Saturday Galaxy Pan-Pacific Championship Gameday & More

Read the BBC article carefully, as well as this one from Sky Sports:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11854_4954136,00.html

When you take Galliani's comments in the context of Leiweke's outbursts you will see that I have been right in describing Leiweke as resorting to intimidating, oppressive pressure to get his way as an MO, not just in this case. This is how the man lives; to be Number One at all costs, regardless of whom he steamrolls. You can be sure that his "friendship" with Beckham will be quite short-lived after this.

Of course, some people who read this blog and work for the Galaxy refuse to believe this. Do they have to wait until Leiweke chews them up and spits them out, as well?

Well Joe, I don't work for the Galaxy and I think your take on the situation borders on the psychotic but whatever.

You can't seriously expect Tim L. to accept an offer of $3m for a player that will make the league 6 times that amount over the next 10 months. It's just stupid business. Milan has refused to up it's bid over the last 8 days yet it's using the European press to make AEG/MLS look like the bad guy. It's ridiculous. The bottom line is that Milan is not willing to even come close to making a bid that might get this deal done.

Yet somehow, to you, it's always AEG's fault.

I think you need a little help.

One other note, Nick, I wouldn't say that season ticket holders are getting into the game tonight for free. It's one of our bonus games that we paid for. Yeah that's right, I paid for this. Ugh.

Still, I'm looking forward to the match. It just shouldn't cost full price to watch Arena experiment with the line up.

Nick replies: Point taken. Thanks. I'm curious when the Galaxy made the decision to offer tonight as a bonus game. Was it after Wednesday and that "crowd" of 5,000, I wonder? And why didn't they offer Wednesday as a bonus game, too? I also received the following e-mail from a fan earlier today I found interesting:

I just went to the box office to see how much it would cost for me and the boys to go tonight to the (worthless) match against the Asian team ....the cheapest tickets are 25 bucks!!! Plus $15 to park....for a means nothing game with no Donovan or Beckham...They are on crack!!!

Don't they get it that people won't pay that much for meaningless game...AEG has been raping the public for too long!! They are pricing out regular and the casual fan...

Did you know that my same season seats that I have for Chivas are 2.5x as much for the Galaxy?

Amazing.

Joseph,

Despite what you may think, I also do not work for AEG. I echo mbar's sentiments -- you have a phychotic obsession with Leiweke and AEG. Because you admitted in one of your last posts that someone from Galaxy public relations attempted to "murder your professional reputation" and you clearly have an ax to grind against Leiweke, AEG, Galaxy management, you have absolutely no credibility in your analysis of things. Mbar is right -- why in the hell should Galaxy give up Beckham for a paltry $3 million, even if he can walk at the end of the season. And you don't think Milan is trying to play it's own games in the Beckham negotiation. If you think AEG is bad at running sports teams, so be it, but they aren't stupid enough business people to let him go on the cheap.

Nick, to your question, tonight's game was offered as a bonus game of the season ticket package weeks ago. It's a terrible game to be offering as part of the season ticket package. But they've done this before, I think with either Rangers or Sao Paolo -- scheduling the game during the week of WC qualifying when the top Galaxy players are gone. I think if they had offered Wednesday as one of the bonus game as well, there would have been a mutiny among season ticket holders.

To the guy who e-mailed Nick: I agree that it's a crummy game. Hopefully AEG will learn its lesson by stop trying to schedule crap games like this. So speak with your wallet. If you don't think you're getting value for money, then don't go to Galaxy games and stick with your Chivas USA tickets. Personally, the Galaxy are my team -- ever since I went to the opening game in '96. Me, I'll never, ever root for Chivas USA (I do admit a fondness for the ChivaGirls however). As a gringo, why would I root for a team with such blatant Mexico-centric focus? You claim the Galaxy are pricing out the regular and casual fan, but I'll bet they'll lead the league in attendance post-Beckham just as they did all those years pre-Beckham. If Chivas USA is such a great bargain, why is their attendance still crap? -- they are bleeding money and surely can't continue much longer.

mbar and Dr. Death: My point is not whether Leiweke should take $3 million (or any specific figure) for Beckham. I don't expect the Galaxy to be willingly low-balled. But, let's face it, Beckham's opt-out clause gives AC Milan the advantage in negotiations; everybody involved knows that.

My point is that the way Leiweke conducts himself in public interviews demonstrates his own personality deficiencies. If he wanted to "save face" and "sound tough," all he had to do was say the following at the outset: "While we are flattered at AC Milan's interest in David, we will not sell him under any circumstances. He is too important to the development of our club and the league."

He didn't do that. Instead, he rants and raves about how he (not AEG) did Beckham and Donovan a favor and expects to be repaid. He rants and raves about how Beckham shouldn't even think about buying his way out of his contract. He raves about how he "will not be screwed under."

This is a man who makes Captain Queeg look like Timothy Leary. Don't take my word for it; do the research and read the articles yourselves. Heck, you already know how greedy he and Anschutz are.

BTW, anybody who adopts a moniker as "Dr. Death" for a nickname doesn't have much credibility describing anybody else as "psychotic."

Joseph,

You claim Milan has the "upper hand" in negotiations just because he only has a year left on his contract. How? Beckham is worth millions to MLS and the Galaxy even if he just plays one more season. You do know how much attendance increases when the Galaxy play road games?

And Dr. Death is just a nickname someone gave me when I played high school football -- ever see the movie "Best of Times" with Kurt Russell and Robin Williams? Probably not. You need to lighten up. And I hope for his sake Leiweke has a restraining order out on you.

True, Dr. Death, Beckham may be worth millions to MLS and the Galaxy if he plays one more season but I'll bet that figure will be far less that it would have been had this whole controversy about his loan deal not taken place. A lot of fans will show up just to boo Beckham; do you think that's a positive development for either the team or the league? Besides, Simon Fuller is in Los Angeles to talk with his good friend, Leiweke. Fuller is Beckham's manager. What do you think they're talking about, the chicken Casear salad at El Pollo Loco?