ESPN is going all out to promote David Beckham's first game with the Los Angeles galaxy soccer team, boasting 19 cameras, including one that will track just him. And the July 21 match is being
promoted with a TV campaign featuring a remake of Beatles' classic "Hello Goodbye," a print effort in
USA Today and a one-hour documentary.
Beckham is also appearing with NFL
star Reggie Bush in an adidas ad campaign, along with one for Motorola. But the odds are stacked against the player, in spite of his $250 million deal with Galaxy, which was greeted with bafflement in
a country where 'soccer' is mainly a sport for young girls."
So the big question is whether anyone will bother watching. When he played for Real Madrid in Europe, Beckham could count
on an audience of up to 80 million people, while viewing figures for Major League Soccer here are so small they barely register on Nielsen. "Competitive hot dog eating typically gets more ratings than
soccer," says one LA-based TV executive. "But at least when you've got a zero rating, the only way is up."
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