David Beckham may still recover from his torn left Achilles tendon in time to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2010, but just how much he will be able to contribute remains to be seen.
Beckham underwent successful surgery to repair his torn left Achilles tendon on Monday, and the doctor who conducted the procedure put a six-month timetable on Beckham's return to action. That would project out to a mid-September return for the English superstar.
That projection would mean that Beckham would miss two more months than he was already set to miss due to his AC Milan loan and the World Cup (assuming he made the England team). Beckham has shown an ability to recover quickly from injuries in the past, but he will be 35 this summer and could wind up taking longer to recover than first projected.
The Galaxy played well without Beckham early in the 2009 season, but it was Beckham's addition in the second half of the 2009 season that helped propel the Galaxy to the MLS Cup final.
Here are some other stories to get your Tuesday going:
TORONTO FC SENDS GERBA HOME
Toronto FC has sent forward Ali Gerba back to Canada after determining the Canadian striker was ineffective in pre-season.
TFC is currently in Charleston, South Carolina taking part in the Carolina Challenge Cup, where the club decided Gerba needed to return to Toronto to continue his pre-season.
“He’s worked hard but his play was not up to scratch,” TFC director of soccer Mo Johnston told the CBC.
Gerba scored just one goal in 11 appearances for Toronto and looked to be out of shape this pre-season. at the Disney Soccer Challenge he was overshadowed by TFC second-year striker O'Brian White.
Gerba is on a guaranteed contract and has not been waived. If Toronto FC decides to part ways with the striker, the club will either need to find another team willing to take him in a trade, or dump him and take the hit against the salary cap.
Toronto FC, which tied the Charleston Battery, 0-0, on Saturday, will take on D.C. United in the second round of the Carolina Challenge Cup on Wednesday.
AEG BOSS WARNS PLAYERS UNION
With the MLS season kick-off looming, and a players strike a very real possibility, the head of long-time league ownership group AEG spoke out against the players decision to threaten a strike, saying it would be a mistake for players to put a halt to the 2010 season.
"I don't even know how to react when I hear the players now saying that we have treated them poorly and they're going to strike," AEG president Tim Leiweke told the Los Angeles Times. "The fact is, the Galaxy isn't going to make money this year. There are only a couple of [MLS] teams that will make money this year.
Leiweke further added:
"So when I hear them talk about striking and shutting the league down, I've got to tell you, they're going to lose us when they talk like that."
AEG owns the Los Angeles Galaxy and once owned six MLS teams, an investment that Leiweke has been forgotten by players ready to strike.
Yes, I know, it's not exactly shocking that a league ownership group would be backing the league in the labor battle, but AEG is the first group to speak out publicly in support of MLS in the strained negotiations.
—————-
Think Beckham will be able to make an on-field impact for the Galaxy in 2010? Wishing Toronto had never signed Gerba? Still nervous about an MLS players strike?
Share your thoughts below.
Ives, do you think Beckham’s injury will lead the Galaxy/MLS to up their asking price for Donovan? Should teams come calling for Donovan’s services after the World Cup, the Galaxy would be left without either of their marquee star players, which means lost revenue. Donovan has been the poster-child for US soccer and MLS, can they really afford to let him go without Beckham to fall back on? Might they resist selling him altogether? Could the injury to Beckham make Donovan’s market value go up, at least in terms of what the Galaxy and MLS hope/need to get for him? And will European clubs be willing to pay that for his services? It seems to me that he’s worth more to MLS and the Galaxy as a symbol, as an icon of the league, than he is to European clubs as a player. The only way I could see them shelling out bigger bucks for him is if they think he’ll open up an American market for their club. I’m not discounting his skills as a player, they’ll no doubt be interested in his contributions to their team, just wondering if he’s worth it for clubs to shell out what the Galaxy will want for him. Beckham wasn’t bought by the Galaxy for his skill, he was bought as a marketing vehicle for the league, and without him fit and playing, Donovan becomes that natural icon of MLS and the Galaxy. Can they afford to part with that without Beckham?
http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2010/01/van-den-bergh-in-limbo-as-fc-dallas-preps-for-draft.html
see for your self Eloping camel, Dallas has his rights and he can’t negotiate with another team,
Also to you and Alexandria..He wasn’t even ASKED by Dallas to take a pay cut…
And as much as I search I really can’t find anything saying they offered him a contract.
Close, john in fl.
You had everything right until the part about Dallas holding his rights means he can’t negotiate with another team in MLS. He can. He just has to be willing to take a pay cut.
That sounds unfair to many people (some of whom ridiculously compare it to indentured servitude or even slavery), but it is not unfair. Dallas only holds his rights within MLS and is demanding to be compensated only by whichever MLS team wants him. So he negotiates a new salary and if that new team (let’s just say NY for the fun of it) wants him badly enough they will pay his current salary AND the Dallas fee for his rights. If they don’t think he is that valuable then NY will offer him less. He can take it or leave it.
He is no longer under contract so all he has to do is find another team outside of MLS who is willing to pay what he thinks he is worth. If no team outside of MLS is willing to pay that amount then he is probably not worth what he thinks he is worth and will need to take a pay cut anyway. If another team values his play then great for him.
It is not an unfair system, but it is easy to understand the players’ frustration with it. However, this seems (to me) like the wrong time to strike, if for nothing else, because of the current state of the economy; many fans are not sympathizing with the players. This may lead to less support for the league, which would lead to lower profits and gives MLS the upper hand again in future negotiations.
I think the players would be better served to wait until they hold a stronger deck before striking for serious changes to the structure of MLS.
The dude’s probably loaded up on vicodin, percocet and/or oxycodone (if not morphine) and looks a bit zombie-ish. I bet if you tore your achilles you’d probably do the same (especially the morphine part).
You do know whats going on in Cali right now right? There economy is behind the rest of the countries, The mayor of LA is still trying to find money to pay for the fiscal budget, they’ve raised taxes, they pay more out in pensions each month then they bring in with property values deteriorating, families there are hurting, so yea, they aren’t going to make any money this year, He’d be an absolute idiot to think he would, especially in this market.
Schellas Hyndman said he would sign him just not at the current salary, and for a lesser role. And don’t cry Mickey Mouse now, this is the same guy who orchestrated a move out of New York, and If there is another team who wants Van Den Burgh then he’ll still need to negotiate a salary so that he can sign with the league and be traded, but no offers for him have come in,So keep Blaming Mickey Mouse, I don’t know what he ever did to you.
Dude the players have no leverage at all, Does Garber want to tell Philly that, New York, No he doesn’t but he doesn’t have to the players do. There the ones stopping the game not the league. This isn’t about the salary cap, single entity is its own being. You think Portland and Vancouver bought in to the league for it to change it’s plan and for them to lose out, you get a lot of perks being an expansion side. You don’t by a franchise to be told your on your own a year later n one wold buy into that.
You just made the point for WHY free agency should not be that big of a deal. If there is an interest for you then other teams will make a deal Hartman and Van den Burgh where caught up becuase of salary implications and length of contract not because of Free agency.
Great articles at this soccerlaw website. Now bookmarked. This is the best presentation I’ve seen of the arguments on both sides and terrific analysis on what is reasonable and what isn’t feasible and why.
Also great analysis on why MLS MUST let LD go to Europe.
Thanks for the link.
Let me correct myself, he’s option wasn’t picked up and Dallas won’t release his rights so he can negotiate a job with another team, also, Dallas never even made an offer with a lower salary. Mickey Mouse league keeping the player from finding a job here with their single entity anti-free agency rules.
http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2010/01/van-den-bergh-in-limbo-as-fc-dallas-preps-for-draft.html
Last I checked he’s still conjtracted to MLS but Dallas won’t even offer him a job, they didn’t even offer him a lesser money contract…..or release his rights so he can go play elsewhere.
Maybe I’m wrong but if this is this the way the league wants to run things, and you aparently like it and agree with it, I sure hope the players strike.
Couldn’t agree more Scottie. AEG wants to complain about not making money after going for broke on the Beckham move. The jerseys sold out over a year ago, did they really expect to be making money at this point? Of course you are going to loose money this year when you’re spending like half your expenditures on a guy who is not going to add anything either financialy or sporting-wise to the team.
I think the fact that Chelsea sells out stadiums in the US most definitely means there are many untapped US soccer fans. I am one of them. I visit Ives site every single day and am a huge soccer fan but I have not supported MLS. It doesn’t help that I don’t live near a team but it really comes back to what another poster brought up about the tradition and history and also celebrity players. That is missing in MLS and will take time to materialize. In the meantime, it can only help MLS to have Americans play successfully in Europe. US Soccer needs better PR. Eventually, we should see the same people that went to watch Chelsea go to see MLS.
So if AEG is going to make these claims of losing money then why don’t they agree to show the players the books..the real books on their soccer investment and MLS too?
Owners are lying through their teeth. LA of all teams claiming to have lost money…thats funny.
I love this idea!
Van Den berg would have a job if he took a pay cut! He’s not worth it at his current salary. Free agency or not, a restricted free agent would still have restrictions, which means if someone wanted him they’d have to meet a threshold how about a trade of some sort, oh wait that already happens.
WHy do you want free agency? For More money it’s a bidding process, is it not. Why do you want guaranteed contracts? More money now you don’t have to worry about being cut? I’m sorry it IS about the money, it always has been it is just not about the salary cap.
The players don’t care what the cap is, they don’t care what the minimum contract is, they just want to know after its all said and done who will pay them more in their final contract and that it’s guranteed.
ANd indentured servants are paying off a debt and don’t make six figures, Massive FAIL.
Yeah, collusion will work out great, just like in baseball. Oh, wait…
IF AEG is losing that much money and are that poor (which they are not) then they should sell to someone that knows how to run a MLS team.
Let’s see, LA is in the 2nd biggest market, has two of the most recognizable players, has costs contained due to a salary cap, and plays in their own stadium…and they aren’t making money. Sounds like AEG are pretty bad owners to me.
Except that MLS is not a true single entity, more like a pseudo one. And the clock is ticking.
The players got all the leverage in this one. You really think Garber wants to tell New York and Philly that there won’t be any games in their new stadiums this spring? You think he want’s to tell Vancouver and Portland that despite their nice $40 million franchise fees that we’re going to wipe out part of season the year before they join? Don’t think so.
MLS doesn’t need to have single entity to keep a salary cap.
The thing is, owning a sports franchise is like a real estate investment: you make your money when you sell the team. If AEG doesn’t know this then they should get out of the business. The fact it, they DO know it but are pleading poverty.
If you buy a team for $10 mil, lose $50 or $60 million operating it, and then sell it for $100 mil twenty years later you ended up making money on the deal, not the other way around.
I only need to give one example why the single entity is a joke and why at a minimun “restricted free agency ” needs to be inplemented…Dave Van Den Berg……
OK, this is a misconception some people have. Once a player’s contract expires, MLS can’t stop the player from going overseas.
The lack of free agency only affects out of contract players who want to play for a different team in MLS. The league can’t stop a player from leaving if the player doesn’t have a contract, MLS can only control where it’ll let an out of contract player sign within the league. You can’t get a transfer fee for an out of contract player.
I think these are all good points to be made here, but we just need to realize MLS’s place in the sports of the united states. It would be great if we could have the system built like they have it overseas with academys and youth programs for major club teams. it would be awesome, but realistically, its not going to happen. not soon anyways, but what is needed is for football to be present in american sports. As long as it lasts, it will grow. About 10 years ago my city had an MLS team, when the MLS tried to grow too fast, and now we dont. I just dont want to see it go backwards because its made some good progress. However it needs to be sustained, just suck it up and do it.
I dont think that the free agency within the league is such a bad idea. yes, it works that way in the NFL, NBA, NHL, etc. mostly because it is the biggest market of its kind. As it stands right now, the MLS decided where people end up as long as they have their contract. If a player wants to play overseas, the MLS gets compensation for that player and can evenly distribute the funds over the teams that might need it so that the mls stays afloat. If a free agency is out there allowing players to shop around in league thats fine, but more importantly, internationally it could cripple the MLS because most decent/young talent can play overseas for much more money at similiar quality leagues. We cant just rely on transfer revenue to keep the league going, if we did, we would never be able to keep quality players in the league. once they hit free agency, they will leave and no MLS team will get a dime. we dont have enough revenue generated from ticket merch sales at this point to support a move like this.
wow, nice!
the USSF Div2? english league 2? quit soccer? the prospects are not looking good for Mike Magee and crew. they better pull something out.
I know, incase it wasnt clear; im not exactly for a free agency in the MLS which is why i said to extend the current CBA so we can get on the with the season. What the players are proposing is to be owned by the teams, which would give them more freedom to move within the league and shop around for better contracts. Consequently, they will be able to look overseas as well, which i do not think is a good thing for the MLS in most cases because we cannot compete with the salaries that even the nordic countries can provide.
correction – $15 mill – but you all know what i mean
They agreed to mediation not binding arbitartion.
There won’t be a strike. Where would people like Mike Magee play without MLS?
no joke:
http://www.blackbookmag.com/article/homeless-brother-sharp-causes-stir-in-china/16750
Is the MLS season going to happen or not?
The 25th is a couple of days away…
No way I see the players going in under the last contract…is there any news from the arbitror? Wasn’t that ‘binding arbitration’ both agreed to?
agreed completely!
The owners should give free agency to veterans after x years. Players sign the CBA. Then cut all their a$$es and collude not to sign them.
How many people would stop going to MLS games becasue they could no longer see Garcia hack better players and complain to refs?
What in the world are you guys talking about?
MLS can’t afford free agency? There’s a salary cap. If no team can spend more than their cap, how would signing free agents using available money under the cap hurt the bottom line?
If you work for a national company, get laid off at one site, you can’t get a job at another site for more money? What?!? Why not?
OK, let’s see if we can make up an example to explain how free agency would work. Say we had a guy, picking a name out of a hat, we’ll call him Kevin, who played for some random team, we’ll say KC. So KC tells Kevin they don’t want him anymore, but Kevin hears that another team, let’s say Dallas, would like to have Kevin on their team.
With free agency, Dallas would just sign Kevin to a contract which, when combined with all the other salaries on the team, was less than a certain number, we’ll call this number a cap.
WithOUT free agency, Dallas would just sign Kevin to a contract which, when combined with all the other salaries on the team, was less than a certain number, we’ll call this number a cap, AND send KC a little present, like a future draft pick, which doesn’t even affect the amount of money that counts toward the cap.
Please explain to me how MLS can’t afford first scenario, or it wouldn’t work with single entity, but the 2nd scenario is both affordable and works just fine in single entity.
do you think LA would be profitable if they cashed a $19 million dollar check from a London-based football club?
at least he brings more to the table than “stop talking to yourself”. go f yourself
Well said,
People need to get it. The strike IS NOT ABOUT MONEY. . . . It IS ABOUT WORKING CONDITIONS . . . This talk about money is the owners putting up a smoke screen to hide the fact that signing an MLS contract is tantamount to indentured servitude.
The players are willing to scrap the future of the sport over the has beens and never weres. In my expereince the people with the most at stake biggest gripes are the ones who shoot their mouths off. Who have we heard from Hartman? Nick Garcia? Joe Cannon? Pat Onstad? Bunch of hacks in the scope of football.
These idiots aren’t even smart enough to strike at a time when it actually does them some good. Go on a strike during the middle of the NCAA tourney, with the Champions League at its peak, with baseball starting up, NHL and NBA going to the playoffs….. All you are doign is offending the few peopl out there that suplement your salaries (since by and large the money is coming directly out of the owners’ pockets) the MLS season ticket holders and hard core supporters.
If the players strike I really hope that there is a serious backlash against hem and I wish I knew how to make them know how I feel.
FIFA didn’t have a problem with the league structure…
Translation: They dont give a care about MLS
Not to mention that if my friend is really good at his job he might get a dollar an hour raise in a couple years whereas a soccer player could be making much more.
After reading through all these articles and reader comments on the potential strike only one thing rings true to me: This is a PR battle being waged in the papers and the owners are winning in a landslide. If you were to read that LA Times article on Leiwike (sp?) then read what Tierny or Garcia say to the press, it becomes comical. More importantly, it becomes harder and harder to side with the players on this one. I understand the urge to better your situation as an employee, but asking ownership to restructure completely to accomodate those perceived needs is simply asinine and begging for an impasse. Pick your battles and your battleground. The players are losing (IMO) the battle over public opinion.
I side with the players, but I figure there will still be a backlash if there’s a strike–especially because people like Jim Rome can reach a bigger audience with his twenty seconds of hate then all the PR the soccer press could put out in a year.
Anyway, I have friends who went to school and rang up student loan debts and have to settle for an 18,000 a year job, just like a handful of these MLS players (not many actually make that little, right?). My friend has student loan debts that the college soccer player probably doesn’t (scholarships), my friend works 12 months a year at a job he hates while the mls player works 8 months a year at a job he should at least like if not love.
I side with the players, but I’m afraid the general public will not.
ives, i know posting links is frowned upon on this site h/e
http://soccerlaw.wordpress.com/
has a great explanation of this whole debacle from a law perspective.
this is very true. it took me some time to really understand the single entity system and how MLS got this far with it. Changing and restructuring that system in a few months is not a good idea. in other leagues (nfl,nhl,nba) this took years (years of growing popularity)
for now I say raise the cap, which the owners have proposed, to 2.6-3 million dollars and create a plan to over see the gradual movement away from single entity over x amount of years with performance goals. raising the cap should give players more pay evenly with out rocking the boat too much to quick
Why is it, when people talk about the labor issues, that almost everyone talks about player salaries. Do people not read the reports about the issues at hand, or just not believe what’s reported? It’s less about money, and more about labor practices, like limited free agency, or guaranteed/non-guaranteed contracts.
I’m not saying money doesn’t come into it, but I don’t think any of the players are trying to compare their salaries to the other pro sports, they’re smart enough to know such comparisons are just silly, MLS money is nothing like the other leagues.
I hate the Galaxy with all my heart. However, even a CUSA fan like myself recognizes what Becks does for the league. Too bad for him. Honest.
As for AEG, they gouge fans at Galaxy and CUSA games with exhorbitant prices for concessions and parking.
They (LIEweke and Co.) are the ones that should shut there pie holes.
It’s really quite simple. Let players that are cut or out of contract go to any team that will have them. They should be allowed to play for any team that wants thier contract.(without the team that cut them/ released thier contract recieve compensation.) This should’t be an issue for owners. Players will be happy, problem solved. It’s called free agency.
Yeah, he kind of reminds me of those porcelain sad homeless clowns my grandma used to have in her living room.
He looks like a broken puppet…puppetmaster style