A little over a month ago, the soccer world learned that David Beckham will be coming to the United States to join Major League Soccer's (MLS) Los Angeles Galaxy. As my uncle and I discussed, this will either ruin the league or make it that much better. The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the predecessor to Major League Soccer. It died in 1984 due to over expansion (24 teams) and paying huge salaries to aging foreign super-stars who were unknown to people in the U.S. So, if Beckham is the first of many superstars to come, it could cause ticket prices to soar and sap the energy right out of the league. Fortunately, it seems like MLS has learned from the mistakes of NASL and has placed a salary cap on the teams except for a single player (the Beckham clause?).

Hopefully, it will have the opposite effect and people will be drawn to the sport. I've been to an MLS games in Chicago (the Fire) and in Columbus (Crew) to see the U.S. play Mexico. My uncle and I talked about going to Columbus if the Galaxy played the Crew, but you have to be a season ticket holder to get tickets to that game. ;) I'm hopeful that Beckham's coming to MLS will benefit the league and the sport of soccer in the U.S. Having seen the U.S. play in Cleveland and Columbus, the Fire play the Crew in Chicago, and Fulham play West Ham in London, I am hopeful that soccer becomes more popular here in the States. I think it is a great sport and am hopeful its popularity will grow.

Posted by Curt at February 16, 2007 05:10 PM