America is about to welcome arguably the most well-known athletic superstar in the world. The 31 year old former England captain, David Beckham, recently signed a five year contract with LA Galaxy worth $250M. His current contract with Real Madrid expires on June 30th, but Beckham is not expected to join LA Galaxy before August. We explored to what extent Bechkam’s presence will increase soccer interest in the U.S..

The volume of unique visitors to Major League Soccer’s website has been growing slowly since 2001. However, these numbers significantly lag behind the respective interest in America’s major sports. On a relative basis, MLS is to baseball as Carrot Top is to Sacha Cohen – not nearly as popular.

Will Beckham make the difference? Can Beckham’s marketing potential take the MLS from the basement to the dinner table of the major sports market in the U.S.?

The winter months are the off-season for the MLS and are annually the low point in traffic to its official site; yet once the breaking news was released on January 12th, traffic to mlsnet.com increased by 200%. More striking was the jump in traffic to the Galaxy’s team page – 2000%.

It should come as no surprise that people jumped online to find the details of the Beckham deal. Beckham is considered an idol to thousands of soccer fans, not to mention millions of adoring girls. The impact of having such an extraordinary player with so much star power should have a great effect on the LA Galaxy and the MLS.

Will Americans’ soccer interest ever reach that of MLB, NBA or NFL? Hmmmm, can we afford twenty more Beckhams? Is Pele’ available?

ProfileGet SnapShots of sites mentioned in this post:

Share - Save - E-mail


Analyze more domains: + +

Done reading? subscribe: To get an automatic feed of all future posts subscribe here, or to receive them via email enter your email address in the box in the right column.

Link to This Post:     


Comments

RSS feed for comments on this post.
  1. Randy Parella

    I want Zidane and then I’ll help those trends. Adding Beckham to the MLS is like putting a cherry on top of bowl of dog food.

  2. John

    Yeah, it will be interesting to see what the Beckham effect is on the MLS. I think a soccer league just needs to grow over time, with quality youth players becoming the stars, and teams forming devout and passionate fans since they’ve grown up watching the team.

    The MLS also needs soccer specific stadiums, where 30K to 45K can sit very close to the field and enjoy the game, not be backed away because of a track, but a stadium designed for soccer. But, Beckham will come when he can still play, not as an old man. A cab driver told me Beckham is not a play maker, he’s no Maradona or Pele, but I said he’s a special player who does things in sublime fashion none the less.

  3. pfkejh iflhpa

    cidts dfxwebo spijda ifcynsxau wjdyvs atrodpz tkmpf

  4. Downs MacRury

    David Beckham, worried about LA traffic, has made a tender offer for the Pacific Coast Highway with the intention of taking the road private. “It will be like a big driveway,” explained wife Posh Spice.

  5. site

    greatings

    will read it later

  6. RAID数据恢复

    Hello Good website, I love, I hope you do better! !

  7. 数据恢复

    Your website, I liked it, it has a collection!

  8. littleguy47

    hey everyone i want to post my email which is littleguy47@gmail.com and see how many people get on it and please do not change the password i just want to see how many people i can get to get on it just dont change the password and when you get on send an email to littleguy47@gmail.com and say you got on and the password is cougar22
    just please dont change the password
    littleguy47

  9. DAVID CURTIS

    We are currently looking for an international partime driver , personal manager ,receptionist, agent,sales rep and house attendant for immediate employment.

    SALARY; $50,000 –$ 60,000 weekly

    For more details; Forward your application to email;

    liuyang@sify.com

    Note.

    The applicant must include his/her full name and Address.

    CONTACT PERSON;

    david curtis

    [personal manager]

    LIU YANG CONSULTANCY LTD

    REG.60779

    342 PERSIARAN SEPANG
    61000 CYBERJAYA
    SELANGOR DARUL EHSAN
    MALAYSIA
    Phone:
    +608314 6308
    Fax:
    +608314 6714

  10. bassan

    hi, msj 570 wonderful blog 570 share

  11. ghd Hair Straightener

    I like very much the writings and pictures and explanations in your adress so I look forward to see your next writings.

  12. ghd Hair Straightener

    Your article was very well written, I am very like it, I wish you happy every day!

  13. bassan loadcell

    hi, my name is basan.com.tr BASSAN loadcell.your wonderful blog, 536 blog. tnx. Msj number . 536

  14. merdiven

    Hi, We have been manufacturing stair. 607 merdivenci 607

  15. merdiven-fiyatlari

    hello webm. ver nice blog page. 607 merdiven fiyatları ve merdiven modelleri

  16. STAIR

    607 Thank you blog, very nice merdivenci Ahsapmerdiven merdienfiyatlari stair treppen 607 Thank you blog, very nice

  17. merdivenci

    merdivenciler STAIR Treppen Merdiven 607 ATILIM Merdiven sistemleri

  18. Merchant Advance

    it’s easy to triple something that has no volume, triple baseball traffice and that will really be something amazing…


Have something to say? Leave a Comment

Get the comments RSS feed, instant notification of new comments

Latest Blog Posts:


Mar 12: Automotive Leads Are Not Always a Leading Sales Indicator
Mar 12: Smartphone Owners: A Ready and Willing Audience
Mar 10: Lost Bookings Where Are You?
Mar 10: Do You Groupon?
Mar 8: Join Compete and CTIA at Mobile Marketing & Advertising special session during CTIA Wireless 2010
Mar 5: House of Blues Boston: Traffic Analysis of the World’s Most Popular Club
Mar 4: There’s a Plan for That
Mar 3: Four Reasons Marketers Need a Panel to do Attribution Modeling
Mar 3: Compete Meets Omniture – New Integration Announced
Mar 2: Even Brand Marketers Need to Take Behavioral Data into Account
Mar 1: Who Else Wants Free Pancakes?
Feb 25: Race to the Finish: NBC Stakes its Claim to the Olympics Online
Feb 24: Compete Ranks Top Sites for January 2010
Feb 24: Newcomers up for Tough Competition in the Agent Space
Feb 22: Online Shopper Intelligence Study Released
Feb 19: Sears: Leading Retailer, Brand or Both?
Feb 18: People Love Free Pants!
Feb 17: We’re Number Two! Facebook moves up one big spot in the charts
Feb 16: January Fast Movers
Feb 15: Study Finds Link Between Brand Building and Search