How much credit should we give David Beckham for bringing interest to MLS? (Flickr)

Before we anoint David Beckham the patron saint of Major League Soccer, I would like to pose a challenge: Ask a Portland Timbers fan if Beckham is the reason they love soccer. Then ask a Seattle Sounders fan. If you can leave either one of those conversations without getting into a dustup, consider yourself lucky.

This week, MLS Commissioner Don Garber said Beckham had “over delivered” on his pledge to win games for the L.A. Galaxy and use his international stardom to help build the league’s brand at home and overseas.

On Saturday, after L.A. won its second-straight MLS Cup with a 3-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo, it’s hard to contend with the former point. Beckham is leaving a Galaxy team that he’s helped steward into a veritable MLS dynasty. As he exits the MLS scene, he deserves a round of applause from the city.

But when it comes to the latter point, Garber and the league may be overreaching. American soccer fans were around well before Beckham first stepped foot on the tarmac at LAX and it would be inaccurate to solely credit Beckham with the league’s newfound popularity.

Since the Englishman’s arrival in 2007, MLS has added six new teams and has added three new soccer-specific stadiums and a number of other stadiums have undergone renovations. (Thankfully: It’s hard to take any soccer league seriously when a painted end zone doubles for a penalty box.) Efforts to establish those clubs were underway before Beckham first graced the Home Depot Center with his presence. To say that it was Beckham’s renown that the owners harnessed to build support for these new teams would be a slight to the passion of an already existing fan base in those cities.

Some of the MLS' most fervent popularity is concentrated in regions well beyond Carson, Ca. Despite L.A.’s recent dominance, teams in the Pacific Northwest have emerged as some of the league's most popular. Take the case of Portland and Seattle.

Both cities were chock full of rabid soccer lovers for decades due to the successful Timbers and Sounders clubs that were part of the United Soccer League. This season, Portland, which finished a lackluster eighth in the standings, sold out 34 consecutive games at Jeld-Wen Field, no small feat when you consider the stadium has a capacity of almost 20,000.

The Galaxy, meanwhile, were able to muster only six sell-out games this year.

When Portland and Seattle play each another, good things tend to happen for the league. In October, nearly 70,000 fans filled Century Link Field in Seattle to watch the one of the MLS’s most exciting regional derbies.

During the course of the season, only six games drew crowds of 50,000 or more. Three of those occasions occurred in Seattle. The June 24 matchup between the two was ESPN’s highest-rated MLS broadcast of the season, with 888,000 people tuning in. Portland also featured in NBC Sports Network’s most-watched game — the Aug. 5 road matchup versus FC Dallas that garnered 405,000 viewers.

Compared to the NFL and NBA, these ratings may appear meager. But MLS games on ESPN and ESPN2 increased 6.2 percent this past season compared to last season. 

Beckham’s arrival most certainly helped pave the way for other international stars. It seems unlikely that Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Thierry Henry, Rafael Marquez or Robbie Keane would have ventured to MLS without Beckham’s trailblazing. Furthermore, MLS and L.A. Galaxy owners AEG profited tremendously from sales of Beckham-related merchandise. But there is a fine line between revenue generated from name recognition and the actual organic growth of the sport.

In his comments, Garber compared Beckham to Wayne Gretzky, saying both athletes helped take their respective leagues to a “higher level.”

But Gretzky’s move to Los Angeles came at the peak of his career. When Gretzky left the Edmonton Oilers to join the Kings in 1988, he held more than 30 separate NHL records and was the No. 1 hockey talent in the world. L.A. Kings fans were treated to a marvel still playing close to his prime.

Since Robbie Keane’s arrival, the 36-year-old Beckham doesn’t even crack the Galaxy’s top three players.

Beckham said after Saturday’s game that if he accomplished anything during his time here, he hoped it was to have brought “a bit of interest to the game.”

Sorry, David.

You most certainly put a pretty face on the league and helped the Galaxy win some titles and for that we thank you. But the sport and its fans were here first.

Read more of Neon Tommy's L.A. Galaxy coverage here.

Reach Senior Staff Reporter Omar Shamout here.