David Beckham had an impact on Canadian clubs like TFC, on the pitch and off it.

David Beckham's announcement Thursday that he'll be retiring from soccer at the end of Paris Saint-Germain's season has prompted plenty of thoughtful pieces looking back at his legacy, but an underrated part of his career might be the impact he had on Major League Soccer in Canada. Beckham came to MLS in 2007, the same year that Toronto FC joined the league, and he left for good at the end of the 2012 campaign, by which time the league had three Canadian franchises that were all pulling in massive numbers of fans. He left an undeniable imprint on MLS as a whole, but his effect on MLS in Canada was also noteworthy—and for several different reasons.

Beckham's impact on ticket sales is most frequently cited when it comes to discussions of his MLS legacy, but in Canada, that was arguably less of a factor than it was in some weaker American markets. Toronto FC, the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Montreal Impact have all had strong game-by-game attendance with or without Becks. However, Beckham's drawing power did still matter to the Canadian franchises. There was often much more attention from non-soccer-specific media ahead of games involving him and the L.A. Galaxy, and he undoubtedly brought people through the turnstiles who weren't previously soccer fans or MLS fans. Many of those people probably didn't wind up coming for game after game without Beckham, but some did, and Beckham was crucial to building awareness of the MLS brand and of the improving quality of North American soccer.

[Photos: David Beckham's career in pictures]

Don't underestimate Beckham's drawing power, either. Not all of the 47,658 who packed the Rogers Centre for a 2012 CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal match between TFC and the Galaxy came to see Beckham, but some of them certainly did. Games involving Beckham in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal also often saw much higher prices for tickets on secondary markets. The Canadian teams didn't need Beckham as a draw as much as some American markets did, but his presence still helped.

Don't discount what Beckham did for MLS in Canada beyond individual games, either. The Whitecaps (2011) and Impact (2012) both joined MLS after Beckham, and his elevation of the league's profile was an important part in why it was able to expand and why both clubs were so interested in moving up from the second tier. Moreover, both the

Buck Pierce will likely be leading the Blue Bombers again this season.

Continuing our CFL Camp Countdown series of season previews, here's a look at the Winnipeg Blue Bombers based on last week's conference call with president and CEO Garth Buchko, general manager Joe Mack, head coach Tim Burke and quarterback Buck Pierce. The Bombers finished tied for last in 2012 with a 6-12 record and are looking for improvement this year. However, they still have many of the same faces involved. Will it work out better this year?

One of the biggest stories with the Bombers over the last few years has been their quarterback position. Pierce has played reasonably well when healthy, and he was a key part of the team's run to the Grey Cup game in 2011. He's suffered plenty of injuries, though, including concussions, and many around the league have wondered if he can or should keep playing. However, the team's offseason decision to release veterans Joey Elliott and Alex Brink and bring in CFL rookies Max Hall and Chase Clement to join Justin Goltz seems like an endorsement of Pierce for at least the immediate future. Adapting to the 12-a-side, three-down, bigger-field CFL game usually takes quite a while for quarterbacks, as the Bombers should know well by now. Pierce himself said it wasn't easy for him to adjust to football in Canada.

"You can't be thrown in the fire right away," he said. "You have to be able to rise to the challenge. It's a big learning curve for a young guy."

Linden Gaydosh may have gone south, but Hamilton fans shouldn't panic yet.

Sunday's news from Drew Edwards that first-overall CFL draft pick Linden Gaydosh has signed with the Carolina Panthers following an impressive performance at a tryout camp probably has some Hamilton Tiger-Cats' fans worrying if their team's selection of Gaydosh will turn out to be a blown pick. After all, NFL interest is a key factor in determining players' CFL draft stock, and the rising NFL interest in CIS players has made that even more difficult. Players like Matt Sewell and Ben D'Aguilar went lower than expected in the CFL draft likely at least partly thanks to their NFL opportunities. One of the reasons Gaydosh was both widely predicted to go first, then taken in that slot, was because it didn't look like there was much NFL interest in him at that time. Now that he's landed a NFL contract, that pick doesn't look quite as foolproof. However, Hamilton fans should pick up their copies of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and take heart from the message inscribed on the cover in large, friendly letters: Don't Panic.

Khalif Mitchell will be notable by his absence in the B.C. lineup this year.

We’re bringing back the CFL Camp Countdown series, going team-by-team and relaying some of the most interesting comments made by coaches, executives and players on the CFL’s season-preview conference calls. First up, the B.C. Lions, who had a dominant 13-5 regular season but fell to Calgary in the West Final. President Dennis Skulsky, GM Wally Buono, head coach Mike Benevides and quarterback Travis Lulay spoke to the media on a conference call Wednesday. Here are the highlights from that discussion.

One of the most interesting offseason stories around the Lions revolves around a player who’s no longer with the club. That would be defensive tackle Khalif Mitchell, who was a huge force on the Grey Cup-winning defensive line in 2011, but ran into controversies both on and off the field in 2012 and was eventually traded to Toronto. Even that didn’t go particularly smoothly, as Mitchell initially said he wouldn’t report to the Argonauts before later changing his tune. The challenge Mitchell presents is one of evaluation: is the superb physical skill he showed at times in B.C. enough to make putting up with his controversial behaviour worthwhile? For the Lions, the answer appears to be “not any more.” When I asked Buono about why he made the deal, he said he has plenty of respect for Mitchell, but the team wanted to go in a different direction.

“Khalif is a great player, most of the time he’s a great guy, but sometimes he’s unpredictable,” Buono said. “We wanted a guy that was more predictable and over the long term, more dependable.”

Fanium's new free iOS app allows CFL fans to check out three-down fantasy football.Fantasy football's long been a huge deal for fans of the NFL, but opportunities for Canadian football fans to draft their favourite players have been scarce until recently. That's starting to change, though. Fantas-Eh has been around for a couple of years as a pay service and recently announced they're revamping to a free product, and U.S.-based Fanium just launched their own free iOS-based CFL fantasy app this week. The Fanium app is already gaining plenty of popularity, as the company's picked up 1,156 followers on Twitter through Friday morning and has seen plenty of fans and some current players join in. It's perhaps most notable because of what it represents, though: a U.S. organization seeing the CFL as a business opportunity, and specifically developing something for the Canadian football market. I spoke to Fanium founder and CEO Grant Gurtin last week about what led him to develop this app, and he had some interesting things to say.

Gurtin said this is his company's first fantasy app on their own, but they have a substantial background in the arena thanks to developing companion apps for larger companies.

"We started last year with a fantasy football app for Yahoo! and CBS," he said. "We realized there was an opportunity to create a new app."

Gurtin said his personal background gave him some familiarity with the CFL, so it seemed like a natural league to explore. He said the CFL seemed like a natural target for them, as when they started developing the app seven months ago, there was no free fantasy CFL application on the market.

The Vanier Cup, which Laval claimed in 2012, will be seen on Sportsnet for the next six years.

The announcement Wednesday that Rogers Sportsnet had reached a six-year deal with CIS to broadcast Canadian university football, basketball and hockey was far from unexpected, but it's still significant. It had been apparent for some time that CIS was going to pool all of its rights with one broadcaster, and as I reported in March, Sportsnet was the logical fit. With Rogers' acquisition of The Score (made official at the end of April), the company has an expanded need for live sports programming, and the cross-sports stable of CIS events seems to fit well with what they're trying to do. All in all, this deal could be a boost for the profile of university sports events across the board, and it could particularly help CIS basketball and hockey. One key question does remain, though: how much will separating Canadian university football (now on Sportsnet) from the professional CFL version (on TSN through 2018) hurt that part of the game?

Argos' first-round pick Matt Sewell could be one of the top steals of the 2013 draft.

Monday's CFL draft (full results here) didn't have a surprise at the top, but there were still plenty of unexpected picks. The draft, expanded to seven rounds for the first time, saw 60 different players chosen by nine teams. In addition to the eight teams that will be playing this year, the Ottawa expansion team set to start in 2014 was allowed to select NCAA players with eligibility remaining in each of the first four rounds. Some selections looked like exceptional value, while other players were taken taken long before most expected them to be. Here's a breakdown of three steals and three reaches from the draft.

While Monday's CFL draft had plenty of surprises, the name at the top wasn't one. Calgary Dinos' defensive lineman Linden Gaydosh was chosen first overall by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, as most expected. Gaydosh carried an appealing mix of athletic ability, CIS performance and a lack of NFL interest in his services, making him a logical top choice. The best part of his selection may have been his reaction, though. During a TSN interview over the phone from his home in Peace River, Alberta, Gaydosh was asked how he was going to celebrate. His response: "Maybe crack a beer. I've got a couple on the table." There's something perfectly Canadian about that coming from a top CFL draft pick, as it's a line that seems right out of a Bob and Doug sketch. Here's hoping Gaydosh's table looks like this one: