by Zach Bigalke

Created on: March 11, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

I think the "Beckham Rule" will hurt MLS for the following reasons:

1. Domestic Talent Exodus - Younger domestic & unheralded Central & S. American players are getting discovered in MLS... & then BOLTING for Europe. The Beckham Rule offers no incentive for non-marquee players to STAY in MLS...

Adding one marquee player does little if anything to improve the overall talent level. The designated player counts as $400,000 toward the cap... so one player takes up one-sixth of cap space. This forces teams to prioritize between a skilled TEAM and a skilled PLAYER. One better player does not a better team make...

2. Haves & Have-nots - The 2008 projected MLS salary cap is $2.3 million. One player making 3x the total cap (as is the case w/Beckham's precedent-setting $6.5 million base salary) only serves to drain the overall talent level as clubs can only hang on to their one star and a rotating cast of minimum-wage journeymen...

Five players are currently signed for the 2008 season under the Designated Player Rule:

Juan Pablo Angel, New York Red Bulls (32/$1.6m)
David Beckham, Los Angeles Galaxy (32/$6.5m)
Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Chicago Fire (35/$2.7m)
Marcelo Gallardo, D.C. United (32/$1.3m)
Claudio Reyna, New York Red Bulls (34/$1.25m)

The reality is that the DP/Beckham rule brings in NAMES. All these players are past their prime seasons. Gallardo was signed after no one wanted him elsewhere after a disappointing season. Beckham has been largely an on-field bust. Blanco has only 4 goals in 17 appearances.

These moves are being made SOLELY for the purposes of getting big names. The goal for the MLS is to still be afloat in the near & distant future. The Designated Player Rule is a restricted attempt to become what the NASL was from 1968-1984... a premier American soccer league...

3. Fiscal health - MLS has lost $350 million in its first 12 years. Big-name players end up receiving the lion's share of revenue. Gate receipts and jersey sales can only do so much to offset the elephantine salaries.

But the NASL folded because it overpaid for aging & overrated BIG NAMES. The Designated Player Rule does nothing more than try to placate owner lust for marquee names & make a short-term effort to grab fans before debts get too big for solvency. MLS still only draws a 0.2 average TV rating... & gets, on average, 70,000 more for Beckham & LA...

I would ponder this: what is most important to the long-term survival of MLS - short-term buzz and continued fiscal decrepitude, or righting the books BEFORE growing into a star-packed league? The Beckham Rule sets a precedent that the league will subvert its own carefully-laid plans in a floundering effort to generate buzz with over-the-hill stars.

There is historical evidence that this method will work in the short term for an American professional soccer league. The NASL did it, most spectacularly with Pele & the New York Cosmos, but it did it while all the while bleeding money. Owners are giving themselves the rope to commit financial suicide...

The MLS needs attention, certainly, if it is to grow into a respected American professional league. Yet the early television returns seem to portend no great leap for revenues or ratings. The MLS Cup will continue to change hands in obscurity until the league realizes it needs more than just some pretty faces & well-known names to draw in viewers and breed new soccer fans...

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