Ini the professional soccer world, this is considered somewhat of a big deal. Though it's a bigger deal here in the U.S than in Europe.U.S National soccer team captain Clint Dempsey is set to leave the English Premiere League Tottenham Hotspur team and sign a mega-deal to play in the U.S Major League Soccer for the Seattle Sounders.
Why is this a big deal?
On the global scale it's a big deal only because Dempsey is a big name soccer player. It's a coup for MLS, which usually loses players to the Premiere League, not the other way around. MLS is gaining traction in the U.S with the league looking to expand to as many as 30 teams over the next couple of years.
And keep that in mind, they need a face. A home-grown, marketable face and Dempsey certainly fills that role for them.
According to reports, the buyout from Tottenham is as much as $9 million and Dempsey is rumored to be getting a $4-8 million a year contract to move to Seattle. The Sounders are one of the leagues most successful franchises with a large, passionate fan-base and their own stadium.
It will be very interesting to see if the team...and the league can afford to start paying players that much money. Without a mega-TV deal, it will be tough. But MLS draws well in the markets they play in. And if you can put 20,000 or more in a stadium for your games, the chances of making some money increases--exponentially.
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