Yanks and Football

[glory55]

Is anyone else sick of this taking football to America line??

Im fed up with it!

The former captain of England wants to take football to the masses in America!

Whats the f**king point!!??

Shouldn't he be looking closer to home!??

Why doesnt he stay in this country and be an ambassador for football??

Set up more local training facilities!!

Improve England's youth!!

Increase our chances of winning something!!

Im sorry........ but forget America!!

Its all about money and fame!!

And anyone who buys into this "Taking football to America" line,is a mug!!

I have always had a complete lack of respect for David Beckham.......

....Because he is a media whore!

You dont need to sell football to the world........

...You either like it or you dont!!

They had the World Cup in 94 and made a mockery of that!!

So why are they still trying to shove football down Yank's throats??

It winds me up!!!

Rob

[BLUENUT]

Why doesnt he stay in this country and be an ambassador for football??

Its all about money

The fella is a prick and not a very good player at that. He is the reason people who haven't got a clue about the game, think they know something and want to talk about it. It's all about money for him and his missus, you've answered your own question I'm afraid.

Beckham went to America for the same reason clubs in this country are being bought up by yanks. ??$$MONEY??$$. We have the 'biggest and best' league in the world, according to SKY and just imagine the marketing potential and kit sales the US can generate!! Same goes for Asia, even Fulham are playing preseason friendlies out there this season!!!

This comment came from someone talking about Glastonbury this year, it is just as easily applied to football:

As soon as the money men are involved, they sanatise it, make it more commercial, and destroy it's soul.

[Englishman]

If Pele, Best, Beckenbauer and Cruyff couldn't turn the Yanks on to football, then Becks has no chance.

America already has basketball, baseball and American football for national sports, and most of them have no interest in adding 'soccer' to that list.

[RedRobMol]

Why doesnt he stay in this country and be an ambassador for football??

because his wife is a laughing stock in this country, but virtual royalty in the states, that is simply it.

[Jack]

The MLS will never be successful, mainly because all the other sports are owned by guys who also control the TV output. The funny thing about Beckham going to the US to promote the game is that while he's there, all the Americans are here buying up clubs to sell merchandise back home!

The game here will always be bigger in the States than their own game purely because of the history, the names and the genuine competition it creates. The US has no great players of it's own and as soon as it does, the Europeans will snap them up. You can't run a sport by parading players reaching the end of their time and saying "look how great he WAS" - they need to generate their own structure and up against basketball, US football and baseball (even ice hockey) - no chance, the tv stations won't have it.

[glory55]

Oh and by the way......................

.....Neil Barnett should knock on the head his American style boxing introduction of players!!!

F**king makes me cringe!!!!

[bonetti]

Oh and by the way......................

.....Neil Barnett should knock on the head his American style boxing introduction of players!!!

F**king makes me cringe!!!!

Yeah that and that Samsung singing crap - demeaning

[glory55]

Oh and by the way......................

.....Neil Barnett should knock on the head his American style boxing introduction of players!!!

F**king makes me cringe!!!!

Yeah that and that Samsung singing crap - demeaning

What were they thinking of???

We dont need any of that half time crap,just the half time scores a few wets,thank you!

[lauren]

Oh and by the way......................

.....Neil Barnett should knock on the head his American style boxing introduction of players!!!

F**king makes me cringe!!!!

Yeah that and that Samsung singing crap - demeaning

What were they thinking of???

We dont need any of that half time crap,just the half time scores a few wets,thank you!

bring back the old boards with the letters and numbers - I used to love watching the guys behind the boards change the half time scores and check the programme to see who was playing who

[clubhappy]

Before the 94 W.C. , the yanks wanted to ban offside , make the goals wider and have time outs for commercial breaks .

Its a sport for teenage schoolgirls , and thats all it will ever be .

Can you just imagine what would happen if it ever became the NO 1 sport over there ?

[Joel]

The MLS will never be successful, mainly because all the other sports are owned by guys who also control the TV output.

That depends on your definition of "success" in my opinion. A sport that can rival the traditional four major North American sports? Not in my lifetime. But a sport that can remain a healthy niche and financially viable (albeit not wildly profitable), yes, I believe so. The true fans of the game will always be there, even if the number of casual fans waxes and wanes.

Sports television output is controlled by large corporations (Disney owns ABC and the ESPN family of networks, General Electric owns NBC, Viacom owns CBS, etc). But in a broad sense you are right that the owners of major sports franchises (generally families or groups of investors) can band together and dictate what shows up on American TV screens. That's why FOX and CBS shell out billions for the rights to the NFL--the product is by far the favorite of Joe Sixpack and ratings and ad money are on the line.

Now having said that I think MLS can continue to plod along in its modest stability, I can't stand to watch it. I'd take a Ligue 1 match on pixellated, bandwidth-starved Setanta over the weekly MLS match in high definition on DirecTV....10 times out of 10. The general lack of technique is appalling, the defending amateurish, the crowds/atmosphere lifeless, and television commentary of the sport in this country makes me want to hang myself.

And I agree about your analysis of what will happen to our homegrown talent pool--even in the rosiest of scenarios I can't see a talented young American player picking MLS over the allure of European clubs anytime within the next generation.

[Guest Brian M]

but virtual royalty in the states, that is simply it.

You couldn't be further from the truth...but then, being a Liverfool fan, one can excuse your innate inability to see things clearly and your predisposition for, how shall we say...distorting the facts?

Critics savage Beckham's reality show

Victoria Beckham's attempts to woo the US media since arriving in Los Angeles with soccer star husband David appear to have backfired. Critics have savaged her reality show, to be broadcast in the States and Australia tonight.

Victoria Beckham: Coming to America, was originally intended as a mini-series, but trimmed to a one-hour special.

Billed as a revealing special that "delves into Victoria's larger-than-life world to reveal, among other things, her wicked sense of humour and style," the show has failed to impress the mainstream media.

The New York Post gave the show a damning zero-star review, slamming the pop star turned fashion figure as "relentlessly self-promoting" with "vapid, condescending behaviour" in a show described as "an orgy of self-indulgence."

"You'll sit there slack-jawed at the gall of these people who think we are that stupid," the Post's reviewer wrote in a scathing broadside, also laying into the couple's "nightmarishly overdone rococo mansion" in Beverly Hills.

"The 'special' which NBC calls an 'exclusive' inside look at Victoria's larger-than-life life smacks of too much fame, too much money and too much time spent believing the hype for all concerned," the paper wrote.

The New York Times was no more forgiving in its write-up, describing Victoria as being "somewhat famous for being sort of famous, and is photographed a lot in Britain."

"She does appear to be pleasant and not without a sense of humour. But that isn't quite enough to carry viewers through an hour of house hunting, sunbathing and applying for a driver's license," the paper's reviewer said.

"There has to be something going on behind the scenes because there is no other way to explain so much time and videotape spent on the moving arrangements of Mr Beckham's wife.

"If she can retain viewers past the first commercial break, then the results will be conclusive: either there is a vast, media-controlling conspiracy afoot, or there is no such thing as celebrity ditz-fatigue."

The US media has been having a field day since the couple arrived in Los Angeles last week, with the pair appearing on magazine covers, chat shows and television specials.

[Guest Brian M]

Beckham in Mission Unnecessary

By John May

A famous American once said: "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country."

Former United States president John F Kennedy's patriotic plea seems tailor-made to adapt for David Beckham's mission statement: Ask not what football can do for me but what I can do for football.

After all, Beckham is coming to America to save football. Isn't he?

Well, actually, probably not. The perception is that Beckham will do for soccer what Pele could not do and put it right at the heart of sport in the United States.

But the Major League Soccer that greets Beckham is a far different beast than the North American Soccer League that Pele and George Best desperately tried to promote.

Soccer now is far more deeply entrenched in American sport than we might think.

Consider a few facts to dispel the myth that US sports fans do not give a fig about soccer.

The 2006 World Cup final attracted more television viewers than baseball's 2005 World Series pulled in on any single night.

Soccer is the most popular recreational sport for boys and girls in the US. More young people play it than any other sport.

The MLS is the 12th most attended top-flight football league in the world.

So, Americans do like soccer and the MLS has tapped into the market, having learned from the mistakes of the NASL.

German legend Franz Beckenbauer trots out for NY Cosmos

The NASL came into existence in 1968 but almost immediately lost its vital television contract with CBS because of poor ratings.

Any sport wanting to gain a foothold in America needs a strong television presence and back then soccer was effectively trying to wean Americans off mom's apple pie to feed them fish and chips.

The New York Cosmos epitomised the NASL's brash razzamatazz style - with Pele as the poster-child, they averaged gates of 40,000 and topped 70,000 in the Meadowlands stadium they shared with the Giants.

But elsewhere, the national average was 15,000 and some clubs struggled to pull in 5,000.

606: DEBATE

In the US, soccer is the sport of the future, and it always will be

BG

Amid spiralling wages, too quick an expansion and young American players with whom the public might have associated being left on the bench, the NASL folded in 1984.

It might have been different had Fifa awarded the 1986 World Cup to the USA instead of Mexico but, like a Fourth of July firework, the NASL took off, had its moment of glory as it exploded, only to fizzle out.

With that, soccer slipped back into obscurity, kicking around in the novelty emporium of various indoor formats.

In 1986, Fifa rectified its mistake by awarding the 1994 World Cup to the USA, with the stipulation that a proper professional league be founded.

The Americans' love of a big event ensured the World Cup would be a success. The problem was always going to be what happened when the show left town.

MLS was formed on 17 December 1993 but it took until 1996 for the 10-team league to begin and was a sickly child whose chances of survival looked slim. It was not helped by the USA's poor showing at the 1998 World Cup, which only gave fuel to the naysayers and doom-mongers.

A revival came about on the back of committed owners like Lamar Hunt and Phil Anschutz, who through his AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group) owns LA Galaxy, Chicago Fire and Houston Dynamo, and the building of soccer-specific stadiums.

Home Depot is where the heart is for Los Angeles Galaxy

Slowly and unassumingly - two qualities not normally found in American sport - a new generation of players developed and the USA's romp to the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals rekindled interest at just the right time.

The irony was that US players turned their backs on the league that developed them and left for Europe to improve their game.

The MLS's structure also started to pay dividends, with teams controlled by the league and shared income and player contracts negotiated by the league keeping costs in check, while making clubs more appealing to owners and investors prepared to pay the $30m franchise fee.

Crucially, television is now interested. Every MLS match this season will be screened live, many of them on cable channels.

Although Sportsweek magazine estimates that since its inception MLS's losses have totalled $350m, soccer in the US has turned a corner.

LA Galaxy made a profit in 2003 in its first season at the Home Depot Centre, way before England midfielder Beckham galloped over the horizon from Real Madrid.

FC Dallas are also in profit and MLS commissioner Dan Garber expects all clubs to be profitable by 2010 as more build their own, soccer-specific stadiums.

So at the risk of raining on Beckham's tickertape parade, this Hollywood plotline does not involve our hero riding to the rescue of soccer in the States.

But if he can build on what is already there, he might turn the Little House on the Prairie into a mansion.

[paulo]

Can you just imagine what would happen if it ever became the NO 1 sport over there ?

Look at what they did to rounders, netball and rugby.

[glory55]

Americans and football.............Oh yes

[Plavi26]

I never liked the MLS, but it seems to be showing some life for the past two years. But one thing that I hate is that the crowds in most of the stadiums seem silent, the american football stadiums kill all the atmosphere of the games supporter wise. The stadiums are ment to support 40 000 and more people, while at games only 15000 show up, so what you see are empty stadiums. And well the issue of talent. Some of the players seem to show some light, but for the most part something is really lacking. No major players have come to another player, and most of the player exported to Europe don't seem to have much of succes. Coming back to the supporters issue, the Canadian club Toronto FC seems to be doign fine in that departement. The team is broadcasted on CBC (national television) and as not filled the stadium only once this year (average attendance is 20 000, lowest 16 000 due to rain and storm).

The game in North America can develop and there's a great number of talents around, it's just that there's not enough efforts put into it. For my part, I live in Canada and apart from Hockey, all my friends and most of the people I know follow Football much more then any other sport

[Backbiter]

Here's an interesting stat I read on the weekend:

More Americans watched the 2006 World Cup Final than watched any of the 2006 Baseball World Series games

What that tells me is that 'soccer' is already a popular sport over there. It's just MLS which lacks real credibility and status amongst the US public.

[loz]

I have lived in Toronto and also spent time working in the US mainly Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Cleveland but also a little time in Chicago and in all those places I found a pretty healthy interest in football.

The lack of atmosphere thing I can only imagine is down to the geography of the country more than the lack of enthusiasm by fans - it is always going to be hard to get a decent noise going when there is no away fans.

[Guest Brian M]

Will Buckley

Sunday July 22, 2007

The Observer

There were two documentaries on American soccer last week, both, in different ways, illuminating. First, there was Once in a Lifetime, which told the story of the high-rolling, hard-partying, all-scoring New York Cosmos. They're the only team in history to play the following front three: Pele, Giorgio Chinaglia, Steve Hunt. The inclusion of the Coventry player, like Russell Osman's appearance in Escape to Victory, was odd but somehow right.

The longer Chinaglia played for Cosmos the greater his resemblance to Tony Soprano, and even for an ex-Swansea centre-forward he had a substantial ego. He scored 242 goals in 254 games and each one fed the beast.

Asked recently if he was the best player to have played in America he replied: 'Yes. Why? Facts and figures. I won more world championships than anybody. I was top goalscorer. What else do you want to know? Let's be realistic. No offence to anybody. Numbers don't lie. Two and two make four. Like sometimes I read a quote from a player and then they say, "They misquoted me." No, you said it. You f*****g said it. What is your problem?'

Discussing Studio 54, the players' club of choice, he said: 'I was blown away. I went up to the gallery once with a friend of mine. You gotta be kidding me, what things were going on. Porn movies were like tiddlywinks compared to the stuff going on. Men and women. Women and women. Men and men. The weird thing is, sometimes we used to bring our wives. They would say, "Why did you bring us?" I don't know.'

Now, 30 years on from the Chinaglias we have the Beckhams, who announced their arrival in America with his-and-hers documentaries, Coming to America. Mrs Beckham's being broadcast last Tuesday, Mr Beckham's going out this Tuesday.

Victoria's effort was execrable, a Nascar-size chunk of car-crash television described in one of the more favourable reviews as 'the single most pointless TV show of all time'.

What made it remarkable was that it was produced by her agent, Simon Fuller. Posh was stitched up, not by Nick Broomfield or Louis Theroux, but by her own people. She was happy to be portrayed as someone with the charisma and looks of a tube of toothpaste squeezed in the middle by a man who not only took a producer's cut but also 10 per cent of her fee.*

Not even Posh can be that stupid. Which means that she, and she alone, thought the documentary showed her in a benign light; or that it was good for her precious image to be seen saying: 'I wouldn't normally do something like answer the door,' or 'I really thought one of my silicones was going to fly up my armpit,' or 'In a real earthquake I'd be really, really scared.'

Not only were the earthquakes fake, so were the personal assistants, the potentially lucrative Rebecca Loos holding role being played by an actress. It was a mark of how blurred fantasy and reality have become for Mrs Beckham that even though she knew the assistant was an actress she had to belittle her. 'Everyone needs a fat friend,' being her opening comment, to which the Loos-a-like replied: 'OK I'm chubby.'

A piece of bullying so cheap and vile that, in a just world, she would be condemned to live and sleep with the Cruises.

*Brian M Hollywood fact-a-thon: in the US at least (not sure about UK), an Agent CANNOT produce. Agents are licenced, Managers are not. Any t*t can call himself a 'manager' and take 10-15%. (And a lot do) Whereas an agent is restricted by law with taking 10%. So, a star's manager can produce a project their client is in, but not their agent. Also, if a star's rep produces the project they are in, they are not allowed to take their commission as well. It's known in the biz as a 'double dipping'. So, the star's rep take either their commission or their producer fee, whichever is higher.