OK, I know it’s NOT “spin it”. I know like the movie title named after it, “Bend it like Beckham” refers to the unnatural and highly effective curve a soccer ball experiences once David Beckham administers his foot onto it, resulting in the ball eluding the soccer goalie and hitting the corner of the soccer net with a swish. It’s true poetry in motion.
And, no matter how many times you see him do it, it always leaves you wondering how in the world a human being can make a soccer ball sing such a sweet song that leaves the goalie looking like a complete oaf.
Beckham has agreed this week to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer in the U.S. by signing a $250 million five-year contract.
Beckham’s not only a soccer genius on the field, he’s Hollywood-star attractive, still in his prime soccer-wise, and can bring to the U.S. what no other soccer player or team has been able to effectively accomplish: to get America to truly love and support the game of soccer.
The Associated Press puts it best: “His soccer skills are only part of the equation. He’s David Beckham Inc., a multi-national corporation with links to Pepsi, Gillette, Motorola and Adidas.”
Aside from the Women’s Olympic Gold Medal Soccer Team and Mia Hamm of yesteryear, the game of soccer right NOW in the U.S. needs a shot in the arm big time, and Beckham is the medicine that can help to deliver the cure.
So he’s getting $50 million a year for the next 5 years. And yes, that’s a hefty if not the heftiest salary for one single athlete on a team sport. But think about it. Beckham’s reputation and celebrity will help Major League Soccer build a big following. Tried and true soccer fans will have a renewed interest. You’ll also get the on the fence soccer fans that now have a better reason to watch. Women young and old who are infatuated with Beckhams good looks will watch games. But most importantly, you’ll get the youth that are soccer players (and thus their parents) who want to be just like Beckham and now have more opportunity to see him now that he’s here. That’s the future of soccer in the U.S.
So when I say “Spin it like Beckham”, I mean that his being here is better than 100 top PR spin-masters who try through words and fancy PR campaigns to create interest in soccer. Like rats to the Pied Piper, sports fans will be lured into the sport of soccer through Beckham’s magic.
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