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Bent Over Beckham
I'm not impressed by Beckhamania.
Sure, I'm excited about David Beckham's arrival. He's a world class icon coming to compete in our backyard. I planned my Saturday around his first match in a Galaxy uniform, despite the fact that it's just a friendly in an obscure tournament during the MLS All Star break. I embedded a semi-regular "Beckham Watch" in our "LAst Night's Action" segments and I've posted highlight videos of his greatest plays.
Beckham is awesome.
Beckhamania? Not so much.
Ultimately, this fad will fade like so many fake Hollywood tans. ESPN is sending 19 cameras to record his first action in front of a 27,000 person sellout crowd. Who knows how many cameras will be on his wife, Victoria, for the reality show "Coming to America." In the end, Americans are interested in the celebrity, not the sport. Here's a guy with model quality looks, a pop singer wife, and who pockets $50,000,000 per year to play a game. Of course people are going to be curious. But what will happen when they finally see him play?
Beckham isn't exactly a scoring machine. The past four years he's averaged only one goal every 8.9 games for Real Madrid. His career on the British national team isn't a whole lot better, finding the net every 5.6 games or so. Compare that to baseball stars who average about a run or RBI per game. Compare that to top quarterbacks who average a couple touchdowns per game. Compare that to basketball stars who average 30 points per game. Heck, compare that to Pele, who averaged more than a goal per game in ten different seasons while playing for Santos in Brazil.
Beckham is a fantastic set-up man and a great midfielder. He's brilliant at free kicks. But he simply will not change American attitudes about the game of soccer because he will not score enough. Pele tried, but by the time he played in the US he was only averaging one goal every 3.8 games. It wasn't enough to create a lasting impact -- though it was far better than Beckham has ever done.
The NHL knows that scoring counts in this country so they changed their rules to accommodate fans. Despite their best efforts, the league's playoffs wallow in the obscurity of the Versus television network and can get cut short for NBA pregame coverage. Not even the game itself. PRE-GAME. That's not a good sign when soccer has a similar scoring scheme.
Low scoring is related to low attendance. In Tuesday's (Beckham-less) Galaxy match against Tigres UANL, it was reported that about 2,000 fans showed up to see the home team manage just two shots on goal in 90 minutes of play. Considering that the Tigres are a popular team from Mexico and the game was played in a city with millions of Mexican immigrants, you'd think that might help. Apparently not. On the same night, the LA Sparks (Women's professional basketball) drew 8,773 to Staples Center. Even that number is dwarfed by some high school football games, and is laughable in a metro region with 17.8 million people. You don't even see as many people sporting Galaxy apparel as you do Raider gear -- and that team hasn't played here for 13 years.
An executive from a soccer brand that rivals one of Beckham's sponsors recently told me that they didn't have a response to Becks -- they were just "going to take it." Why? Because at least he's bringing attention to the sport, and will increase the demand for soccer related products. It's better to have a slice of the pie than a slice of nothing. Sound business advice, but a sad outlook for soccer.
The good news? Real fans will have a great opportunity to observe a truly spectacular player upclose -- once everybody else falls off the bandwagon.
AP photo by Kevork Djansezian.