Landon Donovan is American futbol. He’s the all-time leader in scoring and assists for the US National Team and the most recognizable American male soccer player. The dude’s the face of soccer.
But he’s no Michael Jordan. Not many kids want to be like Lando. He’s not revolutionizing his sport in this country or the world or redefining the landscape of sports in general. He’s merely the best player in a horrible league: Major League Soccer.
Despite Donovan’s employment by the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS (which touts the highest payroll of any team in America), he still is a hobo compared to his counterparts in the English Premier League, which boasted an average player salary of $1.8 million in 2009. The MLS average salary in 2010 was $138,169. Sucks for Landon.
But his stock is soaring after his great performance in the 2010 World Cup. The richest soccer club in the world, Manchester City of the English Premier League, has been rumored to have significant interest in Landon and could offer him a yearly salary in the range of $4 million. Man City has invested $250 million in its current squad, including $11.1 million per year in Emmanuel Adebayor and $10.5 million per year in Carlos Tevez, the 6th and 8th highest paid futbol players in the world.
If Man City offers that $4 mil per year to Landon, it’d be a huge increase over his current salary of $2.13 mil. (He had been making $900K for the last 3 seasons with the Galaxy.) However, since the Galaxy has Landon under contract for the next 4 years, Man City would have to be willing to pay a hefty transfer fee to get Donovan, which would be payable to the Galaxy and the MLS – 50/50. Estimates of this transfer fee are in the neighborhood of $12 million.
By all assumptions, Donovan would fare well in the EPL. In January 2010, the Galaxy agreed to loan Donovan to the Everton club. He played so well that Everton wanted to extend his loan, but the Galaxy declined so it could get its star back for the 2010 MLS season.
But does Landon even want to go to Europe? He’ll be a periphery player at best in England, whereas he is the revered golden boy for US soccer, trying to increase appeal and relevancy to the American fan base.
He will likely have more endorsement opportunities coming soon, so Man City’s doubling of his salary may not be a huge plus for him. He currently has deals with Gatorade, AT&T, and the Mexican lottery. But anyone who has seen him speak knows that he lacks the innate charisma of a Michael Jordan, the huggable teady-bear-ness of a Shaquille O’Neal, or the shameless promotion of sex appeal of a Danica Patrick or David Beckham. Unless he’s just scored a goal, Landon is mostly a stoic bore.
He can’t even make a love-child/secret baby story interesting, where a UK woman claims she’s pregant with Landon’s baby. This was potentially interesting because Landon is still legally married to his estranged wife. But his wife apparently has stated that she is aware of the allegation and is “extremely supportive of Donovan.” Are you kidding me? Kobe’s wife would be driving around in a Lamborghini made out of one thousand separate 4 million dollar diamond rings, and then would have made Kobe tattoo her name across his forehead. Landon then said, “I was informed of the possibility during the World Cup, and if I need to take responsibility, then I will provide the appropriate support.” Kudos to him for being a responsible human being, but he sure doesn’t know how to utilize free publicity. He didn’t want to talk to his lawyer first, didn’t want to tip toe around the possibilities to let the media speculate for a week or two. He didn’t schedule a press conference or say anything remotely entertaining. He just wants to play soccer. BORING. American sports fans appreciate the backstory/sidestory/substory just as much as the game itself. This just shows that Landon isn’t ready for the big time; he handled his situation with too much class. Compared to the Tiger Woods drama, Landon’s secret baby story is like watching grass grow … on a soccer field, while people are playing soccer. An intensely boring game of soccer.
Moreover, Landon’s 28 years old and in the middle of his playing prime. He shouldn’t spend his top-earning years stuck in the mud for American soccer. He owes it to himself to achieve some success outside of the US. And right now the best chance for that lies with Man City and the EPL, not with the US National Team. He’ll be considered old for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Clint Dempsey will also be pushing it at 31 years of age. And Tim Howard will be 35 by then. This core dodged a bullet to get out of group play this year. And that bullet’s name was Slovenia. Slovenia for crying out loud. How can Landon and the US expect to be competitive with the the rest of the world with an aging core and a disinterested home front?
So, Donovan should do what every other professional athlete does – go and get paid while the suitors are still knocking at his door.
Loud noises.
His popularity is at an all time high right now. Strike while the iron’s hot because soccer in America will not catch on. The pace is slow. Goals and entertaining plays are too few and far between. It’s boring compared to basketball, football, and even baseball. (Even with baseball, anything can happen on any given pitch, and sometimes in between pitches.) Soccer is people running around with a turnover every 10 seconds. It’s like watching the traffic of NASCAR, but instead of cars, there are people; and instead of car wrecks, there are goals.
With regards to money and advertising, the MLS’s best pitchman is Landon Donovan, who is a dull stiff for the aforementioned reasons. And American futbol’s biggest draw (and highest paid player at $6.5 million this season), Dave Beckham, is 35 years old – in the twilight of his career. And he just tore his Achilles Tendon which caused him to miss the World Cup. And he’s British. Thus, the MLS has no likeable frontman (no Tiger Woods, no LeBron James, no Derek Jeter, no Peyton Manning, no Roger Federer) to sell its sport, so companies aren’t going to back the MLS.
Also, it’s not even efficient for companies to sponsor and advertise during soccer matches. There is only one place for commercials – during a short halftime which is sandwiched by two 45-minute periods of uninterrupted play, unlike American football, basketball, and baseball where sponsors and advertisers can peddle their products substantially with regularity. And a thin electronic banner streaming company logos along the length of the field isn’t going to entice big business to invest in soccer. Not even allowing sponsors to print their logo/name across the chest of each player’s jersey is sufficient. American businesses prefer 30 second commericals or 1 minute super commericals with talking pictures. This is where we can see Michael Jordan play 1-on-1 with himself, Nike’s Write the Future, or the LeBrons.
But maybe it’s very disharmony with good advertising is what makes soccer pure – as big business hasn’t completely corrupted, watered down, and cheapened the game yet. But if Landon stays in the MLS and magically becomes likeable, maybe we’ll see an advertisement in the goals’ netting, some paint on the grass in the goalie box, or a moving off-sides line a la the technology the NFL and the NCAA uses to mark the first-down line in football.
So, Landon can either stay in the MLS to attempt to increase the sport’s popularity in America, or he can take the huge pay day in England. I’m guessing he’ll stay and try to be America’s golden boy of soccer. It would be a boring choice for a fittingly predictable person.
