I've lived in the States my whole life - recently became an Everton fan, a club I've grown quite fond of by the way, and I can honestly say that Landon is quite the marketing tool, especially here in the States where soccer is about as popular as infomercials.
It's all about name recognition over here - never mind skill or talent - you can ask random people off the street and most will know who Lindsey Lohan is before they can name who the Vice President of the US is.
When asking among my friends, who know practically nothing about soccer, they know who Landon Donovan is and to TV networks, that's all they care about. If people can identify with a star player and that player is heavily marketed, then it equates to network ratings for each of their televised matches which equates directly into $$$$'s.
That's all that matters. The league cares not about the wants or desires of the players it has shackled to unyielding contractual obligations.