ABSTRACT
In the afterglow of David Beckham’s triumphant departure from Major League Soccer (MLS) in the fall of 2012, it would be easy to proclaim professional football in North America a finished product and highlight the professional game’s new history from the league’s inception in 1996. Concomitant with this move would be an observation of the incredible distance the professional game has travelled since Pelé signed with the New York Cosmos in 1975. But these tendencies would miss the continuities and similarities between the two leagues (despite MLS’s ambivalence toward connections with the NASL) and the impact of the NASL on MLS. They would also elide the considerable and continuing economic, cultural and sporting challenges that confront the development of football as a spectator sport in North America. Indeed, while most trace MLS’ lineage and foundation to the US hosting the 1994 World Cup, Hopkins observes that despite the demise of the NASL
While the MLS is known for both buying and developing young players and selling them on to larger and more prestigious leagues (e.g. Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard and Josy Altidore), works such as Tossell’s have typically focused on the NASL’s strategy of purchasing predominantly lower tier British players or others well past their sell date.3 But a review of both leagues demonstrates the common thread of acquiring experienced international players who also have developed some brand identity. The development of that individual brand identity has been seen as an important adjunct to any qualities on the pitch because it could resonate with potential ticket buyers and sponsors in North America. MLS has invested in any number of players well into their thirties (with varying degrees of on and off-field success) such as Carlos Valderrama, Lothar Mattheus, Youri Djorkaeff and, most famously, David Beckham in the hopes that on-field success and all forms of revenue would simultaneously increase.
