In a bid to boost its competitiveness, its image, and its gate receipts, Major League Soccer (MLS) is changing its rules. The rules concern not who does what on the field, but rather who gets to play on it in the first place. The informal name given to it- the "Beckham Rule" - tells you both who and the kind of who that the MLS wants to see on the pitch:

This past weekend, Major League Soccer approved a change to the league's salary cap by introducing the 'Beckham Rule'. The rule stipulates that each MLS team can sign one player who will not count against the US$2 million salary cap. Such a move would be a major boost for the MLS competition. It could attract other world stars, thus reviving US club football's 1970s glory days when legends such as Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, George Best and Bobby Moore played out the twilight of their careers there.

Commentary
In business-speak we might say that MLS is reducing, if ever so slightly, the barriers to entry into the game. In most industries low or lowered barriers are associated with greater rivalry among incumbents and lower profits. But the professional sports industry differs in that competition is the name of the game, literally and figuratively. Competition is the product and, unlike a typical industry, more competitiveness between teams will result in higher profits for the owners and higher salaries for at least some of the players.