MLS: Did the David Beckham experiment work for the league?

The David Beckham to MLS experiment is ten years old today. Was the project a success or failure?

It only seems like yesterday that Major League Soccer purchased David Beckham. It was an interesting time for the league having just survived extinction a few years earlier and having gone through the tumultuous loss of two of their franchises. This was also pre-Cascadia so there still wasn’t the rush of excitement from Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver that would give the league another big boost i the early 2000’s.

But there still was Beckham and boy did he bring the excitement. The parade and dog and pony show that came with his signing was unlike anything that soccer had seen in this country since the 1994 World Cup. Although his playing style has left a lot to be desired there is no question that the Beckham did (and still does) carry a huge amount of clout. He passed the mother test in that he was a name that even non-soccer fans had heard about. Yes, it was a very exciting time to be a soccer fan in North American.

Ten years on though the impact of his signing does not carry the same weight. While he did end up becoming a success both on and off the field for the Galaxy and MLS his signing doesn’t feel as big of a move as it did at the time. Yes, Beckham did help the Galaxy win two MLS Cups and two MLS Supporters Shields and he did certainly pack houses the first time through on the road. But Beckham was never really the transcendent player on the pitch that he was sold as. Pele he was not.

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There seems to be two reasons for this. First, the soccer public is much more savvy than they were ten years prior. Supporters here in the United States have the chance to consume more soccer than ever before and certainly more than they did in 2007. With more opportunities to watch quality players there is more of an opportunity to watch the best players in the world on an everyday basis. At the time Beckham was touted as being one of the top players in the world. But the ugly truth is that is a title that never really fit David. He was a good player, for sure but not on par with the likes of Zidane, Ronaldinho, or Thierry Henry at the time.

Second, there have been so many different other players come into the league that Beckham has almost been overshadowed. Henry, Kaka, Frank Lampard, Sebastian Giovinco., Robbie Keane, David Villa and Steven Gerrard have all come into the league since Beckham’s debut and have had varying levels of success. Even players of a lesser level of pedigree like Obafemi Martins, and Nicolas Lodeiro have come to the league and done well. Beckham really did lead the charge for top players at the tail end of their prime/twilight of their career to come to MLS. That is great for the league but perhaps does his career a disservice.

One also has to wonder what the Miami situation has done to sully his time with MLS. His continued tepid interest in a Miami expansion team has not helped his image with hardened MLS supporters. Had he chosen a much easier city to earn a franchise there would be the chance that Beckham could have cleaned up whatever hard feelings exist with supporters. But the starts and stalls and the lack of communication as to what progress has been made on Miami has only had a negative impact on his image.

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Beckham’s time in MLS was certainly not a complete negative experience for the Englishman and the league. His signing became the spark that helped set off the talent acquisition boom today and gave MLS a chip that they could sell to the general audience. But ten years on the question as to Beckham’s true impact has still yet to be answered.

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