MLS launches Beckham era in 2007
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AFP
April 5, 2007
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Major League Soccer kicks off its 2007 season on Saturday with its new star attraction - David Beckham - waiting in the wings.
Beckham's leap from Real Madrid to the Los Angeles Galaxy - for a breathtaking compensation package worth a total of 250 million dollars - was front page news across the United States.
The former England captain won't join his new team until sometime after his contract with Real runs out in June. But already Beckham and his wife Victoria, long tabloid fodder in England, appear on their way to making themselves at home among the celebrities of Hollywood.
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Victoria Beckham, the former Spice Girl, is to be the star of a new TV reality show chronicling her move to Los Angeles.
Beckham is already a pal of Hollywood mega-star Tom Cruise, and on a recent trip to California 'Posh Spice' enthused about meeting US movie idol Tom Hanks.
Beckham's profile is just what the MLS, which struggles for attention in the US sports market, was hoping for when it approved the designated player rule - the so-called Beckham Rule - which allows clubs to break their salary cap to sign one major player.
"You can't get any bigger than David Beckham," Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas said. "You have to pay for it, but the international attention that the Galaxy have got and the league has got is unprecedented."
The move has also brought Mexico's Cuauhtemoc Blanco to the Chicago Fire. He too is not expected to make his MLS debut until July at the earliest, after Mexico completes competition in this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup and the Copa America in South America.
The addition of marquee internationals isn't the league's only move in its effort to join the elite ranks of world football.
A partnership with the German Bundesliga and a recent deal between the Colorado Rapids and Arsenal are signs of a league looking for respect from established footballing countries.
There also is the launch of the SuperLiga, which will attempt to recreate the storied United States-Mexico rivalry at the club level.
The league is also turning it's attention north of the border, with the launch of Toronto FC taking MLS outside the United States for the first time.
The addition of Toronto gives the league 13 clubs, of which the Houston Dynamo will start the season as champions.
The Galaxy can be expected to rebound from a poor 2006 with a number of smart signings complementing the addition of Beckham.
On the East Coast, the New York Red Bulls have high hopes of competing for honors for the first time with former national team coach Bruce Arena rebuilding the club with the blueprint he used to make DC United the league's first powerhouse a decade ago.
