Nothing like a good MLS contract to firmly conclude a player is 'DONE'. Whereas I thought Beckham may still have a good season left in him I am certain he is finished....he refuses to sign for non CL contenders only to sign in the MLS. Competitive? Of course, it will be a blast for him to play with players making 30k a year on his own team. Nothing like teamwork there.
Just like the NY Cosmos and WC 94 it will cause real football fans to cringe watching the bandwagoners wearing the Beckham jerseys and after a few months it will fizzle. Beckham will probably end doing infomercials by 2009.
Rumor is that Ronaldo and Del Piero will be the next big names to join MLS.
That is awfully short-sighted of you.
EXTREMELY short sighted of you.
Is Beckham "done" as far as being a regular first teamer on a premier club in Europe?? Yes, he is.
Has he lost a step?? Yes, he has.
Is he a player, like Mattheus, Valderrama, et al... who came here when they were in their late 30's for the sole purpose of looking to cash in on one last payday?? Absolutely not.
It took MLS a while to figure this out, but they finally realized that the ill-fated formula of young, home grown talent, and rapidly aging stars wasn't working, both on the field and in the stands.
The casual fans knew very little of these old players, and the hard core fans knew that the product they were seeing out of said players was merely a shell of what they used to be. And that is the big, BIG difference here. Mattheus, and to a degree, Valderama, were basically useless when they were here. Beckham can still be a game changer and a viable presence in THIS LEAGUE, which admitedly, is not nearly on par with other leagues around the world.
Beckham, at the age of 31, can, and will be a very effective player for the Galaxy, give the MLS world wide recognition, and be a flashpoint for players at similar stages of their careers to come and play football here.
Bottom line, there is very little downside to all of this. Beckham is going to make a ton of money here, his popularity will now be influenced by American audiences. The MLS, if you bothered checking up on this, have a very, very minimal financial risk (400,000.00 a year on his contract, the rest being paid for thru endorsements, part ownership in the Galaxy, and by the owners of the Galaxy, AEG Inc.)
What else were they supposed to do Nick???
Your post reeked of a very pessimistic attitude towards American Soccer, almost to the point where you would like to see it fail.