New York – David Beckham can thank Pele, who first worked to raise soccer’s profile in the 1970s, for the chance to make a big splash in America, say those who brought the Brazilian World Cup star to the New York Cosmos in 1975.
“Beckham arrives when the game is firmly established at all levels and flourishing,” said former Cosmos general manager Clive Toye. “Pele arrived into a barren land with the task of building the game, which he and the (North American Soccer League) did so well that the Galaxy can now afford an obscene amount of money for a midfield player.
“Beckham is the best known player on the planet. Pele was the best known but also the best.”
The former England captain announced recently he will join Major League Soccer’s L.A. Galaxy team in August in a five-year deal worth about $50 million.
“It’s a totally different world,” said Jim Trecker, the Cosmos public relations director. “The signings though are equally dramatic. Who could’ve been signed in 1975? It was Pele. Now to break through all the noise and make a splash, it’s Beckham.
“They’re similar moves; very dramatic.”
The Beckham signing led Toye and some of his contemporaries to reminisce about the courting of Pele – and the impact that arrival had on American soccer and sports.
“I think (Pele) did have a bigger challenge, 30 years ago,” said Jay Emmett, who at the time was the president of Warner Communications, the owner of the Cosmos. “Compare the times. Soccer, nobody knew much about soccer (in the United States). Today, because of Pele, it is known.”
With several cable TV channels dedicated to soccer alone, the American public’s awareness of the sport is incalculably ahead of where it was 32 years ago.
“If you look at an old NASL game program, you’ll notice a substantial number of pages devoted to explaining the game,” Trecker said. “We don’t do that anymore.”
It took more than four years for Toye, a British native, to lure Pele to the United States.
