Becks Appeal
So David Beckham spends a day last week at the Home Depot Center kicking some soccer balls and getting hit with more camera flashes than the Beatles at Shea Stadium and humoring the media theme of the day -- Will Becks ever play for the Galaxy? -- by smartly not saying no to the idea, but cagily not saying yes, either.
What did it all mean?
Was it all just an elaborately staged promotional ploy designed to drum up a media turnout for a news conference to plug the David Beckham Soccer Academy, to open in November at the Home Depot Center?
Or was Beckham speaking the truth when he said of one day playing for a Major League Soccer franchise, “Yeah, I would definitely consider it. I wouldn’t say no to opportunity”?
Some facts: Beckham, 30, is currently under contract at Real Madrid, with two years left on that deal. He hasn’t ruled out signing an extension. If he does leave Real Madrid, his next rumored stop, according to the British press, is either Chelsea or Arsenal, clubs that finished 1-2 in the English Premier League this season. His current annual salary with Real Madrid is $8 million. With one or two exceptions, the maximum annual salary in MLS today is $250,000.
It is a long shot, a moon shot, but that hasn’t stopped Tim Leiweke, president of the Galaxy’s AEG ownership group, from dreaming about pie in the sky.
“All I can do is dream,” Leiweke said. “To dream about that, suddenly the Galaxy becomes a world [renowned] team. And even more than everything it does for us on the pitch, the most important thing there is what it does for [the Galaxy’s international reputation]. Suddenly you have a team in America that is [like] the Cosmos.
“It would be huge, but I’m not going to get too far ahead of myself. So we’ll take this one step at a time. I’m happy that we got him out here for this. This is a good thing.”
Some would call this line of thinking wishful at best. A pipe dream. A stab in the dark.
Leiweke prefers a different phrase: Dream big.
“In any business, in any work, in anything you do in life, dream big,” he said. “And this is the big dream. I guess we’ve picked the whopper. But why not ... be the best that you can be?”
That is the theme Leiweke and AEG will take to MLS officials and owners this week at a meeting at Philip Anschutz’s ranch near Denver. At the meeting, Leiweke will present owners with a 12-point plan he hopes will shape the league’s future.
On the agenda is a plan to pursue big-name European players, such as Beckham, which would involve substantial new money investments by the owners. MLS leadership has resisted such a strategy to this point, citing the tactic as one of the reasons the North American Soccer League, overloaded with over-the-hill European stars, collapsed in the mid-1980s.
Other points in the plan:
* Expanding rosters to accommodate the influx of these international players.
* Forming working relationships with European clubs that would enable MLS teams to cross-market with these clubs, play exhibition matches against them and borrow players on an on-loan basis.
* Allowing teams more local control over marketing and advertising.
“We’re talking about how to make the sport better, how to make the league better,” Leiweke said. “We’ll throw some ideas out there for everybody to consider.
“It’s revolutionary thinking on how to continue to grow the league. The league is doing well. We see it out here. The Galaxy, even before Landon [Donovan’s signing] but certainly with Landon, we’ve become a very important part of the fixture in L.A. After 10 years, that team is one of the top teams in the marketplace now. And we’re proud of that.
“But we’re not going to rest until the league and the sport are top two [in America]. That’s what we’ve got to do. That’s our goal. Top two.”
Leiweke did not reveal strategy as to how MLS was going to make such a leap. He did say he believes that forging working relationships with top European clubs is a step in the direction MLS ought to take.
“We’ve developed great relationships over there,” he said. “I think you’re going to hear in the near future a couple of them are coming to join us this summer for some games, including against MLS teams.
“The world’s changing. And we’re going to be a part of it. And the league’s coming. For all of those pundits who never liked soccer, too bad, so sad. It’s happening.”
As for the possibility of working player-loan agreements with such European clubs as Chelsea, Leiweke said, “We’ve got a long way to go before we get there, but I think there’s a lot of thinking going on now. That’s what next week’s all about.”
Some MLS clubs already have casual working arrangements with international clubs. Others have played, and this summer will play, club teams from Europe, Asia and South America.
But as the Galaxy has seen with its signing of Donovan, big names on the marquee is a timeless marketing ploy of proven success. MLS needs more names such as Freddy Adu, but more than that, it needs Adu on the field and making “SportsCenter” highlight clips, rather than biding time on the D.C. United bench.
Chances are, Beckham would start a few games in MLS if he ever joined the league.
Assuming, of course, MLS could handle the intense and immense culture shock.
It is safe to say that in the facility’s short history, the Home Depot Center had never been witness to a scene such as Thursday’s Beckham revue. The place was mobbed with more than 100 journalists and photographers, many of them with English, European or other international affiliations. The news conference to announce Beckham’s soccer academy more closely resembled a promotional shoot with a pop music diva or supermodel.
“David! Over here!” the photographers shouted out above the din of 60 cameras madly whirring and flashing.
“Big smile here, David!”
“One for the Brits, please, David!”
The media throng followed Beckham to the soccer field, where Beckham mingled with a few dozen youngsters, demonstrating the finer points of the free kick. For more than two hours, Beckham played with the kids, posed for more photos, gave brief interviews as he moved along the media barricade as if it were a receiving line. He obliged every autograph request. He even took one fan’s mobile phone and said hello to the young man’s disbelieving girlfriend on the other end.
Taking it all in with irrepressible grin was Leiweke, who was trying to envision what something such as this would mean to the Galaxy and MLS.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “You’ve just never seen anything quite like this.
“Look, I’ve been to Final Fours, world championships, the NBA and NHL all-star games, Kobe [Bryant] apologizing. This is something else. And this is all about the right things. No controversy. Nothing bad. It’s all about the kids.”
From there, Leiweke would like to see about Beckham taking over MLS and making over the league’s image as it stands now in the glutted U.S. sports scene. You could give the project a code name: Mend It With Beckham.
Beckham says he is intrigued by soccer’s potential for growth in the United States.
“That’s why I wanted to open an academy here,” he said. “I opened one in London, of course, that is the obvious [choice]. People have said to me, ‘Why America? Soccer is not as big in America as everywhere else in the world.’
“But, you know, it’s a challenge. I said potentially it could be huge. The women’s side here is huge. And the facilities for sport in America are currently the best in the world. The same goes for soccer. The facilities that I’ve seen over here are incredible. If you’ve got facilities like that, you can bring on talented youngsters and players and produce talented youngsters and players.”
Beckham dismissed rumors that his next career stop would be at either Chelsea or Arsenal, saying, “I’ve got two years left at Real Madrid. Obviously there’s an opportunity to move to America over here, which I’m thinking about. I don’t see myself playing in England again....
“There have been rumors since the first day I signed for Real Madrid. ‘When’s he going to come back? And who’s he going to come back to? Is it going to be Arsenal? Is it going to be Chelsea?’
“And that’s what the rumors have been like from the moment I signed. I’m sure they will carry on, but I keep coming out and saying that I’m not leaving Real Madrid. Hopefully they’ll listen eventually.”
If not England, where next for Beckham after his Real Madrid contract expires?
Leiweke has a place in mind.
“I don’t know,” Beckham said with a bemused laugh. “We’ll have to wait and see, what offers come in, what clubs come in. We’ll have to wait and see.”
