OK, the same day that Frank Deford (no big fan of soccer, usually) runs a glowing article about Beckham's moral virtue and qualities as a father, style icon, husband and cook, even (how does Frank know about David's cooking skills? I've read he makes mostly SuperNoodle - not exactly Wolfgang Puck) - this article is up on MSNBC http://www.msnbc.com/news/945944.asp?0cv=CB20 All about the declining ratings in the major sports being due to fans being sick of overpaid athletes acting like spoiled, moronic criminal-wanna-bes. Besides Beckham, I'd say that most MLS players are pretty decent role models - could our sport position itself for a higher profile by marketing its "nice guy" athletes? Would families go for it? Would tough "hools" be nauseated by the approach? Can we emphasize soccer as "good, clean fun"? How about: "The sport you grew up playing has gone Major League" as a tagline. We could have video of current MLS stars playing when they were kids (bet baby Beas is cute) - interspersed with their current exploits. Thoughts?
Oh, and here's the Frank Deford article about Beckham, in case anyone is curious. I'm not kidding, it's glowing - Frank absolutely raves about him - almost seems a little in love. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/frank_deford/news/2003/07/30/viewpoint/
I think they already have this in mind-considering Mr. Anschutz's politics/profile-Crusader Entertainment, certainly caters to this audience/type of entertainment. Ditto re: what many articles note about his theatre chain. They haven't quite come up with a balance that will work for soccer IMO, but I would think it's certainly the way they would like to go. And while it's not a push re: the players, you can see here that they have "family entertainment" front and center for a recent MetroStars match. http://www.metrostars.com/tickets/fair.htm