here's a surprise: Beckham already setting things up to miss half of NEXT season

Of course, the fact that the story exists at all smells like an attempt to pump up yet another series of nothing-burger stories out of the fact that Beckham WON'T be playing, since there won't be any stories on him actually playing any GAMES any time in the foreseeable future.

URGENT __ Beckham scratches ass
FLASH_ Beckham flushes toilet
BULLETIN _ Beckham thinks about playing sometime in the next year
1ST LD_WRITETHRU _ Beckham's footsie is sore, won't be able to play for 8 months

 

Actually . . . . all of those are news in England.

I guess he's their Britney Spears. Or Tom Cruise. Or Brangelina.

 

I think the larger issue here is MLS' schedule; it doesn't line up with the rest of the world's. MLS' logic back in the day was sound; it didn't want to compete with three of the four majors, the NFL especially, and play its games during the winter and spring months like the rest of the globe. The logic doesn't follow any longer and the Beckham question brings it to light now. With the Galaxy being just terrible, it's a moot point, but had the Galaxy made this year's MLS Cup final, that game falls on the same day as England's final Euro 2008 qualifier. Now would Beckham leave the Galaxy for mother England? FIFA says the club has to let him out if he's chosen. It would have been interesting; and it would have been a tough one to swallow for casual American soccer fans.

 

I don't see MLS lining up with FIFA's league dates just yet. It snows in NY, NE, Chicago and Toronto.

 

And it doesn't in Frankfurt and Glasgow?

 

Ibrox and Parkhead (the two main pitches in Glasgow) have heated pitches so as the ice doesn't freeze on the surface. Also their winter is a little bit more mild due to the amount of water around it.

Germany, as well as Scotland, take time off in the middle of winter to wait out some of the cold.

On top of this, the league is getting 13K per game now. How many of those are coming during the winter if they are sitting outside.

 

It's even simpler than that.

NY, NE, Houston 1836 (heehee), San Jose when it starts up again, Real Salt Lake, Kansas City, DC all share their stadiums with either college football or NFL teams. It will be years before all of them have their own stadia, if ever.

They simply cannot schedule heavily from Sept.-December. If and when they are able to switch to the FIFA schedule, I would like to see them really change it up. Maybe take a long winter break, split the season into Apertura and Clausura-type seasons, then have the two teams with the best record in each half play for the title. Nice and easy and clean. And beef up the hype for the US Open Cup, so fans still have a knockout stage to hope for their team's glory.

But I digress.

 

MLS will never work in the winter for a number of reasons:

- What pastor said about people sitting out in the cold
- compete with NFL, NHL, NCAA Hoops, NBA ... maybe hockey in a few years, but never in a million years the others
- the stadium issues
- not to mention competing with the other soccer leagues around the world, who is going to watch MLS on tv if there are Premiership, La Liga, Bundesliga ... etc games on TV (and yes I know they overlap now, but MLS will be over before the other leagues really heat up)

I'm sure there are other reasons I can't think of at the moment, if anyone can help me out have at it ...

 

You've hit all the major ones, ss.

I'd suggest there is even a slight advantage to domestically-based players when it comes to tournaments in the summer. While players in European leagues are exhausted after 40- and 50-game seasons, guys in MLS are in mid-season form when the World/Gold/Confederations Cup, etc. roll around.

Why is it so imperative for the American league to go by a European timetable, anyway? I don't hear the soccer illuminati complaining about the leagues in Japan, South Korea or China going on summer schedules. No one in UEFA pitched a fit when Ireland shifted to a summer schedule two seasons back.

 

Just as closure to this, a nice piece on why the whole "Beckham requests loan" story was a fraud in the first place.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=461642&root=mls&cc=5901&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos2