Raúl González Blanco, better known as just Raúl, earned his fame and reputation during his 16 years and 228 goals with Real Madrid. He was one of the greatest Spanish soccer players of all time and still holds the record for goals scored for a club that has featured names like Zinedine Zidane and both Ronaldos.
You’ll notice that most of that paragraph was in the past tense, however. After Real, Raúl spent some time with Schalke 04 before signing with Al Sadd in the Qatar Stars League until he announced his retirement from soccer in March of 2014.
Retirement must have been an excruciating experience for Raúl, as less than eight months later, Raúl signed a contract to play with the New York Cosmos in the NASL. At the time, this contract could have easily been seen as merely a marketing ploy. After all, ESPN and other outlets reported that part of the contract stated that he would head up the Cosmos’ youth academy. If that was true, then maybe this was all just a tease and Raúl would actually be moving into his post playing career as a coach or technical director while pretending to be a player in the off season to see a few tickets.
So far, it seems the cynical take is wrong. First, Raúl is not currently listed in the staff directory for the academy’s website so he may not be doing that at all. In addition, he has been used heavily, and progressively so, all season so far. Raúl has started every game and averaged more than 76 minutes per match. On Saturday’s match against the Silverbacks in Atlanta, he played the entire game, and that after only being subbed out in the 90th minute the week before.
Unlike the MLS Players Union, who documents the salary of every player in the league, NASL salaries are difficult to find. Without a salary cap, however, it’s safe to assume that Raúl is getting significantly more than the league average. It would be unsurprising if he’s making over a million dollars this season, and millions wouldn’t be out of the question. The question is whether he’s worth it.
The main reason most soccer players get paid to play is how much they help the team, and so far this season, despite being 37, Raúl doesn’t look too old and he’s currently giving full-game appearances; it was pretty clear from the game in Atlanta that he fit in. He showed signs of brilliance on the ball and didn’t look too slow or unfit compared to anyone else on the pitch.
The problem is that he also didn’t stand out and his stats so far this season back that up. He has a goal in four games, but that isn’t so bad considering no one in the league has more than two. He has no assists, but it’s also hard to believe his mere presence on the field doesn’t create chances. After all, he’s Raúl, and even if he is 37 and clearly not the player he was a decade ago, he’s still good enough and famous enough to affect the way the other teams treat him. He’s obviously not just wasting a roster spot and definitely deserves a starting spot. It’s just that his play wouldn’t be worth his being the highest paid player in the league, assuming that he is.
But anyone at Silverbacks Park Saturday would have immediately recognized that his play isn’t all the Cosmos are getting for their money. While it’s beginning to be clear that Raúl isn’t going to be the farce NASL teams occasionally force on the fans of the washed-up former great whose knees leave them hobbling around the pitch, clearly clinging to their playing career several seasons too long, Raúl is still obviously there to help sell tickets.
So has that worked?
The short answer is yes. Last year, their sophomore year after a league championship-winning rookie season, the Cosmos averaged fewer than 5,000 fans per game, and this in a stadium, Hofstra’s James M. Shuart Stadium, that holds nearly 12,000 fans. Even worse, despite being the only NASL team in the largest and most densely populated metropolitan area, the Cosmos averaged a crowd smaller than the league average of 5,501. This year with Raúl, the Cosmos filled the stadium to standing room only with 12,550 in their home opener. While we won’t find out until later if this trend will hold, it’s looking like even if Raúl continues to be only a good starting player, he’s probably earning every penny of that likely very hefty paycheck.
It’s not just helping New York sell tickets, either.
Let’s start with Indy. What? They sold out both of their home matches so far? They sold every seat to every game in their 10,285 seat stadium last year? Ok, they’re a worthless data point, but they aren’t the only team to host the Cosmos so far this Spring Season.
Last week in Atlanta, the Silverbacks not only sold out their 5,000 seat stadium, they sold general admission standing room tickets to an additional 511 people. Now, Atlanta has had a surprisingly good season so far. Despite a disastrous 2012, the team faced the Cosmos in week 4 without a loss and coming off a big road win against then league-leading Carolina. Sure, when they announced the lineups Raúl got almost as loud of a cheer as the home starters, and sure when the team tried to sneak him out of the stadium in an unmarked car, the vehicle was quickly mobbed by fans, many wearing Real Madrid jerseys, chanting “Raúl! Raúl!” Still, maybe it was just the excitement of building success. After all, the ‘Backs sold out their stadium five times last year during a season when their combined record was the worst in the league.
That case gets harder to make when you look at Fort Lauderdale, which saw an even more extreme increase. When the Strikers hosted Jacksonville, despite a sizeable contingent of fans from their in-state rivals, Fort Lauderdale only sold 4,883 of their 20,450-seat stadium. With Raúl and the Cosmos, they more than doubled that with 11,629. Not bad for a team that never saw as many as 6,000 fans at a home game last year.
Whether or not Raúl continues to be worth his paycheck remains to be seen. This weekend they come home for only the second time this season and host an Ottawa team that’s currently near the bottom of the table. And Raúl is still 37. If he gets hurt and stops being able to play, his effect on both home and away attendance would decrease, but while Raúl is still golden, every team in the league will be grinning about their ticket sales while he’s in the building.
