The LA Galaxy, and Major League Soccer as a whole, made quite the splash when they signed David Beckham to be the game's pied piper in the United States. More attention was given to American soccer than ever before, and the media coverage more than made up for Beckham and the Galaxy's failures on the pitch. News of Beckham's tacit admission today that he would like to stay in Milan and possibly end his career there comes as no shock to American soccer fans; the question now becomes, "What next?".
The league and the Galaxy will both continue on, of course, doing their best to draw fans and television viewers without the English superstar on which to lean. Many believe MLS will be better for the Beckham departure, able now to return to the business of creating a sustainable soccer product in the United States without the distractions that Beckham's presence brought. Others will lament the early termination of a contract originally meant to help American soccer grow at a pace faster than its current place in the culture would seem to allow. Those with the latter viewpoint may call for a new Beckham, a superstar will international appeal that could salvage some of the "damage" done by the free kick maestro's early departure.
Nothing the league can do in this regard, short of bringing in an in-his-prime superstar at a cost the league could not justify, would garner attention the way the Beckham experiment did. The mainstream sports media fell over itself to trumpet the arrival of the photogenic Beckham and his former pop star wife in a way that could never be duplicated again. While the way in which his time here was covered, at least initially, bordered on the ridiculous, it would be difficult to argue that the exposure gained by MLS was not worth the money spent. If there is no one else who can do what Beckham did, should MLS even consider another bite at the apple?
The world of soccer that exists outside of the United States is undiscovered territory for American sports fans. Beckham's trump card was his crossover appeal, an appeal lacking in almost any player that would seriously consider a move to the U.S. Several prominent names have been linked with the league in recent years, most often because they themselves stated an affinity for the country and a possible desire to end their careers here. That stated caveat that they would like to finish their playing career in the U.S. is a bitter pill for American soccers fans and the league itself to swallow. The beauty of the Beckham concept, despite it's poor execution and potentially disappointing ending, was that Beckham was believed to still have some life left in his 30+ legs (which we now know is certainly the case). Any world famous footballer that might consider a move to MLS will more than likely do so when it is clear that he can no longer play with the upper-echelon of European talent; to sign a player like this would only further the already entrenched notion the MLS is a "retirement league".
MLS must ride a fine line with their attempts to bring notice to the game in the U.S. while still building the league's talent base and their reputation abroad. Do nothing, choose not to sign another gigantic superstar, and the league risks slipping back into irrelevancy in this country. Sign a big name, spending millions of dollars on one player for what amounts to a P.R. campaign, and the league risks losing sight of the ultimate goal of establishing a top-notch soccer league, while propagating their own poor standing in the international soccer community. Americans, while they may not be intimately familiar with the biggest names in the sport, are still aware that the domestic soccer league is bereft of star power; Americans will turn out for a star, something the league (outside of Blanco, whose main appeal lies in a specific segment of the population) is now without.
I'll miss Beckham's presence in MLS, if only because the coverage of the league is sure to slip somewhat back towards pre-experiment levels. I do think, however, that the product on the field, the efforts to grow grassroots fan support, and a slow improvement in the overall quality of players the league employs is more important than another flash-in-the-pan media blitz. Without entertaining matches, compelling storylines, attractive atmospheres and success in international competitions by MLS teams, the league will simply be an afterthought in the U.S., regardless of one or two famous names. The lessons of the NASL once again reverberate; even though the approach has been much more fiscally responsible, the league has to be aware that going back to the well a second time could be supremely disappointing.
Even if I was of the opinion that the league should go for Beckham 2.0, it wouldn't matter; there simply isn't anyone in the world of football big enough to match Goldenballs.
