Beckham: To a town near you (maybe)
According to a rough draft of the upcoming Major Soccer League schedule that is supposed to be released as early as next week, the Galaxy are going to have to play on the road for a good part of the second half of the season so that David Beckham's Tour Across America can take full effect, according to a story this week in the Sports Business Journal.
Which means that those who buy Galaxy season seats will be stuck with a bunch of early-season Beckham-less games at Home Depot Center in Carson until he arrives sometime in July or August? It stands to reason that a front-loaded home schedule doesn't do the Galaxy any good, but the league's back-loaded idea will make everyone more money.
It's a 30-game season, with 15 set for home and 15 on the road. If 11 of those second-half games are in other MLS cities, well ... you do the calculus.
The only blip here is that the Galaxy usually faces each MLS team once or twice in each of those cities per season. A "roadie" against Chivas USA counts as much as when the Clippers face the visiting Lakers at Staples Center a couple of times a year, so that's an added appearance, apparently.
According to the story, if the Galaxy was to sell out once on the road in every MLS market at an average ticket price of $16, roughly the league’s average, it would deliver a $4 million bump in revenue leaguewide, says a guy crunching the numbers and crossing his fingers.
If each MLS team had some pull, they could also try to stage a Spice Girls reunion tour to coincide with each game. Oh, right. The idea is to attract fans.