Henry to New York exactly what MLS needs

Soccer Betting Lines

07/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In one of the worst-kept secrets in soccer, French striker Thierry Henry will be announced as Red Bull New York's second designated player at a press conference on Thursday at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J.

What does the signing of the former Arsenal and Barcelona star mean to New York and Major League Soccer?

Everything.

Not only will signing the 32-year-old star add a big name to help Red Bull and MLS gain some long-term traction in the New York market, but it will immediately put MLS in the news cycle after the dramatic World Cup exploits of the United States national team put soccer's popularity in America at an all- time high.

The fact that New York is able to add one of the top scorers in English Premier League history, a player only three years removed from being Arsenal's captain, is a major coup for MLS.

Don't believe me? Ask Henry's buddy, Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash, also part-owner of the 2011 MLS Expansion Vancouver Whitecaps.

"He's played at some of the biggest clubs in the world," said Nash at Red Bull Arena on Saturday. "He's had a fantastic time at Arsenal, a fantastic time at Barcelona and when you've been a professional soccer player at the highest level with all those expectations since you're 17, sometimes you welcome a change."

Nash went on to talk about how much Henry loves New York and the United States, and how much he can add to MLS.

"I think we're lucky, too, because Thierry's still a world-class player," he said. "We've seen players come over before who've shown how great they were but not necessarily every night. I think he's still capable of playing at the highest level of this game. It's amazing that he's willing to come over here at this stage of his career, to be honest."

Not since the Los Angeles Galaxy signed David Beckham prior to the 2007 season has MLS scored such an international star.

In a league where the Galaxy have cornered the market in both points and headlines (even with the long-term Achilles injury to Beckham), New York now has an opportunity to balance out the spotlight with its own star, in the first year of its brand-new soccer-specific stadium.

Prior to the 2010 MLS season, New York's other designated player, striker Juan Pablo Angel, told The Sportsbook Betting Lines he was "excited about [opening Red Bull Arena] because I'm sure it will change the perspective of the game in this region."

Now with Henry, and the Red Bulls reportedly closing in on a third DP, that perspective should continue to evolve.

"Getting top-quality, experienced players is obviously going to help us continue what looks like a decent year for the club," New York general manager Erik Soler told media on Saturday. "We're going to get a good player in and we'll have to take it from there and see. It will lift the whole team and make everybody even sharper and better, and it will be a great experience for us."

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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