In 2007, David Beckham, the golden boy of soccer, shocked the international sports world when he signed a five-year contract with an American team, the Los Angeles Galaxy. Under the direction of his manager, Simon Fuller, the mastermind behind American Idol and the Spice Girls, Beckham was ready for a monumental challenge and a risky adventure ready, as Fuller put it, to earn his stripes Stateside. Could he pull off what no player had ever accomplished (including Pele in the 1970s) and transform soccer into one of the most popular spectator sports in America? It was a bold experiment:...
In 2007, David Beckham, the golden boy of soccer, shocked the international sports world when he signed a five-year contract with an American team, th...
It sounds like the start of a great joke: A minor-league sports executive, one of the richest men in the world, a stand-up comedian, and a Hollywood movie producer conspire to start a soccer team. But what Adrian Hanauer, Paul Allen, Drew Carey, and Joe Roth did when they started the Seattle Sounders FC was no joke. They meticulously planned the launch of the Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise with an eye toward some lofty goals. Then they stood back in amazement as they rocketed far beyond those goals buoyed by a team that ignored its "expansion" label and a fan base that wildly embraced...
It sounds like the start of a great joke: A minor-league sports executive, one of the richest men in the world, a stand-up comedian, and a Hollywood m...
