Beckham Cash Cow w/ Alexi Quotes

Too bad the Galaxy still suck. It would be pretty cool to have on the field success as well as all the financial/hype success.

Oh well...a fan can always dream.

 

I'm not familiar with MLS salary caps, etc., so my question is: how much of this money can the Galaxy feasibly invest in acquiring players that will complement Beckham on the field?

 

None. They can fill AEG's (the Galaxy owner's) pockets though. Making money off the team does not relate in any way to the salary cap. It is roughly a soft $2.4 million cap, not counting DPs.

 

Yep, which brings up the question about the salary cap, with the success that is the signing of David Beckahm. The salary cap is too low and is holding back potential signings for other teams. MLS has to get their balance right and as it is right now we are obviously seeing the cash return from Beckham. We need to get every team with a superstar or two, maybe three. How hard can it be to make every senior international signing be worth while. The day MLS can get Beckham and Juan Pablo Angel type players for every SI slot on every team MLS will be rocking. I like seeing the slow progress each team is making but LA needs a better team and salary cap is holding that down.

 

The salary cap may keep down the signings of expensive foreign players, but I can't think of too many Americans who refuse to play in the US because of lack of money. In any case, those who are worth anything can come up through MLS and get sold to Europe.

The development of home-grown talent should be the primary focus of MLS both for its own sake and for the fact that a higher quality crop of American players will eventually improve the quality of the product on the field.

 

While I agree in principal that we should have higher quality Senior Internationals (or DPs) to raise the profile, and finances of the game, we have to consider some things.

First, not every player is going to sell 300,000 jerseys in a few weeks. As the Manchester United song goes "There is only one David Beckham". That said, Blanco shirts are flying off the shelves for Chicago too. I think that there is a market for the international signings that we have all dreamed about for MLS. I do, however, think that the league needs to take it slow and test the waters before jumping in too deep.

Let's see if this Beckham trend only pertains to Beckham. Bring in a Riquelme or a Ronaldinho and see how their shirt sales do. I think it would be detrimental to go out and compete in the transfer market (especially now that the dollar is about as strong as my 3 year old niece) if the demand won't be there in the end. This Beckham experiment is a success, but we need to see if it works elsewhere.

Chicago seems to be working, but I am highly skeptical that Kansas City could be as successful. Maybe, but I doubt it. That's ok too. Every league is going to have their teams that can attract better players than others. I just think we need to test the waters in other markets and see how it goes over.

Something tells me that if the Veron deal goes through with DC, that it will be a smashing success. I also believe a big name player would work in New England. I think a big name player would work in Houston and maybe even Salt Lake. I don't know about Okocha though. The league needs to encourage teams to take the step and see which markets that it works in. While Juan Pablo Angel is the best player in our league at the moment probably, he still doesn't have the name power of the Ronaldinho's, etc. of this world. I think that's why he hasn't been such a smashing success (financially) compared to Beckham. Time will tell on how many of these guys it is reasonable to bring over.

I hope they all turn out to do the league good and get more of the European followers coming to games and watching on tv. It could only benefit all of us.

 

I agree with you in part. Some of the lower wage earners in the league have paltry salaries though. The development of younger players and the youth acadamies is paramount. I agree with you there.

But having better players to play against will only make them better too. As much as I love the league, a player practicing with and against David Beckham is better than playing/practicing with and against Andy Williams or another international signing that isn't of that class. I think we need the right mix. The younger players will get better, but we need to give them elite competition to learn from and to beat. It goes hand in hand. I think we're on the right track though.

 

Paltry only in relative terms: being paid to play a sport is a privilege that only a few have the skill to achieve. Think of MLS as the minor league of world soccer. Sure, you're never going to make huge money here, but if you're lucky, train hard, and manage your career correctly, you could, someday, make something of yourself by being sold to a high-profile European league.

Like Landon Donovan. Er.... or not.

If you're a player good enough to go straight to the EPL at 17, bypassing MLS entirely, I say good luck to you. Make sure you leave your forwarding address with the USMNT.