MLS history has also shown that rarely does one player make a notable difference in attendance. L.A. brought in a star Mexican Natl Team forward in a heavily Mexican area and he did not create any noticable attendance increase. They spent a lot of money on him for nothing.
Yeah, I'm trying to think who FCD could bring in who would actually impact attendance and I can't think of anybody except maybe the actual Beckham who I bet wouldn't keep attendance up for long. Would even a Borgetti clog up the Tollway with pickups featuring gothic script on the back window? Maybe game #1, but I doubt game #4 and onwards.
Keep in mind that the "Bekham rule" would bump attendance in all venues. One might even get saturated with a single name, but if every other week a houshold soccer legend was coming to the park, you would be buying tickets for the marquee names. This is the way the NBA, NFL, and NHL, and NCAA market themselves. Tell me that you wouldn't free your schedule to watch Ronlado play against FCD. I would, even if the event was televised. Can't say that I would do the same if it was a bunch of ordinary Joe's. Also, this push towards capitalism in MLS is good. Not all owners are equally committed to providing an entertaining product. Why should everyone else have to subsidize their stupidity? With expansion, and a skyrocketing domestic player pool, the time is right. I see the turnout in Memphis for the USNT, and you know that several soccer friendly cities should compete for the MLS product. On the downside, if you sign a dog for big $$'s it could sink you. A good contract attorney, psychologist, and criminal background guys could become some of the most important people on the staff. This is not any different than any of our other major sports.
It seems that all the "It'll be great for attendance!" folks have forgotten what happened in LA over the years with their big-name Mexican signings. Attendance was AWESOME... for a few games. Then it went back to what it was before. After all, why should you make time to stop down to go see Hermosillo or Hernandez if you've seen him two or three times already in the past few weeks and you can see him six or seven more times that year? The novelty wore off of Carlos Hermosillo, Luis Hernandez, and Freddy Adu. Why should Ronaldo be any different?
I don't like the idea of the "Beckham rule". Quite frankly, I think it would f*ck with team chemistry in a major way.
well like others, I agree the idea Hunt will almost certainly just move Ruiz to that category and open up some cap space on the current roster. So it shouldn't mess up the chemistry too much I don't think.