Jay Baage, my colleague here at DMW, was ecstatic the day he found out about Beck’s signing.  Jay, you see, is Swedish, and he, along with the entire Planet Earth, is a soccer…er, Football…fan.  It’s the biggest, most important sport in the world, so long as the world doesn’t include the United States. 

According to the University of Washington’s Ledger, the 5 most popular professional sports in the US are:

1)      NFL

2)      MLB

3)      NBA

4)      NHL

5)      PGA

I know some people would swap a few of those, like the NBA over MLB, and possibly remove the NHL altogether, but the point is that soccer isn’t on the list, and if 5 more sports were added, it probably wouldn’t be in that group either.  It’s possibly more unpopular that professional poker, and might even be less important than professional video gaming. 

I wish it was more popular, believe me.  I really enjoy soccer and follow the international leagues.  I wish the best players in the world wanted to play for MLS, and I wish the US had one of the world’s best World Cup teams.  But the biggest problem professional soccer faces in this country is the attention and importance of competing sports.  For example, soccer will NEVER be more popular than the NFL.  That, alone, should raise eyebrows over Beck’s salary.  In Europe, a $50 million/year contract, though absurd and irrational, would at least make sense because of soccer’s position as the continent’s undisputed #1 game.  Should the U.S.’s most highly paid athlete play for the country’s least relevant sport?

Let’s also not forget that Beckham is going to do anything except impress loyal MLS fans with his skills.  He won’t be competing for England in the next World Cup after already being removed from his long tenure as team captain, and it’s clear to anyone with the remotest knowledge of the game that he lacks elite ball skills, and his speed wouldn’t compete at the college level. 

Perhaps we’ll begin to find soccer fashion more common on the street, worn by people who’ve never seen a game, simply because of the “Beckham Lifestyle.”  But that’s only possible if the guy performs.  Don’t forget how quickly we forget our sports heroes in this country, even people who’ve played at a high level on our own turf (we don’t exactly hear a lot from Michael Jordan these days, do we?).  How’s a foreigner in a sport no one cares about going to fare when it’s clear he’s better suited to manage a team than play for one?  Is that going to sell more jerseys?  It might even work against MLS.  It could actually anger people to see an over-hyped athlete undeserving of such attention and money slammed in our faces.  People might buy less soccer gear.

It’s also important to mention than any loyal MLS fan is well aware of Beckham’s diminished skills.  How does MLS anticipate they will feel about the absurd $250 million salary?  Is it a sign of desperation from a league that was actually doing a decent job attracting a base? 

We have so many star athletes in this country, gentlemen with looks to rival Beckham’s (see: Tom Brady and Derek Jeter), and ladies as well (see: Danica Patrick and Jennie Finch).  The PGA doesn’t touch the three major sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB) in popularity, but it has taken an athlete from another planet to grab our attention, Tiger Woods.  MLS needs someone of Ronaldinho’s caliber – the best player in the world – for the sport to become relevant here. 

I’m afraid a gamble’s been made that will not only fail, but might work against the sport.