14. Beckham & Blanco - Enter the Designated Player Era

25 Stories That Made MLS

How the largest signing in league history, David Beckham, happened in the first place and how it changed the direction of MLS forever.
The brothers talk about how and why the Designated Player happened, how Blanco was the better player in the early years and why it took a few years before everyone started to spend money on Designated Players.
Sources:
Looking back at fires last big signing by Guillermo Rivera for Chicago Now

http://www.chicagonow.com/fire-confidential/2017/05/looking-back-at-the-fires-last-big-signing-in-2007-cuauhtemoc-blanco/

Soccer Player Beckham Sparks $13m in Sales by Curtis Eichelberger for NY Sun

https://www.nysun.com/national/soccer-player-beckham-sparks-13m-in-sales/52872/

15 Years of the Don by Grant Wahl for SI

https://www.si.com/soccer/planet-futbol/2014/12/03/don-garber-mls-commissioner-major-league-soccer

Q&A with Grant Wahl by Jack Bell for NY Times

https://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/qa-with-grant-wahl-author-of-the-beckham-experiment/

Galaxy has Becks Appeal by Graham Jones for LA Times

www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-12-sp-beckham12-story.html

Beckham is MLS Expansion Story Du Jour by Paul Kennedy for Soccer America

https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/51723/beckham-is-mls-expansion-story-du-jour.html

http://www.dignityhealthsportspark.com/news/detail/david-beckham-launches-soccer-academy-at-the-home-depot-center-in-california

http://thesportsbizblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/fire-to-be-sold-to-bronfman-family.html