurinder Chadha based on the screenplay she wrote with Paul Berges and Guljit Bindra. It tells the tale of two young London women from different backgrounds who share an aptitude for football and pressure from their families to conform. One is a British Indian Sikh girl who struggles against her family's orthodox mindset to fulfill her dream of playing professional football; the other is a white girl who has to combat her mother's stereotypes about athletic prowess and lesbianism. The film's title is a reference to the English footballer “David Beckham” and his skill at scoring from free-kicks by "bending" the ball — making it swerve as it flies through the air, most notably the injury-time goal against Greece that gained England automatic qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

The movie was filmed in west London, specifically Hounslow (where the main characters live) and Southall, and central London, including Soho for the football store and pub, and Piccadilly Circus. Scenes were also shot in Hamburg, Germany.

The film is a coming-of-age tale about 18-year-old Jesminder "Jess" Bhamra (played by 27-year-old Parminder Nagra), a Sikh girl living in the western suburbs of London, not far from Heathrow Airport.

The movie also features a character named Tony - a gay man who is infatuated with David Beckham.


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March 29, 2007

SouthAmerica: I am still trying to figure out why the Los Angeles Galaxy gave such a huge contract to David Beckham. It does not make financial sense to me.

Beckham is not in the same league as the famous international players who retired from international soccer and then they came to the United States to end their careers by playing soccer in the “NASL” in the 1970’s.

David Beckham is not even in the same league as such great soccer players as Pele, Johan Cruijff, George Best, Alan Ball, Johan Neeskens, Franz Beckenbauer and many other international soccer superstars who played in the NASL in the 1970’s.


Here is a short history of the North American Soccer League (NASL)

In 1967, two pro soccer leagues started in the United States: the FIFA-sanctioned United Soccer Association and the unsanctioned National Professional Soccer League. It has been suggested that the timing of this was related to the huge amount of attention given throughout the English-speaking world to the victory by England in the 1966 FIFA World Cup and the resulting documentary film, Goal. The National Professional Soccer League had a national television contract in the U.S. with the CBS television network, but the ratings for matches were unacceptable even by weekend daytime standards and the arrangement was terminated. The leagues merged in 1968 to form the North American Soccer League (NASL). The league lasted until the 1984 NASL season when it suspended operations.

The biggest club in the league and the organization's bellwether was the New York Cosmos, who drew upwards of 40,000 fans per game at their height while aging Brazilian superstar Pelé played for them. Giants Stadium sold out (73,000+) their 1978 championship win. However, the overall average attendance of the entire league never reached 15,000, with some clubs averaging less than 5,000.

The NASL faced challenges in regard to selling the sport of soccer to Americans, which was then completely foreign to the majority of them. The league "Americanized" the rules in the attempt to make the game more exciting, and comprehensible, to the average American sports fan. These changes included a clock that counted time down to zero as was typical of other timed American sports, rather than upwards to 45 minutes as was traditional, a 35 yard line for offsides rather than the traditional half way line, and a shootout to decide matches that ended in a draw. The foreign image of soccer was not helped, however, by a league that brought in many older, high profile foreign players, and frequently left Americans on the bench. This effort was often doubly futile, as while many of the foreign players were perhaps "big names" in their home countries, almost none of them qualified as such in North America, and they quickly absorbed most of the available payroll, such as it was, which could have otherwise been used to pay North American players better.

Over expansion was a huge factor in the death of the league. Once the league started growing, new franchises were awarded quickly, and it doubled in size in a few years, peaking at 24 teams. Many have suggested that cash-starved existing owners longed for their share of the expansion fee charged new owners, even though Forbes Magazine reported this amount as being only $100,000. This resulted in the available talent being spread too thinly, among other problems.

Additionally, many of these new owners were not "soccer people", and once the perceived popularity started to decline, they got out as quickly as they got in.

They also spent millions on aging stars to try to match the success of the Cosmos, and lost significant amounts of money in doing so.

Also, FIFA's decision to award the hosting of the 1986 FIFA World Cup to Mexico after Colombia withdrew, rather than the US, is considered a factor in the NASL's demise.

While the NASL ultimately failed, it introduced soccer to the North American sports scene on a large scale for the first time and was a major contributing factor in soccer becoming one of the most popular sports among American youth. In the late-1980s, FIFA did award the World Cup to the US, which would be staged in 1994. It has also provided lessons for its successor Major League Soccer, which has taken precautions against such problems. American college and high school soccer still use some NASL-style rules.



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SouthAmerica: The NASL did a lot of things right such as bringing all these great international players to play in the NASL in the 1970’s.

There were various reasons why the NASL finally went out of business.

If the NASL were in business today they would have a better chance of survival and of prospering than the current soccer league in the United States.

In my opinion, the current US soccer league it doesn’t have a chance of prospering and doing well, since they are in the wrong path to prosperity.

There are many things that are wrong with this current US soccer league that will keep it from moving to the next level.

If the reason to bring David Beckham to the Los Angeles Galaxy it is more show business than anything else then the Los Angeles Galaxy would get more mileage from their stunt by contracting the tallest man in the world a Chinese man who is 2.36 meters tall. And you can see a picture of this giant at:

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u69785.shtml

The Chinese giant would be good to score goals with his head or to be used as a goalkeeper. If anything people would come to the Los Angeles Galaxy games to see the tallest man in the world – even if he was a mediocre soccer player as David Beckham.


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LA has a history of making large contract offers to gain publicity. I do not think Steve Young got all the 40 million he was supposed to get form the L.A. Express. .

I do not think for one second Beckham is really going to see that kind of money unless the galaxy and the league become huge.
 
Quote from TM_Direct:

Soccer sucks and so do you.


:)
More...
ah, now you are really mistaking (at least for the first part :))
Soccer is the most followed sport in the world, and you can't compare it with that sort of organized fight that you call football.
Assuming that's your favorite sport, which is usually the case.
 
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March 28, 2007

SouthAmerica: Steve Young was worth every penny of his $ 40 million dollar contract.

David Beckham contract it is just a publicity stunt by the Los Angeles Galaxy.

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Soccer is the most followed sport in the world, and the sport that generates more revenues than any other sport around the world.

Two years ago there were more than 500 professional Brazilian soccer players playing soccer in the leagues around the world - soccer is a money making machine for Brazil.


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