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Beckham effect? What Beckham effect?
Reuters reporter Ben Klayman takes a look at the just finished Major League Soccer season, from a business perspective, and finds that the much-anticipated ‘Beckham bounce’ doesn’t seem to have happened. He writes:
Two years after David Beckham joined the league, Major League Soccer is facing many headwinds in addition to the declining economy as it attempts to establish itself as a major player on the sports landscape.While Beckham’s signing in 2007 helped boost the league’s public awareness and put more fans in the seats, television ratings for the young league remain stagnant and some analysts said the MLS will never be more than a minor player behind football, baseball and basketball.There are few teams making money yet out of the MLS (although the same could be said of most clubs in debt-ridden European leagues) but, as Ben notes, there are plenty of investors still wanting a piece of the action:
Enough people believe in the MLS that seven bidders hope to be one of the 2011 expansion teams, including groups with the owner of the National Football League’s Atlanta team, a partnership that includes the Barcelona soccer club and the owner of the National Hockey League team in Montreal.Clearly those investor groups believe that there is money to be made out of soccer in the US market at some stage in the future.Do they have real reason to be confident? Or is Michael Cramer, professor of sports management at New York University, right when he says: “I have real doubts Major League Soccer as we know it will make it in the next 20 to 25 years”?Personally, I find the argument that the MLS will never be able to overtake the NFL, MLB or NBA in the popularity stakes to rather miss the point. Soccer has its niche in the market, the specialist television stations broadcast the games and the soccer specific stadiums of 20,000 capacity appear to be ideal for the clubs at this stage.That the MLS is expanding in difficult economic times indicates things aren’t quite so glum as some soccer sceptics suggest. MLS isn’t about to re-make the mistakes of the NASL by expanding too quickly, with too many foreign players, but that means progress is less spectacular.PHOTO: David Beckham smiles during his presentation as an LA Galaxy player in Carson, California, July 13, 2007. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Premier League not a sell-out
So now we know why the Premier League are so keen on taking matches on tour to Asia: the 39th game might be the only one that’s actually sold out.
According to a Daily Telegraph report, attendances at Premier League games are down by an average of almost a thousand fans per game this season. Even Manchester United have been affected, the report says, with the English and European champions having failed to sell out Old Trafford’s 76,180 seats for any game this season.
Most will see this as a sign that the recession is biting in England. Shelling out a hundred quid for a couple of tickets to a 90-minute show must feel more like a luxury than ever these days. And to quote from the Telegraph story:
It is the surest sign yet that the Premier League is not immune from the global financial downturn. The cost of entry, as well as the price of travel, is too much for fans already feeling the pinch to justify.
Prices in the Premier League are far too high, it’s not surprising that crowd numbers are down.
And as for this supposedly 39th game, I’ve never heard such a ridiculous money grabbing idea in all my life. Complete farce.
Cheers
Rik
Lippi enters the Respect debate – but is he on the losing side?
One of the benefits of being a World Cup-winning manager is that nobody complains if you turn up at a party and start badmouthing the hosts – they’re too grateful you came in the first place.
Italy boss Marcello Lippi did that this week when he reprimanded his country’s professional footballers for their treatment of referees at a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of their union, the AIC.
“No one could have Italian footballers more dear to their heart than me, they made me world champion,” he said. “But something unpleasant exists, there are bad manners on the field. Relations with opponents and, above all, with referees are rude, vulgar and taste of animosity.
“Insults, swearing, expressions of intolerance have become habitual. The referee is faced with the dilemma of pretending not to hear to save the match or sending people off and spoiling the spectacle. Either way he gets criticised.”
I always thought that Lippi was like that!! I had an feeling lol!!
Vlog on the pitch – can Arsenal thrive in the Champions League?
The William Gallas saga behind them, Arsenal have reached the last 16 of the Champions League after a 1-0 win over Dynamo Kiev.
A late winner from substitute Nicklas Bendtner was enough to send the Gunners through with a game to spare but will Arsene Wenger have to change things if his young side are to progress further in the competition?
Vlogonthepitch regular Owen Wyatt discusses Arsenal’s chances with Joe Brock in the video above. Let us know your views.
Owen, great to see you in action! The link to the vlog is pretty popular, so thought I’d see what you were up to at the moment! Very interesting content too, eloquent handling of a disquieting gunners’ perfomance! Jud
Old Firm big fish can’t swim outside small pond
You shouldn’t laugh, but it’s hard not to after the mighty Old Firm, soccer’s biggest domestic bullies, once again found they were not so tough when they are allowed into the big boys’ playground.
Celtic might stick it to Hamilton Academical and Falkirk on a regular basis but AaB Aalborg proved too good for them on Tuesday as a 2-1 win for the Danes ended the Glasgow club’s interest in the Champions League early – again.
Why do Scotland’s finest struggle to make any impact when a similar-sized club like Porto continually do well and Anorthosis Famagusta flourish this year?
The Aalborg defeat should not have come as a shock as Celtic have now managed one draw, and a remarkable 19 defeats from their last 20 Champions League away games.
Indeed I’m not, nor Danish or, surprisingly, Scottish. I also, as I remember, pass absolutely no comment on Celtic’s performance against Aalborg other than to say they lost via an own goal and therefore “proved too good for them”. A defeat is a defeat and 19 of them and a draw from 20 away games involves a little more than bad luck, I’d suggest. Thanks for posting.
Wenger makes a statement with Fabregas appointment
Arsene Wenger’s appointment of Cesc Fabregas as captain is more than just a strategic move, designed to ward off Barcelona attempts to recover the one that got away. The decision also says something significant about the way Wenger sees Arsenal Football Club.
Wenger has changed the youth system, the players’ diets and the style of play and he has now appointed a captain made in the image of another gifted Catalan, Josep Guardiola i Sala.
The first time I was in a room listening to Wenger speak was after a Champions League game between Barcelona and Arsenal in 1999. Arsenal had just managed to claim a 1-1 draw, despite being comprehensively outplayed in the first half, and Wenger was extolling the virtues of Barca’s then captain.
“Guardiola was technically perfect,” he said, with something of a “purr” in his voice. “In the first half we tried to close him down to stop him using the ball but that didn’t work. In the second we just had to stop the ball getting to him in the first place.”*
Irrespective of whether this was a move to protect Fabregas from the lure of Barcelona, think it was a good decision by Wenger. reckon he is the best man to lead this young team forward.
Gallas was never the right captain.
What he said was probably right but the way he did it wasn’t.
Since then though he seems to have conducted himself well, and I just have a feeling it might have all galvanised the side and they could beat Chelsea on Sunday. If they get beaten, I don’t care what anyone says, it will already be down to a 3 horse race for the title.
Cheers
Rik
Let’s take ‘deliberately’ out of the handball law
I have a suggestion on how to clear up inconsistencies with handballs.
Law 12 states that “a direct free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a player…handles the ball deliberately”.
In reality, we all know this rule isn’t always applied correctly. When the ball strikes a hand or an arm which is well away from the body and all the stadium can see it, the referee will invariably give a foul whether it was deliberate or not (we can also argue whether the player is being naive by having his arms flailing about).
I think we should take ‘deliberately’ out of the law and replace it with “…gains an advantage from handling the ball”.
the problem with your suggestion is that “advantage” could play out over the course of seconds or even minutes, leading to the necessity of retroactive calls. the example you gave shows the flaw in your own premise. IF the ball had gone to the feet of a torino attacker, then there would have been no foul under your ruling. but what if it hadn’t? then the ref would have to call a retroactive foul, something abhorrent to and essentially unheardof in football. let the ruling stand, i say.
Don’t blame Gallas — he was trying to do a captain’s job
“There’s a lot of cover-ups sometimes and players need to stand up and be counted. I’m not sure that happens a lot at this club.” — Roy Keane, May 7, 2002.
“When you play for Manchester United nothing should interfere with what you are doing during the week and during a match. I have felt that one or two of the younger players have slackened off in training. I have not been happy about it. I have said it to them but maybe I have had to say it in public for them to sit up and take notice.” — Roy Keane, Feb 19, 2004.
And he did it again in 2005.
So what’s new about William Gallas revealing ’secrets’ from Arsenal’s dressing room? Nothing. And what’s so terrible about a captain hitting out at his team mates when they fail to deliver?
I think there is a difference between what Keane and Gallas did. Keane said nothing about what went on in the dressing room, which is something that is considered to be especially private, whereas Gallas did. Keane was also less inclined to be so specific about blaming individual players, again there is a difference between saying “one or two players have slackened off in training” and saying, as Gallas did, “people come up to me on the pitch and complain about a player…six years younger than me”. Doing a captain’s job is to either encourage or criticise the team as a whole, without revealing private details of goings on in the team dressing room, or directing criticism at an individual player. You would never find Keane sulking on the centre circle after the award of a last minute penalty against his side. On the contrary, Keane would have been the first to charge towards the goal ater the penalty was taken, determined to be the first to clear the ball should it be saved or hit a post, to recify the injustice. Whatever Gallas was doing, just as against Birmingham, it was not a captain’s job.
Adriano ‘the animal’ is still to find his bite
Adriano is surely one of the most frustrating players in the world.
The Brazilian has all the assets needed to be one of the very best strikers — power, pace and guile — yet he has wasted several opportunities to show he can be consistently good.
Indiscipline is part of his problem. Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho left him out for five games after he ignored his orders in a league match, stayed out at a night club and turned up late for training.
I remember Adriano looking outrageously good as Brazil won the Confederations Cup in Germany in 2005. At that time you would have bet on him taking the world cup by storm but it all went wrong for him, as with the Brazil team as a whole.
Should Arsenal give Gallas the boot?
For 12 years, Arsenal fans have been used to a manager so loyal it borders on the belligerent, but that quality appears to be lost on the team’s captain, William Gallas.
According to reports this morning, Gallas has been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy. For the sake of the club’s future, the manager may have to go even further and boot him out altogether. (more…)
If Gallas was half the captain Arsenal needed him to be, he would have taken himself aside after his display of disloyalty, given himself a damn good talking to, done a few trust exercises with himself and politely but firmly asked himself to apologise to his teammates. He wasn’t, so he didn’t…or did he?
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Very interesting comments and I think there is certainly something in the argument that US tv doesn’t cover soccer well.