Only One Football

A few days ago the New York Times reported that FC Barcelona is having second thoughts on attaching their brand to the new Miami MLS franchise they have to this point backed.  Bolivian tech billionaire Marcelo Claure is the chief financier of the Miami bid.  FC Barcelona was thought to be splitting the costs of the MLS club with Claure, but from comments at Barcelona’s biannual financial meeting it appears the Bolivian may be on his own.  The Times says that Barca’s chief executive called the MLS bid situation “very delicate and we are evaluating if the situation allows for the model planned to be implemented in Miami or not.”  It sounds like Barcelona has cold feet on the eve of the MLS’ final decision on which cities will be awarded the 17th and 18th franchises.  Could this all be David Beckham’s fault?

With Beckham doing everything he can to seal a permanent move to AC Milan, Barcelona may see the league’s prospects as dimming quite a bit from a marketing point of view.  With Beckham in MLS for the next three years and stars such as Thierry Henry waxing on about playing in MLS, the momentum of the league might have seemed attractive.  With Beckham leaving, the MLS will lose its glamour and possibly the interest of the Henry’s of the world.  This chain of events would make it unattractive to FC Barcelona as well.

It is possible that these words are just posturing on the part of the Miami bid.  Since the beginning, the Miami group has tried to pressure MLS into letting it start play in 2010 rather than the 2011 debut date set for clubs 17 and 18.  On top of this, there has been speculation that the Miami bid may be trying to get MLS to accept less than the $40 Million fee required by the league.  With other willing suitors, MLS would be unlikely to budge at such a tactic, especially since it already spurned the superbly attractive idea of adding Montreal to the league because their owners didn’t want to pay full freight.

To the American sports audience, David Beckham’s attempts to force a transfer from the Los Angeles Galaxy to AC Milan may seem petty, as though he is refusing to honor his contract.  This type of behavior is generally looked down upon in American sports.  It happens, such as when Eli Manning forced a trade from the Chargers to the Giants just as John Elway did from the Colts to the Broncos.  Those players recovered because they excelled in the spotlight of the Super Bowl.  Beckham’s brand will certainly lose luster in the eyes of American audiences over this saga, but it is the MLS that has more to lose than Beckham.  In reality, the league has no choice but to sell the former England captain.  The league can position itself as a place where Beckham rejuvenated his career (even though he really did that towards the end of his time at Real Madrid).  It use that as a way to try to attract aging or struggling soccer stars like Ronaldo, who ended up going to the Greek league.  But if MLS doesn’t let Beckham go, they may be seen by these same footballers as a place to be wary of and that a pact with MLS is like a deal with the devil.  That is something the league cannot afford.  Beckham must go for the good of the future of MLS and its ability to attract brand name players.  Beckham’s time here can be seen as a positive if it ends gracefully, and the only way to do that now is to sell Beckham since he’s making it clear to the world that he wants out.

In the short run, this may make MLS less attractive to the likes of FC Barcelona.  That may not be a bad thing, though.  Chivas USA already provides the MLS with a club that gives off the sense of being a minor league team, it may not be in the league’s long term interests to have another.   If Barcelona walks, the MLS would still have the attractive options of Portland, Vancouver, St. Louis, Ottawa and yes even a Barca-less Miami.  When Beckham leaves, the MLS will no longer have its golden boy, but it will have a league with a much higher profile than when he came on board.  They can’t win this battle, but they will have gone a long way toward winning the war to be a true major American sports league.