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


Have something to say? Leave a Comment

Get the comments RSS feed, instant notification of new comments

Latest Blog Posts:


Feb 8: Doppelganger Week Turns To Urban Dictionary
Feb 5: The Role of Search in the Online Deposits Market
Feb 4: Conan vs. Leno: Coco Must Go
Feb 3: Oscar Mayer Brings Good Mood
Feb 2: Compete Ranks December’s Top Food and Cooking Sites
Feb 1: Travel Industry Rebound Based on Site Traffic: The Other Side of the Coin
Jan 29: The Nexus One – Google’s Next (But Likely Not Final) Frontier
Jan 29: Search is Integral to Driving a Wave of Cruise Bookings
Jan 28: Compete’s CMO on Audience Insights, Not Audience Measurement
Jan 27: Consumers Slow to Embrace Social Media As Shopping Resource
Jan 26: Online Food Fight: Scripps vs. Cablevision
Jan 25: List of Top 50 Websites in December 2009
Jan 22: Setting My Sights on Site-to-Store
Jan 21: Compete Now Offers Audience Insights!
Jan 14: Can shipping costs affect online sales?
Jan 11: My 10 year MSN Hotmail anniversary and what it means to Gmail
Jan 8: World War 3G
Jan 7: A look under the hood of Ad Impact
Jan 5: Smartphone Owners Now Spending More from Handset, but Poor Site Functionality Is a Turn-off
Dec 29: Pepsi Smartly Shifting Ad Dollars Online