When David Beckham signed to play with the L.A. Galaxy some people believed Becks would bring Americans to soccer. And he did in his first year, but in his second season Beckham is seeing less people in the stands on the road. The Galaxy plays to a packed house at home, but the hopes of the MLS were that Beckham would fill stadiums league wide.

The economy could be a factor although MLB isn’t suffering any attendance problems. It’s more likely that a past his prime David Beckham can’t put the MLS on the map by himself.

There were 21,000 fewer fans in New York to watch Beckham play last weekend against the Red Bulls than a year ago. Last month’s visit to soccer-crazed Washington, D.C., drew about 10,000 fewer fans than the previous year despite the fact the 2007 game was played in a rainstorm.

If the numbers keep falling like this David Beckham won’t want to finish his contract let alone make it to his 100th cap. I can’t blame David Beckham for the MLS hyping him up when his best days were behind him, and I can’t blame Beckham for the league’s lack of other major stars. If the MLS can get 5-10 high profile players in their prime to come to the US and play, then and only then, will the sport move ahead of bass fishing and hotdog eating contest in popularity in the States.

David Beckham, MLS, Los Angeles Galaxy, attendance

After checking out the commercials by the Minnesota Twins and the Toronto Blue Jays, the Texas Rangers decided to drop a few of their own. Let’s go to the video tape:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_XQnbxbpa0]

That was a commercial for a baseball team? Ok Texas, you’re off to a bad start. Let’s give it another try.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8f–v-f4Zw[/youtube]

The kid falling over was funny but what’s the point of the commercial? Let’s give the Rangers one last chance.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_tuhikoNzo[/youtube]

Better than the first two but still far from good. The biggest problem I have is the lack of star power. Where are the players? I would say that the commercials are killing attendance, but Seattle had better commercials and they’re barely pulling more people than Texas. The Twins and Blue Jays fall behind the Rangers in the attendance standings and they both had solid spots. The Rangers better enjoy the fans now because nobody’s coming out to the yard after the fire sale.