In 1975, a little-known soccer club called the New York Cosmos, who played in the seven-year-old, little-known North American Soccer League (NASL), signed the world’s biggest (and arguably, best-ever) football star. His name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, but he was more commonly known as Pelé.

Virtually overnight, the NASL gained worldwide and national attention. From the first time ‘O Rei’ stepped on the pitch at the dilapidated Downing Stadium on Randall’s Island, New York, to his swan song at the Soccer Bowl (NASL Championship) at PGE Park in Portland, Oregon, on August 28, 1977, the NASL grew from obscurity to an aging stars’ ‘retirement league’.

Star players from around the world, who had played out their peak years in front of their fellow countrymen, came to the NASL to extend their careers and ‘cash in’ by being able to be compete in a league that would allow them to demonstrate their talents against lesser competition than they found at home.

Giorgio Chinaglia, Franz Beckenbauer, Geoff Hurst, George Best, Johan Cruyff and Carlos Alberto were just some of those who joined Pelé in ‘the old man’s league.’ With their arrival came the crowds; between 1974, the year before Pelé, and 1980, attendance figures nearly doubled, from 7,770 per match to 14,440, while the number of games almost tripled, from 150 to 384. This was due partly to the increased number of franchises, which went up from 16 in 1974 to 24 by 1980, though the amount of games played per a team also increased from 10 to 16. The US went soccer mad, but nine years later, amid rapidly dwindling attendances and little-to-no TV revenue, the league folded.

The fundamental issue of football, and one of the main factors in the NASL’s demise in 1984, is that it is not television friendly. Now I don’t mean that it doesn’t translate well to television, because the game conveys itself on TV just as well as any other sport. It’s the format of the game that leads to it’s failure to spark revenue.

There are essentially only three (four, if you count the beginning and end of the half-time break) slots where commercials can be shown -- and that’s where the networks make their money. Sure, you have your product endorsements on everything but the players’ babies’ foreheads in the stands, but we’re not talking the billions of dollars of revenue that the NFL, MLB and NBA make from their television deals. That’s why the David Beckham deal to join LA Galaxy, if it actually is worth the reportedly $250 million over five years, either has a mega-ton of performance clauses (and I mean a freakin’ mammoth-sized mega-ton), Adidas and Beckham’s other sponsors (Gillette, Pepsi and Motorola are among them) are picking up about $200 million of the tab, or Alexi Lalas and company are nutcases.

Major League Soccer will only make about $20 million per year for the next three seasons from deals reached with Fox Soccer, ESPN/ABC, HDNet and Univision. That leads me to believe, at least I’m hoping, that the Beckham contract is not as much as reported or that his sponsors are major players here. You just can’t pay a single player twice as much as your TV revenue when you’re already hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

My point is, the NFL, MLB, and NBA’s bread is buttered through TV deals, but MLS’s has never been and probably won’t be unless they do something ridiculous and change the format of the game. They could implement timeouts, break matches into quarters, that sort of thing, but they also risk losing the purist fans, such as myself, who don’t like it when one tinkers with tradition.

Taking another look at the NASL, though, it was considered a failure when it came to television; its ratings for the most part destroyed what the MLS gets today. The average rating in 2005 for a MLS match on ESPN2 was 217,000 households or a 0.25 share; even the 2006 MLS Cup on ABC only got a 0.8 share, viewed in 946,000 homes. The NASL, on the other hand, in 1980, as reported by Sports Illustrated, got a 2.6 share, which equates to nearly two million homes -- and that was considered pathetic.

The MLS would bend over backwards to get those kind of ratings today. One may argue that there were fewer channels back then, meaning that you had less to choose from to watch, but God forbid you turn the television off and read a book or go fishing or something.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to seeing how Beckham performs, but this deal simply doesn’t make much sense for the MLS in the long term. Like Pelé, the former England captain won’t be around long and will probably be productive for less. He’ll be 32 when he arrives and 37 by the time his contract expires, though the quality of the MLS is nowhere near the major leagues in Europe. I dare say that he’ll be able to compete with the quickness and determination of a 22-year-old of even the lowest talent professional soccer in America can offer by the time he reaches 35.

So what happens when Beckham and other veteran world football stars from around the globe and coming-to-an-MLS-stadium-near-you ride off into the sunset? Sign more aging stars and get caught in that vicious cycle? It didn’t work for the NASL, so why do they believe it will work for the MLS?

Major League Soccer was already on its way to profitability by having a solid, loyal fan base, consistent attendance figures, and low-but-reliable TV ratings. Is this a case of fixing something that wasn’t necessarily broke? Or was it the MLS being blinded by their own greed?

I guess time will tell, but I rue the day that Joe Schmoe at the water cooler tries to act like he knows anything about soccer because he watched Ronaldo the night before.

Will David Beckham be a success in America -- or are he and Posh more interested in Hollywood than enhancing his football career? Let us have your views and comments.