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How an ageing galactico can be the brightest star in LA Galaxy's firmamentDavid Beckham's $250m price-tag is testament to the growing power and wealth of the Hispanic community | |
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See how 'Brand Beckham' developed in pictures
The real football fans - the Hispanic community
The drive from Sunset Strip to the suburb of Carson, where David Beckham will soon be playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy football team, is a long one.
The freeway south passes through what used to be known as South Central Los Angeles — rebranded South Los Angeles, to help to offset its reputation for gang violence — and eventually reaches a 19sq mile (50sq km) industrial enclave where the Hispanic barrios now outnumber the black and Filipino neighbourhoods.
To the average Briton, the landscape of Carson would be instantly recognisable from any number of gritty LA cop dramas: a place where El Pollo Loco is a more familiar brand than McDonald’s, and where the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinión counts as many readers as the Los Angeles Times. The Galaxy stadium is one of three landmarks, along with California State University (established to improve race relations after the 1965 Watts riots) and a landing pad for the Goodyear Blimp. Given that many of the local people work in construction, it’s no surprise that the football team’s stadium is sponsored by Home Depot, a huge DIY chain.
To white Angelenos — many of whom hadn’t even heard of the Galaxy football team until this week — its Hollywood- inspired name is a joke: Carson might as well be on a different planet to Sunset Strip and the fashionable nightspots of Hollywood and the Westside. Few A-listers would venture as far south as Carson without a bodyguard and a bullet-proof Range Rover. By extension, Beckham’s transfer was also considered a joke, in spite of its $250 million (£125 million) price: enough to make Mission: Impossible IV for Beckham’s new best friend, Tom Cruise.
When they finally passed comment on Beckham’s signing, LA’s bloggers alternately quipped that soccer was a sport “generally played by 12-year-old girls in high socks” and that Beckham should be “the cover boy of Who Gives a S***? magazine”. Meanwhile, an editor at the Los Angeles Times privately chuckled: “Not even the paparazzi will get down to Carson: the traffic’s too bad.”
At least the hosts of ABC’s Good Morning America were a little kinder yesterday morning, presenting Beckham with a “welcome to America” gift of Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers basketball team shirt. The headline running across the screen was “Bank it like Beckham”. Nevertheless, the shirt was also an uncomfortable reminder: in LA, Beckham will have to get used to being out-headlined by the Lakers, as well as the LA Dodgers baseball team.
Beckham, however, is well aware that his move to Southern California has nothing to do with pleasing white Americans — or, indeed, white American television networks, which get queasy at the thought of broadcasting two 45-minute halves of uninterrupted soccer without a single commercial break. In that sense, the accusation from Britain that Beckham’s move to LA is simply the latest evidence of his celebrity preening is wide of the mark: in LA, he will be more of a working-class hero than he ever was at Manchester United.
In fact, Beckham will represent a completely different side of LA from Hollywood — a side unexplored by most of those who come to LA on summer holiday to visit Disneyland and Universal Studios.
As far as Hispanics are concerned, football is already a mainstream sport in America.
During the 2006 World Cup, America’s biggest Spanish-language broadcaster, Univision, routinely outrated the all-American sports network ESPN, and its sister network ESPN2. Even some English-speaking football fans, especially British expats, chose to watch the World Cup in Spanish, because ESPN’s coverage was considered so passionless (Wayne Rooney’s groin-stomp and subsequent red card, for example, barely raised an eyebrow on ESPN, whereas on Univision, the commentator almost passed out with the unfolding drama).
And not all of the football shown on Hispanic TV is played overseas. In fact, national football teams from Mexico and South America often play exhibition matches in the United States. America’s national team recently faced the Mexican and Venezuelan sides at Reliant Stadium in Houston and at Qwest Field in Seattle respectively. Tens of thousands of Hispanic fans showed up to cheer on their countries.
All this puts the $250 million price-tag on Beckham’s deal into context.
Consumer research groups have known for years the size and power of the Hispanic market in the US. Last year there were 42 million Hispanics in America, a number that is expected to grow to 60 million (or 18 per cent of the population) by 2020. In spite of the controversy over US immigration, and the recent protest marches through downtown LA, the Hispanics are embedding themselves in American culture and getting wealthier by the year.
Nielsen Media Research estimated recently that the buying power of Hispanics in the US would exceed $1 trillion by 2008, up 55 per cent from 2003. Many big American companies have already taken advantage of this trend: Citibank paid $12.5 billion to buy Mexico’s biggest banking chain (thus capturing the market for sending cash back to Mexico) and the NBC television network paid almost $2 billion to buy Telemundo, the second-largest American/Hispanic TV network after Univision.
To those white Americans who resent the growing influence of Hispanics in American politics, Beckham’s arrival in LA could actually be considered as a threat. Indeed, the suburb of Carson (incorporated as its own city in 1968) is an area of pride for many Hispanic-Americans: it was originally the Dominguez Rancho homestead, a gift by the Spanish governor of California in 1782 to the Spanish soldier Juan José Domínguez, who was part of the Portola expedition that settled the area that ultimately became El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Rio de Porciuncula (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the River Porciuncula).
Some Americans fear that the Hispanics, particularly the Mexicans, will eventually want to claim the land back. And as the Spanish striker Luís Suárez once pointed out, there’s an uncomfortably close relationship between football and politics in Hispanic culture. He said: “There’s a long list of governments that have fallen or been overthrown after the defeat of the national team.”
Perhaps the opposite could also be true — perhaps a resurgent LA Galaxy could make the locals feel empowered? For the time being, however, Beckham’s move to LA is all about business. Galaxy no doubt expects Beckham’s arrival in the city to generate tens of millions of dollars in sponsorship and advertising deals, with every industry from car manufacturing to life insurance seeing the British midfielder as a direct way to increase their presence in the Hispanic market. In many ways, it’s irrelevant to the deal whether Beckham’s celebrity status crosses over into the American mainstream, although his appearance yesterday on ABC’s Good Morning America suggests that’s already happened. Nevertheless, second-generation immigrants caution against over-optimism. Many remember when the Brazilian football icon Pelé, supreme exponent of the “beautiful game” and scorer of 1,283 first-class goals, came out of retirement in 1975 to play two seasons for the New York Cosmos. He was 35 and his price was a then staggering $4.5 million.
Pelé was a huge draw on the field but failed to change the second-rate status of football in America.
La Opinión echoed this sentiment yesterday, saying that Beckham was past his prime.
“[When Beckham went to Spain] Real Madrid acquired a publicity magnet, a player with model looks who left millions of dollars in the bank account but nothing for the trophy cabinet,” it said. “The same could happen to LA Galaxy and to Major League Soccer. It remains to be seen how many goals Beckham will score in the MLS, or whether he will help his latest team win its third US championship. Beckham is only the latest star name charged with lifting US soccer to the same level as baseball, American football and basketball.”
“I realise I’m not as recognised in the US as I am around Europe, around other parts of the world,” Beckham said last night in a global press conference. “Hopefully, playing for the Galaxy will change that.”
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