By now, surely, if you’re any kind of soccer fan in America with access to the Internet, you’ve heard the news that David Beckham is on his way to Major League Soccer to play with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Rather like the war in Iraq, the big news has had an instantly polarizing effect in the British, American and Asian media. It’s relatively minor news everywhere else. Some American soccer columnists, like SI.com’s Grant Wahl, believes the arrival of Beckham in America “will forever be known as the day that Major League Soccer truly arrived on the world stage”-though anti-soccer columnists and most British pundits disagree. While it would be wrong to say that MLS is now on its way to becoming one of the world’s most important leagues, this is an undeniably massive marketing move for the sport in the U.S. Just like Pele before him, Beckham’s presence alone could signal the arrival of a bevy of fading international stars (many believe Ronaldo is next) to MLS. It could also mean lucrative TV contracts in Asia and Britain. Naysayers, and there are plenty of them, should take note that news of Beckham’s astonishing $250 million (yep, you read that right) five-year deal is right now on the front page of every major sports newspaper site in Britain, Asia and the USA. So, regardless of whether or not Becks shines in MLS, you can bet that his success or failure will be chronicled every step of the way by the world’s sports media. In L.A., he and his wife will undoubtedly be hounded even more relentlessly by the global paparazzi, as they rub shoulders with the regular celebrities of People and US Weekly. If only because the old maxim “any publicity is good publicity” holds weight, his move Stateside is a great, great thing for MLS.