The Beckham Experiment
''The Beckham Experiment: How the World's Most Famous Athlete Tried to Conquer America'' is a non-fiction work by ''Sports Illustrated'' writer Grant Wahl. The book chronicles David Beckham's move to Major League Soccer and his impact on American soccer. Background Wahl, a veteran soccer writer for ''Sports Illustrated'', was asked to cover David Beckham's move from Real Madrid to Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007. He was granted one-on-one access to Beckham and his handlers. The original concept for the book was to follow Beckham and Galaxy, but due to his injuries the book was halted. Initially, Wahl approached Beckham's management about a potential book deal. However, Beckham's management gave Wahl the indication he would have to pay to write a book about the English midfielder. Wahl refused to pay for interviews and used his resources at Galaxy to obtain interview time with Beckham. Over a two-year period, Wahl interviewed Beckham after games as well as Ruud Gullit (Galaxy head coach ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Grant Wahl
Grant Wahl (December 2, 1973 – December 10, 2022) was an American sports journalist and soccer analyst for CBS Sports, a senior writer for ''Sports Illustrated'' and a correspondent for Fox Sports, based in New Yorkers in journalism, New York City. He was also the author of the book ''The Beckham Experiment'' (2009). Wahl covered the Battle of Lusail match in Qatar 2022. His ''Sports Illustrated'' career mainly focused on college basketball and soccer in the United States. Wahl ran for the President of FIFA, FIFA presidency in 2011, but withdrew his campaign after failing to receive an endorsement from a football association. He left ''Sports Illustrated'' in 2020 and founded his own podcast and newsletter. Wahl died from an aortic aneurysm on December 10, 2022, while in Lusail, Qatar as he was covering the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Early life and education Wahl was born on December 2, 1973, in Mission, Kansas; he had one older brother, Eric. He was a fan of the Kansas City Com ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2006–07 La Liga
The 2006–07 La Liga season was the 76th since its establishment. It began on 27 August 2006, and concluded on 17 June 2007. Real Madrid won La Liga thanks to a superior head-to-head record against runners-up Barcelona. Celta Vigo, Real Sociedad and Gimnàstic were relegated. Barcelona was in first place for much of the season while arch-rivals Real Madrid were six points behind and in fourth. However, Barcelona began playing inconsistently after January, while Madrid's form improved in that same period. On 12 May 2007, Real Madrid took the league lead for the first time all season after defeating Espanyol 4–3, coming back from a 3–1 first-half deficit. The following Sunday, Barcelona dropped points with a 1–1 draw to struggling Real Betis. By virtue of their superior head-to-head record, Madrid sat at the top of La Liga with both teams having four league games lef On the penultimate day of the season, Barcelona failed to overcome city rivals Espanyol in the Barcelona ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2008–09 Serie A
The 2008–09 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 107th season of top-tier Italian football, the 77th in a round-robin tournament. It began on 30 August 2008 and ended on 31 May 2009, with the announcement of the list of fixtures made on 25 July 2008. 20 teams competed in the league, 17 of which returned from the previous season, and three ( Chievo, Bologna and Lecce) were promoted from 2007–08 Serie B. 20 clubs represented 13 different regions. The most represented region was Lombardy with three teams: Atalanta, A.C. Milan, and Inter Milan. Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany, Lazio and Sicily featured two teams each while Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Campania, Apulia, Calabria, and Sardinia were represented by one team each. There was a record number of southern teams in the top division with six teams: Cagliari, Catania, Lecce, Napoli, Palermo, and Reggina. The new match ball was the Nike T90 Omni. On 16 May 2009, Internazion ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2009 MLS Season
The 2009 Major League Soccer season was the 14th season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 97th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 31st with a national first-division league. The Seattle Sounders FC debuted as the league's 15th club and were the second team in history to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs in their inaugural season. The club set a league record for attendance and averaged 30,943 per regular season match at Qwest Field. After three seasons, the MLS Reserve League was discontinued. As a result, each team's Developmental Roster spots were reduced from 10 to four, and each team's Senior Roster spots were increased from 18 to 20. This had the effect of reducing each team's total roster from 28 to 24 players. The regular season began on March 19, and concluded on October 25. The 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 29, and concluded with MLS Cup 2009 on November 22. Real Salt Lake won their first MLS Cup by defeating the Los Ang ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Serie A
The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Established in the 1929–30 Serie A, 1929–30 season, it restructured the existing Italian Football Championship, which had been played since 1898 Italian Football Championship, 1898, into a national round-robin format alongside Serie B. It functions under a promotion and relegation system with Serie B and has historically served as the pinnacle of professional football in Italy. The league was organised by the Direttorio Divisioni Superiori until 1943, the Lega Nazionale Professionisti, Lega Calcio from 1946 to 2010, and the Lega Serie A ever since. The 29 championships played from 1898 to the formation of the Serie A in 1929 are officially recognised by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) as equal to later Serie A titles. Similarly the 1945� ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the List of newspapers in the United States, highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Designated Player Rule
The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee for the player). The rule, which was adopted ahead of the 2007 MLS season, enables teams to compete for star players in the international football market. The rule is one of two mechanisms by which MLS teams may exceed their salary cap, the other being allocation money. As of December 2019, there have been 209 Designated Players in league history. The rule is informally named after David Beckham, in anticipation of MLS teams signing lucrative deals with internationally recognized players, after Beckham entered into negotiations to join the league. Beckham was the first player signed under this rule, signing a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007 with a guaranteed annual salary of $6.5 million. History The team salary ca ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sponsor (commercial)
Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is known as the sponsor. Definition Sponsorship is a cash and/or in-kind fee paid to a property (typically in sports, arts, entertainment or causes) in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with that property. While the sponsee (property being sponsored) may be nonprofit, unlike philanthropy, sponsorship is done with the expectation of a commercial return. While sponsorship can deliver increased awareness, brand building and propensity to purchase, it is different from advertising. Unlike advertising, sponsorship can not communicate specific product attributes. Nor can it stand alone, as sponsorship requires support elements. Proponents of sponsorship would, however, point to its unique position in the marketi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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19 Entertainment
19 Entertainment Inc. is a producer of entertainment properties for television with a focus on music owned by Sony Pictures Television through its nonfiction division. Founded by Simon Fuller in London in 1985, the company co-produced '' Pop Idol'' in the United Kingdom with Thames Television in 2001. The ''Idol'' series has since become one of the most successful entertainment formats, sold to more than seventy countries around the world, including ''American Idol'' in the United States. 19 Entertainment is also responsible for the production of '' So You Think You Can Dance''. Background and history Founded in London, England in 1985, 19 Entertainment was named after the Paul Hardcastle song which was one of Simon Fuller's first notable successes while working as an A&R man for Chrysalis Records. In 2001 the company co-produced '' Pop Idol'' in the United Kingdom with Thames Television. An immense success, Maggie Brown in ''The Guardian'' states, "the show became a seminal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Simon Fuller
Simon Robert Fuller (born 17 May 1960) is a British entrepreneur, artist manager, and film and television producer. He is the creator of the Idols (franchise), ''Idols'' TV format, including the British series ''Pop Idol'' and the American series ''American Idol''. Fuller came to prominence in the 1990s for managing the British girl group the Spice Girls, and he has since managed acts in various fields of entertainment, from sports stars David Beckham and Lewis Hamilton to other musicians such as Amy Winehouse and Annie Lennox. Since 2020, Fuller has been working with tech firm TikTok to aid development of new TikTok creatives and in the same year he announced a partnership with Verizon Communications to develop 5G content. In 2021, Pearson PLC announced a partnership with Fuller to create a new global education business in Performing Arts. In 2016, Fuller persuaded Swedish quartet ABBA to reunite to explore working in virtual reality, which led to the ABBA Voyage project. '' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Talent Manager
A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager, or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of Entertainer, artists within the entertainment industry. The responsibility of a talent manager is to oversee the day-to-day business affairs of an artist. This frequently involves how they advise and counsel talent concerning professional matters alongside the making of long-term plans and other personal decisions that may affect the entertainer's career.MusicBizAdvice Q&A January 2008 An artist manager is also a person responsible for hiring and managing the employees in a company. Depending on the nature of the organization that the individual administers, they may play a comparatively active role in bo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alexi Lalas
Panayotis Alexander Lalas (; born June 1, 1970) is an American former soccer player who played mostly as a defender. Lalas is best known for his participation with the United States men's national soccer team in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where his appearance made him a standout player on the team with his distinctive long beard and hair. After the World Cup, Lalas went on to become the first American in Italy's Serie A as a member of Calcio Padova.Thiessay on U.S. soccer history, however, indicates that other two American-born players, Alfonso Negro and Armando Frigo, appeared for Serie A teams in the late 1930s, making Lalas the third American-born player in the Italian top league. Lalas would later return to the United States in 1996 to take part in the newly formed Major League Soccer, as a member of New England Revolution. Lalas also played with Club Sport Emelec of Ecuador, and the MLS squads MetroStars and Kansas City Wizards, but his most successful period was with ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |