by Thos Robert

Created on: August 20, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

I would like to think that the impact of David Beckham coming to America to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy would be beneficial enough to thrust professional soccer in America into the mainstream. But I'm afraid that that result is highly unlikely.

That said, David Beckham does, however, bring something to the MLS that it sorely needs, and that is celebrity. For the first time since the league's inception in 1996, the MLS has a player who has name recognition beyond the sports page. For the first time, an average American chosen at random on the street can actually name an active professional soccer player. David Beckham has, overnight, become the face of the MLS and soccer in America in general. And there is no way to underestimate the need for such a face, a face that soccer in America has not had since Pele.

However nice it may be to think that team sports and their individual franchises don't need powerful representational faces and that the beauty of the sport is the thing, the truth of the matter is that it's simply not true. Babe Ruth made baseball America's past-time. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson put basketball on the map, and Michael Jordan is the guy responsible for getting new arenas built across the country. Joe Namath made the world sit up and take notice of the American Football League, and Joe Montana ensured that the most expensive 30 seconds of ad time on television would forever be during the Super Bowl.

If soccer in America is ever going to make it to the next level, if it is going to get any kind of real air time on ESPN and more air time than the X-Games on ESPN2, the MLS needs a face. It needs a player that can make Americans care about who the winners and losers are in soccer. Somebody to either root for or against.

The problem with the idea of David Beckham filling the shoes of a Larry Bird or Joe Montana, however, is the fact that Beckham is highly unlikely to win a championship with Los Angeles. LA is one of the worst teams in the MLS, and Beckham's presence alone is not going to turn this team around. All the truly great players win that special championship that becomes imbedded in the collective sports psyche, and it's a bit far-fetched to think that Beckham is going to be able to bring a championship to LA.

Learn more about this author, Thos Robert.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.