In the quest for an MLS franchise, Miami has stepped up its game with a recruit that no one, not even the MLS, could possibly turn down…. LeBron James.
LeBron James
http://www.mydailynews.com
Miami has one goal in mind for their quest to acquire an MLS franchise, “Make an offer so lucrative that even Don Garber cannot deny us.”
If David Beckham was not enough for the MLS to give Miami a real chance at taking the reins of a new franchise, then LeBron James certainly is. There are a few things that many people do not know about LeBron and his impact on the soccer community. Although his primary contacts are through his work on the basketball court, LeBron’s business dealings often take place in sports that do not require a hoop to score points.
In 2011, Lebron bought into one of the biggest sports franchises of all time, Liverpool F.C. Through this purchase, LeBron built bridges into the soccer community that, until this week, seemed completely irrelevant. Jumping onto the train that is Miami soccer, LeBron has given himself the opportunity to build the type of public image that he has so desperately wanted ever since his move from his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat. In the United States, soccer is seen as a family sport, with the soccer mom loading her kids into the back seat and taking them to practice. This is the type of image that LeBron wants to be associated with, as is apparent in his new ad campaign of Samsung devices with his family.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber
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Is the story of LeBron’s move to South Beach ultimately the deciding point on where the MLS will expand to next? The likely answer is yes as a David Beckham/LeBron James promoted sports franchise has no direction to go other than up. As a business man, which he certainly has acted like in the past few years, Don Garber cannot possibly pass up an opportunity to combine forces with the likes of LeBron, who is arguably the most well-known sports figure in the United States at this point in his career.
There are few things that an up-and-coming athlete can turn down in their quest for sports fame and superstardom: money, a starting position on a good team, and the chance to be in relation with a franchise that can turn them into the public figure that they so desperately want to be. In the United States, the L.A. Galaxy and the New York Red Bulls have become the teams that closely resemble this type of franchise with their large paychecks and ability to bring in high quality players like Tim Cahill, Thierry Henry, David Beckham (of course), and Robbie Keane.
However, with the money that will be available to the new Miami franchise through LeBron and Beckham, a young American athlete will finally have the chance to choose soccer as a path to fame that has never been available before. In the past, the only sports seen on TV in the United States have been Football, Basketball, Baseball, and occasionally Hockey. Today, a sports viewer can find a soccer game on every week, almost every day, being produced by the likes of NBC and ESPN, which is a major upgrade from old regime of Fox Soccer Channel. With this TV exposure, children growing up in the US will no longer feel inclined to turn to Football at the end of 6th grade like many kids do because all they hear about is football, but instead keep on playing soccer and developing into the athletes that the US National Team wants in the future.
Growing up in an age where the MLS was a joke league that could barely pay its players enough to stay on the team is not a good selling point for athletes trying to choose a career path for themselves. Giving a player the chance to play for a businessman/athlete in the likes of LeBron James and David Beckham completely changes the game from a financial standpoint. There is no longer the debate of whether or not a good enough salary is available. The majority of credit for this change goes to the people in charge of MLS, such as Don Garber, but also must be credited to the people who put in the money: Tim Leiweke, Merritt Paulson, Adrian Hanauer, and hopefully David Beckham and LeBron James.
At the end of the day, a team owned by David Beckham and LeBron James will not fail. If it ever starts to fail, they will find more investors and throw in more money to make it work. Miami deserves an MLS team if these two superstars are putting in the money to make it happen.
- #10.
