David News

Major League Soccer is looking to add stars and teams now that it has avoided a strike and agreed to a five-year labor contract.

"It's in all of our best interests to ensure that we have star players that can help drive interest in our league and grow attendance and ratings," commissioner Don Garber said Tuesday. "Now that we're past the CBA, we could sit down and we can tackle that issue."

Los Angeles midfielder David Beckham, the league's top attraction, will be sidelined for most if not all of this season with a torn Achilles' tendon.

MLS has just four other star "designated players," whose salaries don't fully count against a team's salary cap: New York forward Juan Pablo Angel, Seattle midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, Houston forward Luis Angel Landin and Toronto midfielder Julian de Guzman. The Galaxy's Landon Donovan isn't a DP but doesn't fully count against the cap, either.

Each team has a designated player slot and can trade it, with no team able to keep more than two DPs at once. Most of the DP slots are open. Barcelona's Thierry Henry and Real Madrid's Raul Gonzalez often are mentioned as possibilities for the Red Bulls.

MLS says Seattle and Toronto were the only profitable teams last year, when regular and postseason attendance averaged 16,391.

"Clearly you're looking for a player that can be breakthrough figure locally and nationally, somebody that can give the team relevance in the local market against all competition but also give us respect throughout the international soccer community that proves that Major League Soccer is serious about building a professional soccer league that at one point can be competitive with the other leagues around the world," Garber said.

"You're looking for somebody that can clearly move the needle on ticket sales and on sponsorship and on television ratings and get that buzz factor that we got with (Cuauhtemoc) Blanco and with David Beckham and a lesser extent but an important one with Juan Pablo Angel."

Philadelphia, which plays Thursday's MLS opener at Seattle, is the league's 16th team. Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, British Colombia, are set to join in 2011. Garber said he will reopen talks to add Montreal, possibly for 2012, and that Atlanta and owner Arthur Blank could join later.

"You can't be a national league unless you have teams in the South," he said.

Garber said this year's MLS title game could be played in Toronto and new Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., which he said cost $250 million, was a top candidate to host in 2011 or beyond.

Under the labor deal agreed to Saturday, the minimum salary for the first 24 players on each team's roster will rise to $40,000 this season. If MLS expands rosters, there will be a class of players making $31,250.

Last year, 40 players among 323 listed by the MLS Players Union at the start of the season made the $34,000 minimum and 12 more made the developmental minimum of $20,100. The minimum will increase 5 percent annually.

As part of the deal, each team's salary budget will rise from $2.3 million last year to more than $2.5 million this season and then increase 5 percent a year.

Players who are at least 24 and have three or more years of MLS service will have guaranteed contracts — giving the league a majority of players with guaranteed deals for the first time. The league estimated the percentage of players with guaranteed deals will grow from under 40 percent to 55 percent.

Although players fell short of gaining free agency, the league is establishing a re-entry draft for players of certain ages and service time whose options are declined or contracts expire. The league will be limited to two or three options for players, depending on age and service.

Players also will get bonuses for wins and appearance fees for international exhibitions, and the league and union will have a joint committee study restarting the reserve division, eliminated after the 2008 season. Provisions will be made for team to retain homegrown youth players.
AP

Footballer David Beckham will be going to the World Cup after all as he is reportedly set to host the Kick-Off Celebration concert.


The concert is being held on June 10 in Soweto, Johannesburg, the night before the first game in the tournament takes place.


The music event will be held at the Orlando Stadium and will feature stars such as Alicia Keys, Black Eyed Peas and Shakira.


Organiser Kevin Wall has not publicly said Beckham will be at the event, but remarked: 'We are using soccer icons throughout the show. We will have some major celebrities acting as hosts. We have just started negotiations with a famous UK footballer who is now not playing in the World Cup.'

Donovan talks about David Beckham...again.

Donovan had been critical of Beckham's decision to join AC Milan on loan for the first spell from LA Galaxy.
Beckham responded by describing Galaxy team-mate Donovan as "unprofessional, but the pair have sorted out their differences and Donovan has nothing but praise for Beckham's positive influence on the game in the USA.
He said: "David has been terrific in every way. I think he will tell you initially on the field it was difficult for him to understand the way the game was played (in America).
"But he has adapted well, as he always does, and before he was injured he was a big part of our team last year.
"Off the field, he has almost single-handedly brought an awareness to our game that wasn't there before.
"It would be one thing if he did that subconsciously without knowing and without putting effort into it but he puts a lot into helping grow the game in our country and we all appreciate that."

Fabio Capello has done an embarrassing U-turn over David Beckham’s England career just two weeks after controversially announcing it was over.
Coach Capello called time on the former national captain during a TV interview and later claimed he would honour Beckham by picking him for a final tribute game at Wembley to say goodbye to the supporters who have idolised him over the years.
But the England coach has changed his mind and is willing to consider 35-year-old Beckham if he fully recovers from his Achilles injury.
Capello said: “The door is always open for all players.“First of all David Beckham has to be back playing. We are monitoring all the players.
“At the moment I am thinking about the young players because they need more games and experience. We know the value of the older players. But although I think the future is about youth in the squad, no one player is out.”
Capello sparked a storm of criticism over his comments about Beckham, primarily because he hadn’t had the courtesy to call personally a man who had won 115 England caps.
However, Capello insists his relationship with Beckham has not been damaged.
He said: “I spoke with a journalist in the TV interview. Immediately after the interview Franco Baldini [Team England’s general manager] spoke with David.
“I also spoke with David on the telephone and I explained what really happened and the relationship between him and me remains really good.
“I spoke with David because he was a part of the staff in the World Cup. Usually I don’t speak on the phone with the players. But in this case I did.”
But that call from Capello came days after the storm was sparked by his TV interview.And Capello won’t need reminding that Beckham has forced him into a U-turn ­before at Real Madrid.
When Beckham announced he would be joining LA Galaxy, Capello vowed not to select him again. The coach was forced to relent and Beckham played a key role in the team that won La Liga.
One player who won’t be returning is Paul Scholes. As Sunday Mirror Sport revealed last weekend, Capello made a last ditch plea to the 35-year-old midfielder to reconsider his position.
It had been claimed in some quarters that Scholes would have to make the first move to prevent an embarrassment for the FA after he snubbed a last minute call-up to Capello’s squad for the World Cup in South Africa.
But Capello confirmed our story when he said: “We spoke with Paul Scholes last Wednesday. Franco Baldini called him.
“He said he’s too old to play for United, play Premier League, Champions League and the national team.”
Despite the backlash that followed England’s disastrous World Cup campaign, Capello denies he has become a public figure of hate.
“When I walk around the fans and the people are always really kind to me. For this reason I am really happy,” he said. “Against Hungary, after just 10 minutes the people were with the team and you could see the passion of the fans.
“All I will say is I’m the boss of the players, the symbol of those players, so when they boo the players they boo me.
“I have put up with the criticism in the past. During the last season at Real Madrid it was a very tough time.
“It was more or less the same but at the end I won [the title]and that changes everything.”