Why American businessmen are buying into soccer

	Clockwise from top left: George Gillett, Tom Hicks, Malcolm Glazer, Stan Kroenke and Randy Lerner are invested in English clubs. AP (3); WireImage.com (Kroenke)
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Football -- the real kind -- has made some massive inroads into the American consciousness since the start of the New Year.

First, there was the David Beckham coming-to-the-MLS hoopla in January. Then, this past week, two American businessmen, George Gillett Jr. and Tom Hicks, purchased 51 percent of storied English Premier League club Liverpool for $431 million.

And finally, last Friday, the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer announced a formal partnership with Arsenal, with rumors persisting that Rapids owner Stanley Kroenke is further interested in snagging a major stake in the London club.

The fallout from it all is that everyone from European soccer federation president Michel Platini, to the bloke "down at the local," to the average tailgating American football nut is wondering what exactly it means.

If you ask me, it means that some Americans, such as Gillett, Hicks and Kroenke, finally get it. They understand the global reach of soccer, that it's really the world's game. After all, it's not just a sport. It's the largest collective phenomenon on the planet, with billions playing it, watching it and discussing it every day.

Soccer transcends the stadiums it's played in. It travels into the pubs, the temples, the living rooms, even houses of parliament. Just last week, the Italian government spent long hours discussing it in the wake of a riot at a stadium in Sicily. It is a universal language that lets a kid from suburban Detroit instantly make friends in Milan, Rio, Dakar or Beijing.

That's what this buying spree is about. The massive network of soccer fans around the world, united by satellite TV that lets Malaysians become huge Manchester United fans and China become crazy for Real Madrid. These American businessmen want to tap into that network, and they can't do it with traditional American sports.

The potential of soccer's globalized nature, from a business standpoint, is bigger than the hype surrounding the Super Bowl each year. And Gillett, Hicks and Kroenke are all good businessmen -- each one reportedly worth hundreds of millions, if not billions -- who have had success with other teams they've owned.

Gillett bought the Montreal Canadiens in 2000 and has slowly brought the NHL's most storied franchise out of a decade-long dark ages. Hicks owns baseball's Texas Rangers and hockey's Dallas Stars. With the Rangers, he's more famous for signing Alex Rodriguez to that disgusting 10-year, $252 million contract than for any on-the-field success. But with the Stars, he's built one of the best franchises in the league, one that won the Stanley Cup in '99.

Kroenke is involved in just about every sport that exists. He's co-owner of the NFL's St. Louis Rams and full owner of the NBA's Denver Nuggets and the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, which is considered one of the best teams in the league.

But all three owners now realize that their other sports teams have limited potential. Let's face it: The rest of the world has little interest in American-based sports. American football? Two words: NFL Europe. Maybe there's some curiosity to see the Hamburg Sea Devils, like when the circus comes to town, but no one's spending their weekly wages on a ticket. And teams are folding all the time.