Soccer Trying to Make it in the Football World

In most countries, the name of the game sound alike.				text, September 27th 2007, Beckham's LA Galaxy is
Words like football, fussball, futbol, futebol... don't just				playing against the KC Wizards. SPORTiana.com, as
sound the same, they are the same game. In the				the author of this text, had the insight in MLS
U.S., however, they call it soccer. Major League				through KC Wizards in the summer of 2006, a year
Soccer (MLS) as an American professional soccer				prior to Beckham's arrival in the MLS.
league has been around for some time now.				At that time KC Wizard's head coach complained
Unlike other American major league sports, MLS does				about having himself and 2 more assistant coaches to
not dominate the sport's public attention on global				run the team's training, forcing him to leave several
scale, nor its champion is crowned as the 'World				players from 26 man roster sitting on the bench
Champion'. MLS has been going through constant				because of not being able to have them all on the
development. Did it gain significant public and media				field during trainings at the same time.
attention in the world football? No!				The training facilities included one open-air field and
Soccer as the 2nd, 7th or 10th most popular sport in				the in-door field with gym used by the NFL team KC
the U.S. doesn't make a great difference, the				Chiefs, within the Arrowhead Stadium complex. The
American public will still follow the NFL, , MLB NHL or				Wizard's open air-training field was situated next to
NBA. The world public would follow those leagues				the fence aside KC Chiefs training fields.
with same attention as they are world's most				Grass on the Wizards field was almost separated
prominent sports leagues.				turfs on the ground as hard as a rock, a field where
In recent years with the globalization of media, the				many players would pass on training in order to avoid
world sports scene has started to change; in that				injuries. A head coach, 2 assist coaches, fitness
process, English football league, Premiership, promotes				trainerâ€¦ NFL stadium and facilitiesâ€¦
itself as 'The Greatest Show On Earth' and is in fact				small office space at the corner of a
the world's most popular and most watched sporting				stadiumâ€¦ it would be quite a contrast to the
league, with a current worldwide viewership of half a				clubs from leagues where Beckham previously played.
billion people and media income for seasons 2007 to				Players: Majority MLS players come in the league as
2010 worth over $5 billion.				drafted college players. College soccer usually means
If the world will watch football leagues like English				player's playing for a full ride scholarship with the first
Premiership or Spanish La Liga, who will watch the				pro contracts signed at the age of 22 or so. In other
American major league sports other than domestic				countries, first pro contracts are usually signed at the
spectators? Will a part of the American public turn to				age of 18, at the age of 22 the player is coming out
watch overseas football leagues as well? Such				of a 4 year contract and managers have a better
questions made soccer be an issue in the U.S sports.				understanding of a player's capabilities in pro football.
Every now and then, the MLS officials would wake				This means college players are 4 years behind. By
up from the drowsiness of being in shadows of Top				signing a first pro contract at the age of 22, they
4 American major leagues around the time when				would come out of the 4 year contract at the age
World Cup takes places and it becomes evident how				of 26, at that time, major world football clubs would
immense the game of football is in the terms of				rather invest their money in a 22 year old's prospect
world public interest, media attention, sponsors.				who has also had 4 years of pro football experience.
As the noise around World Cup passes, the MLS				College players hardly pass over playing in the MLS
would fall back in drowsiness. It was not to be like				(players' first pro contract) on their way to better
that after the World Cup 2006 in Germany when the				paid leagues as most foreign clubs would not sign a
world public had clear picture of European football's				college league soccer player with no pro football
modern stadiums, multi-million player contracts... the				experience at the age of 22.
world sports spotlight got a hold on football.				Prominent American players like DeMarkus Beasley
This time it's not the MLS who is to take the initiative				($2million to PSV - Netherlands, currently for
of promoting MLS, it's the whole of American				Â£700,000 with Rangers - Scotland) or Tim
professional sports entertainment industry. It is an				Howard ($4million to Man Utd - England, currently with
economic opportunity where the money revolving				Everton after being loaned), joined MLS directly from
around the world football was too great to be				high-school without playing college soccer, just like
missed or discarded.				Freddy Adu.
In the summer of 2007, U.S. soccer attempted to				For an average football fan with the choice to watch
take over the world football by storm by offering				a variety of matches, e.g. the giants of the game
David Beckham a $250million contract, the most				squaring up in domestic leagues like this past
expensive football player contract in history of the				weekend when it was Man Utd vs Chelsea in England,
sport, some described it as the deal to bring				Barcelona vs Sevilla in Spain, Roma vs Juventus in
Beckham to America is thought to be the biggest in				Italy, PSV vs Feyenoord in the Netherlandsâ€¦
sporting history. MLS sent out a message to the				Boca Juniors games in Argentina, Lyon in
world.				Franceâ€¦ there's little space for MLS.
In the midst of summer when European leagues				A football fan wants to see the competitiveness,
were between the seasons and the waters were				passionate fans, decades-long fierce rivalry between
still, MLS got the wanted exposure with news stories				the clubs, tradition, the world's best players,
being dominated with the Beckham family moving to				established players with reputation of playing for
LA. Did the stories overtake the world football media				prestigious clubs, ultra-modern football-specific
and public attention in favor of MLS yet? No!				stadiums, most of which the MLS does not offer.
Is $250 million worth of exposure in the long run?				The MLS needs to gain the interest of the American
Time will tell. Autumn came, European and				public and media in order to gain the same interest
international leagues are in full swing, the world sports				with the world public. Hard-working, attractive
news publish less articles about Beckham, LA Galaxy				all-around players like Eddie Johnson of the KC
and the MLS. To make things worst, LA will hardly				Wizards or DC United's Jaime Moreno, who proved
make the play-offs, giving the media less to write				their quality in this summer's Copa America 2007 are
about.				the prototype players for a successful competitive
In the league that has had an overall lost of more				league.
than $350 million in the first 8 years after its				The MLS's proposed soccer-specific modern stadiums
foundation (a BusinessWeek report from 2004),				for all clubs are a step forwards. German Bundesliga
where at the present time only two teams, LA				witnessed tremendous boost of public interest and
Galaxy and FC Dallas, are profitable with 3 additional				media attention on domestic and global level prior to
teams expected to be profitable within a year, a				and after the World Cup 2006, with a legacy of
$250 million one-player investment seems like a				great new and renewed old stadiums.
gamble. If so, what are the odds?				The MLS ought to internationalize as much as
In recent years, several notable players chose to				possible, the English Premiership did it, when foreign
make the step away from the bigger leagues of				billionaires started buying clubs, world class players
Europe and South America for a financially good				arrived in even great number to make it the most
contract with teams from the Gulf countries. The				watched and profitable football league in the world.
headlines reported rich transfer deals, though there				Many writers have speculated on why football is not
was no to little follow-up in media coverage of those				as popular in the U.S. as it is in some other countries,
leagues.				most of them point to the fact that the game does
Not to be forgotten, prior to David Beckham's arrival,				not have enough scoring. Changing rules of the game
MLS attempted to gain exposure with Freddy Adu, a				in favor of having more goals per game may be
player under the age of 16 that was crowned as the				beneficial this time around.
next PelÃ©. Adu received significant media				Football is a powerful force, it already changed the
attention, the world knew he's playing for DC United				North American major league sports philosophy, MLS
of the MLS.				clubs are competing in the Super League and the
Many may or may not know that Adu, this past				Copa Sudamericana, The New York Red Bulls new
summer at the age of 18, signed a contract in				stadium will feature a full "European-style" roof, in
Europe with Benfica FC - Portugal. Prior to joining				2007 MLS started selling ad space on the front of
Benfica, Adu spent some time during summer in the				jersey (a floor of $500,000 per shirt sponsorship),
Man Utd's training camp, Alex Fergusson did not give				following the practice of the international football.
him the reason to stay.				As the Latin American immigration increases in the
Benfica paid to the club from Salt Lake City $2million				US, so is the interest in football. With football being
for the player's release note and Adu will receive				the most popular recreational sport for both boys
$1.2million per year, solid but not the contract that				and girls, the MLS has potential. In 2006 Don Garber,
tops the news. Adu was not on Benfica's Champions				MLS Commissioner, expressed his expectations for
League match roster against Milan on Sept. 18th, in				the league's clubs to be profitable by 2010 overall.
compare a player like Messi at the current Adu's age				LA Galaxy's merchandise sales through Beckham's
was already among the starting 11 for the football				next 4 four years with the club may not top $600
giant FC Barcelona.				million as it was during his time with Real Madrid, still
The MLS didn't appear to have gained substantial				an MLS player made onto the covers of Sports
attention for the sport with Adu, nor contributed to				Illustrated magazine and gather a crowd of 66,000
his development into the world dominant player as				spectators at a packed Giants Stadium.
expected. Through history, some of the best players				In the words of David Beckham about his move to
of all times played soccer in the States, including				MLS: "I'm coming there to play football... I'm not
PelÃ©, Beckenbauer, Eusebioâ€¦				saying me coming over to the States is going to
After the decades long attempts that did not give				make soccer the biggest sport in America". It's about
hoped results for the success of U.S. soccer, what				taking one step at the time, if soccer aims to make
difference Beckham's playing (currently on a 6 week				it in the football world.
absence due to the injury) may makes now? Let's				is the author of this text. None part of the text is
have a brief look at the MLS, a professional soccer				copyrighted by the third parties. Feel free to
league that started in 1996 with more than 10				published, broadcast, rewrite or redistribute the text
seasons of experience under way.				in full or part and add a link to upon your wish.
Logistics and facilities: On the day of publishing this				SPORTiana.

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Soccer Trying to Make it in the Football World