Friday will mark the 25th anniversary of “The Trade” that sent Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings. We all know the impact it brought to the NHL, as outlined in LWOS columnist Rory Harbaugh’s piece, “The Day When NHL Players Became Commodities”. Players salaries went up, way up, and cities not known for being hockey hot-spots obtained franchises, such as Anaheim, San Jose, Phoenix and Tampa Bay to name a few. While the impact of “The Trade” lasted throughout much of the 1990’s, a similar impact move happened in the latter part of the 2000’s – but in Major League Soccer.
The news that brought major shockwaves to MLS was the announcement that upon conclusion of the 2007 La Liga season, David Beckham would be leaving Real Madrid to join the Los Angeles Galaxy. Before Becks arrival, MLS was a relatively small league with only twelve teams, the majority of them playing in stadiums primarily designed for American football. After his arrival brought much fanfare to the North American league, the majority of the teams finally started to play in stadiums primarily designed for footy (soccer) as well as another expansion. Between 2007 and 2012, MLS added another seven teams including three of them from Canada. These cities were Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, which were joined by Seattle, Philadelphia, Portland and the revival of the San Jose Earthquakes.
Like what Gretzky did for one Los Angeles team many moons ago, Beckham’s presence in MLS made an impact very similar to “The Great One” by developing the game in the North American league. If Becks had decided not to join the Galaxy, would the MLS still see expansion let alone still exist? Probably not.
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