MLS officials are hoping Beckham's world-wide appeal will help the Galaxy and U.S. soccer reach new heights. Simon Bruty/SI
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David Downs, the head of Univision Sports (which started a new contract with MLS this season), says Beckham's recognition among the Latino audience isn't a concern, but his arrival is hardly the only solution. "Beckham is such a globally known figure in the sport, and the sport is clearly the No. 1 sport for Hispanics in the U.S.," Downs says. "It would be hard for me to envision a Hispanic in the U.S. who doesn't know who he is."

"Having said all that, the way Beckham would improve the following for the MLS among Hispanics in the U.S. is what he does for the credibility of the league and how that impacts other players who might come," Downs adds. "One player on an 11-man team in a league with 13 teams isn't going to suddenly change the league by himself. If you sign five or six marquee players and they're Hispanic that will certainly help, but what is still lacking in the MLS is that it's not a very Hispanic-looking product at the moment. They recognize that and are taking steps to work on that, but until more of the games are played with more of a Hispanic flair I think they're not going to be necessarily the equal of some of the other leagues that may be playing soccer that's more attuned to our audience."

Certainly the addition next week of Mexican star Cuauhtémoc Blanco to Chicago will attract more Mexican-American fans to Fire games. And several other recent Hispanic signings -- Columbus' Guillermo Barros-Schelotto, Dallas' Juan Carlos Toja, New York's Juan Pablo Ángel -- are part of what MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis calls "the most significant new class of players that we've had since we started in 1996."

In Beckham and Landon Donovan, moreover, the Galaxy has what you might call "honorary Hispanics" as its most recognizable figures. Both players are respected by most Latino soccer connoisseurs, and both speak Spanish. In fact, Beckham says that after four years in Spain his Español is just fine. "It's not bad," he says. "I can understand more than I can talk, but the reason I don't speak much Spanish in public is because I'm shy. I'm a quiet person, but I can understand and speak quite a bit of Spanish, and hopefully I'll get by in the U.S."

Remember too, this is a guy who gave his third son a Spanish name: Cruz.

For now, though, Univision's Downs doesn't think Beckham's MLS games will break the U.S. ratings record for a club soccer match set by Chivas and América last year. And in the short-term it'll be interesting to see how the ratings for English-language MLS broadcasts involving Beckham compare to those for the upcoming Spanish-language Superliga broadcasts against Pachuca and Chivas. (Both will be shown on Telefutura.) "They probably won't top América-Guadalajara, but I have a feeling they'll be way up there," says Downs.

What do L.A.'s Hispanic soccer fans think? To get an idea not long ago I drove straight from the office of a billionaire's company (AEG) a few blocks down Wilshire Boulevard to McArthur Park, where a few hundred young Latinos were playing pickup soccer on all-dirt fields with road-construction barriers serving as goals. They were wearing a number of jerseys -- Real Madrid, Barcelona, Brazil -- but one team's uniform was conspicuously absent: the Galaxy's.

I was the only Anglo there, and at first nobody would talk to me. ("They think you're a cop," one said. Nice.) But after a little soccer talk in Spanish they finally opened up. Otoniel Vázquez, a 19-year-old construction worker in a Barcelona shirt, said he couldn't believe it when L.A. signed Beckham, and now he might just check out a Galaxy game -- if he can afford it. "If you can play well, it doesn't matter if you're Latino," he said. "They're making the league here better. If more players like Beckham come, this league could become huge."

"Vamos a ver, vamos a ver," I told him. We'll see.