Friday, July 24, 2009

Becks fined for fan incident



As he should be. I was afraid MLS would let it slide. Good on them.


- Greg Seltzer
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5 comments:

Sean O'Conor said...

Has Don Garber stopped to wonder how MLS is coming across over this?

A measly $1,000 from a man earning tens of millions a year? And I thought EPL clubs' two weeks' wages fines on their errant millionaires was absurd enough...meanwhile the fan gets a lifetime ban from the HDC...

This saga is just too crazy!

July 24, 2009 10:04 PM
Greg Seltzer said...

Well, first of all, his LA Galaxy salary is 6.5M.

Secondly, that fan has not been given a lifetime ban, reports are speaking too soon on that detail. Not sure where they even got it from.

Finally, the fine isn't about the money, it's about the public punishment. Besides, I don't think it would be fair to base the amount of a fine on how much the offending player was making. An offense isn't any worse because of what the player makes.

July 25, 2009 6:45 AM
Love The Smell Of Burning Vuvuzela said...

Finally, the fine isn't about the money, it's about the public punishment. Besides, I don't think it would be fair to base the amount of a fine on how much the offending player was making. An offense isn't any worse because of what the player makes.

Yes, but unfortunately, MLS was damned if they did/didn't in this case. Just check out any of the comment threads on the big sports sites with this story: Because of the "wow, a whole $1,000!" aspect, you've got the predictable "MLS is a small-time joke" from American meat-heads, and "MLS is so Mickey Mouse" from the Europeans.

Of course, that's the same stuff we'd have heard if they'd declined to punish Beckham at all.

Tough spot for the league. Though the PR they're getting out of this whole thing is probably priceless.

July 25, 2009 11:43 AM
Sean O'Conor said...

Each year he rakes in about 4 or 5 times what he gets from the Galaxy, courtesy of 'Brand Beckham' but that's not the point; the public perception is.

MLS fines are so small they're almost worthless - $500 for Clint Mathis in 2003 for a similar incident, now $1000. The equivalent EPL fine is enough to buy a house by comparison.

The league is letting itself be ridiculed just as its profile had been raised, while its rules speak of punishing "misconduct
detrimental to the reputation and public image of MLS" !

MLS' credibility is more important than the rights and wrongs of this, or Beckham, who has asked the club to rescind the ban on the fan announced by Bruce Arena last week.

And why shouldn't fines be deterrents? When I once parked my car in the wrong place in London I got fined a week's wages and that made me think again! :)

July 25, 2009 11:17 PM
Greg Seltzer said...

Yeah, I don't agree with this "public perception rules" theory.

Perception is NOT reality. It's perception.

Could the fine have been a little bigger? Sure. But punitively hitting wallets to bow to fan perception would be worse.

And btw... your week's wages fine was totally unfair for the crime.

July 26, 2009 6:56 AM

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