Success in New Zealand

The Los Angeles Galaxy wrapped up its down under tour with a 4-1 win over the Wellington Phoenix. The sellout crowd of 35,000 was the largest to ever view a soccer match in New Zealand.

As expected, David Beckham played all 90 minutes of the match even though he was suffering from bronchitis. Beckham played brilliantly, scoring LA's opening goal and assisting on the three others.

Beckham's appearance in New Zealand went as well as planned. A large crowd turned out at the airport to welcome him, and record crowds turned out for training sessions and the actual match. Beckham's appearance managed to draw fans interest away from the much more popular rugby, at least during his stay.

New Zealand friendly follow-up

You may remember one of my September posts that talked about the Galaxy's planned visit to New Zealand to play the Wellington Phoenix. That match is now just around the corner, as the two teams are set to play their match tomorrow.

Yesterday during practices, David Beckham attracted a crowd of over 15,000 - an unheard of amount for a country that is not a historically strong soccer supporter. The expected crowd for Saturday's match is also expected to be the largest in New Zealand soccer history - set to beat the 32,000 that watch New Zealand play Kuwait in a 1982 World Cup qualifying match.

The contract between these two teams stipulates that Beckham must play at least 55 minutes, but Beckham hopes to play all 90.

Beckham ready for revenge

England and David Beckham have already been eliminated from the Euro 2008 competition. However, in international soccer, you always live to play another day. This time, England has drawn a chance to get revenge on the team that booted them from Euro 2008.

Yesterday the groupings for the European qualifying of the 2010 World Cup were announced. England shares a group with Croatia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Andorra. The two meetings between England and Croatia should be very intense matches, as Croatia just eliminated England from Euro 2008 last week.

David Beckham has expressed great interest in remaining with the English team, wishing to get revenge and his 100th cap. Beckham claims he has the "experience and the passion" needed in international football.

England losses bid for Euro 2008

England will not participate in Euro 2008 next year after their 3-2 loss to Croatia on Wednesday. It will be the first time since 1984 that the team has not qualified for the tournament and the first time since 1994 that they failed to qualify for a major tournament.

David Beckham did not start the match and England quickly fell behind 2-0. Beckham was inserted into the line-up after halftime and England rallied to tie the match at 2-2 when Beckham crossed to Peter Crouch for the trying goal. However, Croatia would score one more time for the win.

The appearance was Beckham's 99th cap, but his opportunity to receive number 100 looks bleak. England manager Steve McClaren will likely be fired and former Real Madrid manager Fabio Capello appears to be the leading candidate for the job. Beckham played for Capello while at Real Madrid, but there relationship was strained after Beckham announced his plans to moved to Los Angeles. If Capello gets the job, Beckham most likely will never play for England again and remain at 99 caps.

Beckham's 100 caps in jeopardy

The mark that many international footballers dream of is to record 100 caps. A cap simply refers to an appearance in a match. Appearing in 100 games requires great skill and longevity, and is a sign that a player was truly amazing to compete internationally for such a long period. David Beckham fears that he may not reach this milestone.

Beckham's total currently stands at 98 - his most recent cap coming Friday in a friendly match against Austria. Beckham is set to appear against Croatia later this week for his 99th cap. However, if England fails to qualify for the European championships, his run with the team will likely be over and he will forever be stuck on 99.

Beckham is trying to become only the fifth English player to receive 100 caps. The four English players already over the century mark are Peter Shilton, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, and Billy Wright. Professional soccer focuses on statistics and legacies, and Beckham would probably always regret not reaching 100, especially with his current England teammates Michael Owen and Gary Neville within reach of 100 themselves.

Beckham's newest endorsement

It was announced today by the New York Examiner that David Beckham will be the newest representative for Georgio Armani. Beckham will be helping to promote Armani's new underwear collection.

Beckham has already shot most of the advertising campaign. Most of the photography was done last week in Los Angeles before David set of with the Los Angeles Galaxy for a series of exhibition matches. Beckham will also rejoin the English national squad for a friendly match with Austria this Friday. Beckham will also play in England's Euro 2008 qualifying match against Croatia.

Beckham is rejoining the team in the hopes of recording 100 wins with the English national team. His current total stands at 97.

Exhibition results

David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy thrashed Hollywood United FC 12-4 last Sunday in a charity match. Together, the teams raised over $90,000 that will benefit the victims of the recent San Diego wildfires.

Beckham scored two goals in the match and added three assists. Beckham played for 83 minutes in the match, which is his longest appearance since joining Major League Soccer. David said after the game that it was "the best I've felt in quite a few months."

The Galaxy later appeared in an exhibition match on Wednesday in Vancouver. The Galaxy and host team Vancouver Whitecaps played to a 0-0 draw. 48,172 fans showed up to see Beckham in action. David managed to log another 72 minutes of playing time.

Another charity match

We've all seen what the latest round of wildfires has done to Southern California. As a new resident of the area, as well as an established money maker, David Beckham will take part in a charity match to help the wildfire victims this coming Sunday.

The Los Angles Galaxy has announced that they will host a charity match against Hollywood United FC. The match will take place in Los Angeles and all proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

Hollywood United FC is a local team which features some notable members. Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace), Jason Statham (The Transporter), Jimmy Jean-Louis (Heroes), and Danny Cannon (Producer - CSI series) are all active members of the club.

Charity Match

It was announced today that David Beckham will play in a charity match in Spain on November 19th. He will play alongside some of his former teammates from Real Madrid, including Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, and Roberto Carlos. This will be Beckham's first appearance in Spain since leading Real Madrid to the La Liga championship earlier this year.

The charity event is in its fifth year. All proceeds from the match go to support a variety of anti-poverty projects.

Beckham continues to promote himself to the world, especially to the Spanish people, even after leaving Real Madrid. Fans were reluctant to embrace the Englishman when he originally showed up from Manchester United in 2003, but he managed to win them over with his strong play, dedication, and his easy going "nice-guy" personality.

Beckham's Report Card

Now that Beckham's first MLS season is over, sports writers and other experts can fully judge his performance and impact. Martin Rogers, and experienced English sports writer now based in Los Angeles, has done just that. He recently wrote a report card for Beckham's first MLS season.

As expected, Beckham received high marks in the financial and image categories. Since his arrival, MLS games are now being broadcast internationally and the Galaxy have regularly drawn sell-out crowds. Other big names like Thierry Henry are also now contemplating moves to Major League Soccer.

The largest criticism were pointed at Beckham's fitness level and responsibility. Martin talks of David's poor decision to play back-to-back matches for LA and England that were only one day and thousands of miles apart while he was still trying to overcome an ankle injury. This poor decision most likely was a large factor in the injury to Beckham's knee that kept him sidelined during the Galaxy's playoff run.

Overall, Beckham received a grade of B-. This isn't terrible, considering he played an entire season with Real Madrid before joining the Galaxy. With actual time to rest and recover this off season, Beckham should be able to log much more playing time next season and get LA back into the playoffs.

Galaxy misses playoffs

Even the return of David Beckham was not enough to get Los Angeles into the MLS playoffs as the Galaxy lost their final regular season match against the Chicago Fire on Sunday. The loss knocked LA from the playoff race and gave Chicago the final post season spot.

Missing the playoffs is a huge blow to the Galaxy organization, especially since the club had one five straight matches leading up to Beckham's return to setup the playoff run. One has to imagine that this could be a result of poor chemistry, since Beckham had missed so much time with the club due to injury.

For now, the Galaxy will have plenty of time to rest up and get all of its members 100% healthy. The teams next match will in Australia next month.

The Return of David Beckham

David Beckham returned to action with the Los Angeles Galaxy yesterday in the teams 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls. This was Beckham's first game time since injuring his knee on August 29th.

Los Angeles managed to stay in playoff contention - barely - with yesterdays result. With one regular season game remaining, the Galaxy still need a lot of help to reach the playoffs. They first need to win their final match against Chicago this coming Sunday. They also need help from some other MLS teams. Along with winning their own match they also need Real Salt Lake to win or tie against Colorado and also for Kansas City to lose against FC Dallas. Simply put, the Galaxy need a small miracle to reach the playoffs.

Another interesting fact from the match was that Cobi Jones played his last home match for the Galaxy. Jones plans to retire at the end of this season. He has played all 12 of his professional years with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Jones was also a regular member of the United States national team. A video tribute was shown before the match and the team officially retired Jones' number.

Beckham close to return

According to reports by the Associated Press, David Beckham is close to making his return to the Los Angeles Galaxy. Beckham has practiced with the Galaxy four times within the past two weeks, but his return to duty is still questionable. Teammate Landon Donovan has even remarked that Beckham "looks great."

Beckham's possible return couldn't come at a more important time. With only two games remaining in regular season play, Los Angeles is in a playoff push, having won its last five matches. Los Angeles is currently four points behind Chicago and Kansas City, who are tied for the last available playoff berth.

Los Angeles stands to gain a lot of attention, Beckham or otherwise, if it reaches the playoffs. Having Beckham as an active participant will further increase the marketability of the MLS playoffs if Los Angeles does manage to make the playoffs. The Galaxy has a tough home game scheduled for tomorrow against New York before closing out the season in Chicago.

Bend It Like Beckham

The film Bend It Like Beckham was released in 2002 and has proved to be a very successful film. It has been released all over the world in a number of different languages and has been a financial success. The film also helped launch the careers of Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Parminder Nagra (E.R.).

Oddly enough, even though the film is named after David Beckham, Beckham never actually appears in the film. Beckham in shown in a video clip early in the movie, but does not act in the film. This did not detract from the film's success, though. The name David Beckham alone seems to turn everything affiliated with it into solid gold.

My personal recommendation is to stay far away from this movie if you're looking for a good soccer movie. The soccer scenes in the movie are not very interesting. This is more of a "chick flick" than a sports movie. If you're looking for a good soccer movie, I suggest Victory, starring Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone, and Pele.

The Dual Book Release

After his father released an unauthorized biography, David Beckham decided to write his own autobiography to tell his story his own way. The book enjoyed a release in two separate forms - one for the United States and another for the rest of the world. These two books are David Beckham: Both Feet on the Ground and David Beckham: My Side.

My Side was the international version of the book and was published first, with Both Feet on the Ground being published later for an American audience. Both books contain the same material, but the American release was reworded - most notably, all references to football were changed to soccer.

The dual release of the book was a key to marketing David to an American audience. In the book, he talked about the opening of his Los Angeles soccer academy and that he hoped to someday play in the United States. This American book release, along with the film Bend It Like Beckham, helped David get his foot in the American door.

David Beckham: My Son

David Beckham: My Son was written by Beckham's father Ted and was published in 2005. The book contained over 300 exclusive, never seen before photos from Davids life. The book tells the story of David, from his first exposures to soccer to his move to Real Madrid. The book sold well, but caused turmoil in the Beckham family.

In actuality, the book was an unauthorized biography. David was infuriated that his father had produced the book against his wishes and exposed so much of his personal life to the masses. Ted and David had a much publicized falling out over the book and did not speak for over a year. The two have since reconciled, and David rushed to London to be by his fathers side after a heart attack. David has also stated that he wishes to move his father to Los Angeles so the two can become closer.

Examples like this show that even within a family, disputes can arise over business affairs. Issues of money and exposure can weaken or destroy any organization if proper precautions and considerations are made. Business can be very cut-throat at times, and organizations need to examine their actions before hand to avoid blow ups and fall outs.

The Other David Beckham

Because of some events this week, this blog entry will not focus on business, but on the other David Beckham. David "Ted" Beckham is the father of the soccer superstar David Beckham. This past Wednesday, Ted suffered a heart attack. The soccer playing Beckham rushed from Los Angeles to London to be by his fathers side. Ted Beckham is currently in stable condition and recovering from the attack. Let's hope everything works out and Ted has a full, speedy recovery.

The picture above is of Ted Beckham with his book David Beckham: My Son. Be sure to watch for my next blog update for more info about this book and the story behind it.

Motorola RAZR 2 Campaign

Motorola hoped to use David Beckham's global appeal to promote it's new Moto RED campaign. On top of featuring an all new Motorola phone model, part of the sales of this new line will be used for AIDS relief in Africa.

As one of Motorola's top endorsers, exclusive Beckham content is available to RAZR 2 owners. This content includes Beckham screensavers and downloadable video content. Another feature of the campaing is that Beckham will use Motorola products exclusively.

As lucrative as this endorsement is for Beckham, it also helps to further his position as a humanitarian by campaining for AIDS research and relief. It is refreshing to see athletes taking a stance through their marketing choices and not just chasing the highest bidders.

David Beckham

This blog entry will focus mainly on the collection of websites that focus on David Beckham

The Online David Beckahm Fan-zine

This website is the ultimate Beckham fan site. It features news, pictures, interviews and numerous image galleries. The galaries also include some of David's marketing campaigns. Look for more of those in upcoming blog entries.

The Official David Beckham Website

The official site of David Beckham is similar to the online fan-zine, but with some added features. It also contains information about Beckham's soccer academies, a section on his charity work, and even his own blog which he maintains on a regular basis.

The David Beckham Academy

As mentioned in a previous post, Beckham maintains two separate academies in London in Los Angeles. Since Beckham has been sidelined by injury, he has been making numerous appearances at the LA academy. The London academy also boasts a top notch training squad, featuring numerous members of England's womens national team which just reached the quarter finals of the Women's World Cup in China.

The Six Million Dollar Man

Friendly matches are a big part of professional soccer. Friendlies are much like the exhibition matches found in most American sports. Friendlies, however, typically pit teams from different leagues, countries, or continents against each other to expand a given team or leagues presence in another part of the world. Often, a smaller team will pay a more recognizable franchise an appearance fee to come an play a friendly match to boost interest and to raise money.

With this in mind, the Wellington Phoenix of New Zealand has announced that the Los Angeles Galaxy will play them in a friendly match to be host in New Zealand this December. The team has agreed to pay the Galaxy two million dollars for the teams appearance. There is one catch however - David Beckham must play at least 55 minutes of the match.

This is yet another opportunity for the Galaxy to cash in on Beckham - making two million dollars for their star to play for less than one hour. The financial gain is not limited to just the Galaxy, though. The mayor of Wellington, New Zealand, Kerry Prendergast, expects the city to make at least six million dollars due to Beckham's visit. David Beckham continues to turn everything around him into gold, and one would expect the scheduling of friendly matches to continue.

FC Harlem

FC Harlem is non-profit youth soccer organization located in Harlem in New York City. It is open to Harlem community children ages 5 to 14, and aims to teach the children not only soccer, but also to promote fitness and morales through team play and membership. The team is a member of the American Youth Soccer Organization and receives funding from the US Soccer Federation. Until recently, the team had no home field and played their matches at a variety of local parks. With the help of the US Soccer Federation and the MLS W.O.R.K.S. program (MLS charitable organization), the team is in the process of securing its own field and practice facilities.

Aside from donating and raising money for the squad, Major League Soccer also provided the children of FC Harlem with a once in a lifetime opportunity - to practice with MLS stars. The kids got to meet and scrimmage with Juan Pablo Angel, Jozy Altidore, Ty Harden, and David Beckham. Beckham said of the experience "today has been one of the best days since I arrived in America".

Exposure through charity is a great promotion for David Beckham. It allows him to be seen as more than just an athlete, but also as a humanitarian who also gives back to the community. Beckham has been active in youth soccer for years, and even has established two seperate David Beckham Academies in London and Los Angeles. Not many Americans are aware of this. The FC Harlem event, however, allows David to showcase this. He also is establishing himself as a driving force in establishing soccer in the United States and not just a ploy to sell MLS jerseys and tickets.

Futbol vs Football

The debate among many sports fans stems from the word football. To most fans in the world, this term relates to soccer. For American fans, however, the term refers to American football. During the opening weekend of NFL action, I'm sure most Americans are not thinking about soccer.

Adidas is looking to change that. Adidas has endorsement deals with both David Beckham and Reggie Bush, two of the most popular athletes in their respective sport. They have plans to unveil a "Futbol vs Football" ad campaign, featuring the two athletes trying their hand at the others sport. The ads are typically less than one minute long and show various aspects of soccer and football such as Beckham attempting field goals and Bush trying to stop Beckham goals.

The ad campaign is a refreshing take on the traditional football argument and is also a fantastic idea by adidas to blend two of its athletes into a single promotion and reach two separate audiences at the same time. The ads have yet to air, and may never be shown because of Beckham's injury. I disagree with the notion of pulling the ads. The money has already been spent on their production and may be the last opportunity adidas has to promote Beckham for several months. The NFL is extremely profitable, and running these ads during football games would allow them to reach a huge audience.

Below is a compilation video of some of the highlights of the ad campaign. For the actual TV spots, head to Youtube.com and search for "Futbol vs Football".

"Ridiculous schedule"

Now that David Beckham has been sidelined with a knee injury, it is easy to look back and see what went wrong. Alexi Lalas, team president of the LA Galaxy, was able to see this before it even happened. In an article found at Yahoo Sports, Lalas spoke out about the teams exhausting schedule and the effect it was having on the teams overall fitness level. Three days later, Beckham suffered a season ending knee injury.

The article compares the schedules of Los Angeles to other MLS teams, and notes that while the Galaxy played 10 games in a little over the span of one month, most other MLS teams played only four times. It is understandable that the team and league wish to get the maximum exposure out of the Beckham signing, but playing the team into exhaustion and injury is not the answer. Soccer is not baseball - the teams cannot play every day. Even NFL teams only play once per week.

A better idea would have been to schedule Galaxy matches in larger arenas to maximize ticket sales or to schedule some off-field activities to better promote Beckham. The leagues strategy to promote Beckham has backfired. This goes to show that sports promotions aren't as easy to handle as other types of business promotions. Exhaustion and injury is definitely a key component to consider when marketing a professional soccer player, especially one that is 32 years old. Finding the right blend of playing time and off-field activities is the key to receiving the maximum return on your investment.

Disasterous injury

Just as David Beckham managed to get back on the field and log some actual playing time, he once again sustained an injury. This time he suffered a sprained right knee in the Los Angeles Galaxy's SuperLiga final against Pachuca. The injury is severe enough that Beckham will miss the remainder of the MLS season.

Los Angeles played from behind for most of the match until Chris Klein scored with an amazing bicycle kick during the second half stoppage time. The Galaxy went on to lose the match, however, after Landon Donovan and Abel Xavier both missed penalty kicks at the end of the game to give Pachuca the victory.

The loss of Beckham will have a strong affect on the rest of the MLS season. Losing the leagues most recognizable face will definitely hurt the league, especially since Beckham and the Galaxy will not be a part of the MLS playoffs and championship. The Galaxy also lost their shot at the one million dollar purse awarded to the winner of the SuperLiga final. It looks to be a long offseason of anticipation for Beckham and Galaxy fans.

Below is a video of the previously mentioned Chris Klein goal. It was number one in SportsCenter's top ten plays of the day.

Bench It Like Beckham & Jersey Sales

Upon arriving in the United States to play with the Los Angeles Galaxy, David Beckham was suffering from an injured ankle. The injury was enough to keep him out of several games, which caused a sports media stir. In this day and age of expanded media coverage, this type of reaction is to be expected, especially when dealing with an athlete of Beckham's stature. The term that was commonly thrown around was "Bench It Like Beckham", a spin on the film Bend It Like Beckham.

The picture above was taken from the August 27th issue of ESPN The Magazine, and shows a satirical take on the Bench It Like Beckham phrase. While the criticism is a bit extreme (it's not exactly easy to play 90 minutes of soccer on a bum ankle), it isn't completely unexpected that sports commentators like Jim Rome and Tony Reali have been having a field day with Beckham's lack of playing time.

Look closely at that picture again. Even though it jabs at Beckham, it still shows seven children wearing his jersey, which leads to the business angle of this blog entry. An article on Examiner.com, which is a collaborative website of three seperate newspapers located in San Francisco, Washington DC, and Baltimore, recently reported that Beckham's jersey is the best selling in the United States. This is an amazing feat for a soccer player to outsell other, more American sports, especially with fans in an uproar about his lack of playing time. By selling more than 200,000 jerseys in a little over a months time, it looks like the decision to pay Beckham big money is already starting to pay off.

The Beckham Effect Introduction

This fall, as part of my Business and Administrative Writing class, one of my assignments is to maintain a business related blog. With loose guidelines, I was tasked with creating a business related topic to write about for the next 16 weeks. I am a passionate sports fan, so I decided to focus on an area of sports that also relates to business. Over the past few years, my interest in professional soccer has been growing. I have been following David Beckham's transfer to Major League Soccer very closely and have decided to create a blog about the effect David Beckham is having on the business aspects of Major League Soccer.

Throughout this blog I hope to catalog what effects, if any, he may have on American professional soccer. I will be updating this blog several times per week with news articles, important match highlights, interviews, web links, and videos. Hopefully my professor, classmates, and anyone else who finds this blog will be entertained and informed by my writings. In conclusion to this first introductory post, I leave you with this video of Beckham's first MLS goal, scored against DC United on August 14th, 2007.