This weeks reading, titled "The Americanization of David Beckham" discusses in detail the considerable effect that David Beckham being transferred to the MLS' LA Galaxy, as well as the possible failure scenario of the "experiment." The article includes quotes from Beckham, his ex-teammates at Real Madrid, MLS executives, and future teammates with the LA Galaxy. Rather than discuss the specifics of the article, which was generally explanatory and did not provide much information for debate or discussion, I would like to add some of my own opinion on the growth of the MLS in recent years and similar situations to the Beckham-LA transfer.
The MLS has visibly grown in recent years, including an expansion, a rise in talent level, and the remaining legacy of Beckham that is meant to include an eventual expansion team owned by Beckham himself. The MLS is adding a second New York team, which has already made a point to sign some still viable but aging European stars to the team. The World Cup this past year created a large new following for the MLS as the US Mens National Team had considerable hype and success compared to recent World Cups and international tournaments. A young international star, Julian Green, made one of the most miraculous plays in a losing effort for the USMNT against his original national choice, Germany. All of these individual events going on in the US soccer world give hope to the MLS in finally garnering some of the national spotlight in the US sports world. Beckham may have given the MLS a spark when it needed it most, creating maybe a year of national and international attention, but the MLS has risen to the challenge in meeting that hype with a rising level of talent and good management to minimize losses.
My point; the MLS is looking like a league ready to turn a corner in its history and make a jump from the bottom of the pile of world soccer leagues. The league is growing in size, growing in skill, growing financially, and now growing in popularity. It may not be at the level that the NFL, MLB, or NBA have grown to but I do think there is a lot of future potential for the MLS if it keeps moving at the pace it has been.
Joey Durant
Joey,
ReplyDeleteThe support behind the 2014 USA World Cup soccer team was fascinating. I’m not a fan of soccer, so I’m on the outside looking in. During the World Cup I observed people talking about the games as much as the Super Bowl, World Series, or NBA Finals. Ever time I turned on ESPN; a World Cup segment was on or was up next. I knew the World Cup was popular, but I didn’t understand how influential it was to society. I agree that the MLS has huge potential, especially due to Team USA’s success. In the USA MLS has a higher average attendance than the NBA and NHL. The potential for growth is unquestionable. Even EA’s FIFA soccer game is selling more and more copies each year. I know that soccer is the number sport in the world, but who knows, maybe soccer can gain ground in popularity to reach the NFL and MLB. Good Post.
Joey-
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog entry, Joey. I have never been a soccer enthusiast. I do not know much about the sport. My only interaction with soccer before this summer was playing FIFA with my friends. This summer the World Cup really taught me a great deal about the sport. Although all of the flopping and complaining gets annoying, I believe that it takes a special athlete to play the sport at a high level. I jumped on the USMNT's bandwagon this summer and followed every game as if I was watching my favorite NFL team play. I went through the highs (the Green goal) and the lows (the missed chip in goal for the win) in the loss versus Belgium. I believe that the sport's popularity is growing. A big part of it has to do with the World Cup and ESPN. Recently you can now view MLS games nationally on ESPN. This helps increase the popularity immensely. How much popularity do you believe the MLS will get? I do not believe that MLS's popularity will ever reach the level of the MLB, NFL, or NBA. But I do believe that it could reach the level of the NHL in the coming years.
Ben Olson