I found an interesting article on the Los Angeles Times' site today. For those not aware, Major League Soccer (MLS) is about to lose David Beckham, just one year after the soccer coverboy signed a five-year deal to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Beckham was allowed to also play for European powerhouse AC Milan, and now he doesn't want to leave.

As the story notes, this looks bad for American soccer because Beckham wanted to be " ... an ambassador for the game here and, hopefully, it is going to encourage other players to come to the States and be part of this because soccer in America can become much bigger." Well, how is that working out? Answer: so well that the ambassador is ready to leave.

I guess it's kind of good news, bad news for Major League Soccer. The Brit who defines the word metrosexual made his stateside debut with the Los Angeles Galaxy but, because of an ankle injury, played for a total of just 16 minutes. But according to the Associated Press, the exhibition match was the highest-rated ESPN broadcast of the MLS in history, scoring a rating of 1, meaning that 1% of U.S. households with ESPN tuned in to watch Beckham. I mean soccer.

Bringing in David Beckham has the potential to be absolutely disastrous for the sport. While the MLS has failed to connect with a broad audience, it does have a fairly strong core following of die-hard soccer fans. I have several friends in that category, and they are none too pleased with the signing of Beckham. He's an old soccer player on the downside of his career, and everyone knows he was hired for his celebrity and face rather than his feet. The MLS is making a big bold move to try to appeal to a broader demographic, but it may well be alienating its fan base in the process.

If anything, this move is reminiscent of the publicity stunts Major League Baseball teams pulled in the first part of the 20th century -- bringing in a midget to bat when the team was out of contention and the like.

The MLS will probably continue to score higher ratings because of Beckham. But if their goal is to turn soccer into anything other than a fringe sport of paparazzi spectacle, they will need to think of something better. For now, the MLS has more in common with the WWE than with baseball or football.

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF), which sells weight management and nutritional supplements to promote a healthier lifestyle, last week turned down the bid by Whitney V LP to buy all outstanding shares of common stock at $38 per share. Whitney already owns 27% of Herbalife. Given that the stock traded at over $39 today, and closed at $38.88 yesterday, I'd say Herbalife made the right decision. Currently, analysts give the stock a 1 year target low of $45 and a high of $50 with 4 major analysts upgrading the stock to market outperform. Why did Whitney make such a low offer?

The stock price is going even higher given the fact that Herbalife recently closed on two big deals that will increase its visibility as a healthy lifestyle product that will further drive sales. Herbalife recently acquired a new license to operate in China. This is a huge new market for western-branded healthy living products tailored to appeal to China's rising middle class, which looks to the West for consumer trends. Closer to home, Herbalife just negotiated a marketing agreement with soccer star David Beckham who left team Real Madrid to sign with the Los Angeles Galaxy, which is heavily promoting their new star. The marketing crossover could introduce Herbalife products to an entirely new set of consumers.

It seems like it happens every couple years. The promoters of major league soccer have finally found the secret ingredient needed to give soccer mass appeal as a spectator sport in the United States -- some advertising promotion, strategic partnership, or, in this case, the high-profile signing pf real Madrid soccer star/Posh Spice's Hubby/The Original Metrosexual, David Beckham. At 31 years of age, the British midfielder is already on the downside of his playing career, and there are a bunch of reasons this gimmick won't work:

1. The only people in the United States (other than die-hard soccer fans who, presumably, already watch MLS) who care about David Beckham are celebrity gossip followers -- and these people are unlikely to become MLS fans because of David Beckham. Sure, they might go to one game out of curiosity, or buy a poster of him -- but this will not translate into success for Major League Soccer as a whole.

2. The 18- to 35-year-old football, hockey, and baseball fans that soccer really would need to attract to become a viable spectator sport just don't care about professional soccer, or David Beckham. They might buy a copy of Maxim with Victoria Beckham on the cover, but they don't really care about David. If anything, a lot of men hate him for being so classy and good-looking.

3, This blatant PR gimmick runs the risk of alienating the few core soccer fans MLS can count on by turning their sport into a media circus. Think of Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore.

The Wall Street Journal points out numerous endorsement deals and media buzz that the league has generated in the wake of the Beckham signing. But I'll be surprised if anyone cares in a few years. Wasn't Freddy Adu supposed to generate lasting interest in soccer?