Reyna joins the Beckham CircusUpdated: February 12th, 2007
Does Claudio Reyna’s move to Red Bull New York tell us anything about the future of football in America?
Like Beckham, Reyna will be a “designated player” at his new club, allowing him to earn more than the previous maximum of $300,000 (£151,400) per year. But that’s where the similarity ends.
According to Sports Illustrated, Beckham will be paid a salary of $10million a year for five years and will also earn “40-to-50 percent of Galaxy jersey sales and an undisclosed share of ticket revenues”. Considering that Major League Soccer will earn just $20million from TV deals in 2007, Beckham’s salary is the equivalent of a Premiership player earning £450million next season. Quite where that money will come from is unclear, as new shirt sponsorship and extra season ticket sales will be nowhere near that figure (Galaxy’s Home Depot Center only holds 27,000 and last season’s gates averaged 20,814)
LA Galaxy is owned by billionaire Philip Anschutz’s whose company, AEG, until recently owned six out of the 12 MLS teams (the league will have 13 clubs next season with the creation of Toronto FC). He now owns four teams but also has a 50% stake in the Red Bulls’ stadium. After the Beckham deal was completed, AEG’s president and CEO, Tim Leiweke, made this mysterious comment to Sports Illustrated:
“There are certain aspects of the deal that are ultimately about the upside value of the league as a whole that David can participate in,” says Leiweke. “Our partners all had to sign off, and they did. We had a couple of interesting board calls, but they did.”
As the billionaire Anschutz also owns a Hollywood film studio and the biggest cinema chain in the US, getting the money back through movies is a distinct possibility. But all of that rests on Beckham’s star not being eclipsed.
While the Beckham deal has fuelled speculation that other stars will follow, my suspicion is that no team will sign any player who might overshadow him. In that context Reyna is an ideal choice. As former US captain he is no doubt respected in his own country, but neither his style of play nor off-field activities are likely to be making too many headlines.
And this is my main fear about the future of football in the US. I’m in America right now, in Portland Oregon where the local team is called Portland Timbers. I expected the crowd here to be made up of Soccer Moms, but not a bit of it. The hardcore fans are called the Timbers Army and gleefully ignore requests from the club not the chant obscenities at matches. Their most famous fan is Timber Jim, who cuts a log with a chainsaw every time Timbers score.
Timbers also have a long-standing connection with City. Jimmy Conway and Willie Donachie both joined the club from City and the fans sing “Rose City ‘Til I Die” at games. For me they show that the spirit of football is alive and kicking in America, but not yet with a voice that’s being heard. Portland haven’t been invited into the clique that is MLS, but still averaged 5,575 last season and drew a sell-out 20,000 for a friendly against Sunderland last summer.
I suspect Major League Soccer doesn’t want clubs like Portland right now. They want the Soccer and Tennis Moms (the Galaxy stadium is in a middle-class suburb of LA, next door to a large tennis centre) to passively consume their product. And with one man, Anschutz, exerting so much influence over the league, and with other clubs standing to profit from the “Beckham effect” the temptation must be to run the league for the benefit of their new cash cow.
Galaxy have already announced its kit will change colour for Beckham’s arrival and its badge will be redesigned. “We have a good name. Galaxy works. But we need a more legendary, traditional kind of look that’s more of a soccer look,” said Lewieke, without a hint of irony.
Not only could the whole Galaxy team be coached to make Beckham look good, but other clubs are hardly going to be incentivised to make him look bad.
Whether this deal will make money for Anschutz will be fascinating to watch. Not only do you have the problem of jealousy and resentment from team-mates paid a fraction of Beckham’s wage but forced to do his legwork, but the question of whether Beckham will cope with the physical demands of Major League Soccer is also worth examining.
Football is a summer game in America. And boy does it gets hot here.
Looking through last year’s fixtures at LA Galaxy’s website shows the average temperature at games in July and August is 83°, and probably a lot hotter than that at pitchside. When Galaxy visited Houston last year the temperature was 96°, while temperatures at the tastefully named Pizza Hut Park, home of FC Dallas, are regularly in the 90s.
I mentioned this to my girlfriend, who is American. “Oh it gets a lot hotter than that,” she chuckled. “Texas has 100% humidity during the summer.” Considering how the milder heat of 2006 World Cup made him throw up with dehydration, you have to wonder how long the thin crusted Mr Beckham will last in these conditions.
David Beckham’s football career won’t be buried in America. It will be cremated.
~ Last month I suggested that Anschutz might be the American billionaire who held discussions with City about a takeover (link). I’ve since been informed that he is not the person in question, but I’ll bring you more information about the mystery American’s identity as soon as I have it.
~ There seems to be some disagreement about how much Reyna actually earned at City. The Daily Mirror put his wage at £30,000 a week, while The Guardian claimed it was £37,500. As the Guardian’s figure is so specific you suspect there some truth in it, though I’m guessing that his basic salary is around £25,000 a week rising to £30,000 with maximum bonuses, and the rest is the signing-on fee / loyalty bonus.