The Sports Truth

Sports Illustrated columnist Grant Wahl writes today after the five-year, $250M signing of David Beckham by the L.A. Galaxy: “Mark it down: Jan. 11, 2007 will forever be known as the day that Major League Soccer truly arrived on the world stage.”

Never one to be surpassed in being overly dramatic, I tried to come up with something even more over-the-top about the David Beckham signing, but Grant has bested me… for now.

Actually, I’m not sure how accurate a statement that is. Well, we have no idea if it is accurate or not. But is it even realistic?

Personally, I say no, and as a truly casual fan of soccer, I can say that a player like David Beckham is supposed to lure fans to the game. This past summer, I wrote articles for my former employers (contractual obligations prevent me from providing you links to those articles) during the World Cup outlining my increasing interest in the games, even after the United States quietly bowed out.

I even went so far as to try and listen to the penalty kick shootout in the Portugal-England quarterfinal because I couldn’t find an English broadcast (the only word I could make out was “GOALLLLLLLLLLLL!”).

Between my inane attempt to listen to soccer in Spanish and my daily following of ESPN’s British World Cup blogger Michael Davies’ hilarious commentary, it would seem I’d be a prime candidate to be sucked in by Beckham-mania. But I’m not. Maybe this is a knee-jerk reaction, but I don’t see myself attending any of the local New England Revolution matches vs. Beckham’s L.A. Galaxy.

Similarly, I don’t see any of my even-less-soccer enthused friends being fired up about the latest British invasion either. Don’t get me wrong, this has to be a step in the right direction for Major League Soccer, and maybe it will validate the MLS on the world stage. I just struggle to see how this is going to dramatically increase attendance and generate interest.

For the dramatic United States-Italy World Cup match in July, about 10 of us huddled around a tiny TV in Long Island to watch the game, living and dying with each play, just as the fans in Europe supposedly do with their respective club matches. However, for reasons worth explaining another time, the allure of national soccer is obviously far greater in the United States than club soccer.

I do think soccer can be a sport that grabs national attention in the U.S., and in July, it received quite a bit of press from major sports outlets in America. To that end, I believe the way to generate interest in pro soccer is to focus on national teams. Michael Davis had the phenomenal idea of a “War for Independence” tournament to be held every 4th of July pitting the participants in that famous war: England, France, the United States, and Spain.

Think about it. It would give sports fans in the United States something to watch during the long weekend besides baseball, as well as a recognizable date for fledgling soccer fans to associate with a fun international tournament.

The United States Soccer Federation should do whatever it can to get us involved and/or organize more North and South American based tournaments to try and fill the void between World Cups. Sadly, the U.S. declined the invitation to the biannual Copa America - a nation-style tournament held by CONMEBOL the South American soccer federation (the next one is set for 2007).

I’m guessing the USSF has their reasons for not entering, but hopefully the rationale is not that they believe it would draw attention away from the MLS. After all, despite what Grant Wahl thinks, Rome was not built in one day.

Posted in David Beckham, Soccer