Beckham signs for LA Galaxy!

[benecios]

Beckham has signed for LA Galaxy in a deal reported to be worth $250 million over 5 years.Not bad money in a country that does not care for football.
The comments coming out of the US is that he has a big enough profile to take the game to the next level.Does anyone believe this?
They certainly do as they can't have bought him for his current on the field influence.

 

[chorse123]

It worked, albeit temporarily, for the Cosmos. Check out ONCE IN A LIFETIME, the documentary or the book. Hilarious.

Of course Beckham is no Pele.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by benecios

The comments coming out of the US is that he has a big enough profile to take the game to the next level.Does anyone believe this?
No. Unless the move inspires every European football fan to move to the US.

 

[edmorel]

No one that does not care about soccer in this country (about 99% of the population) will be swayed to now watch it due to Beckham. Quite frankly, most don't know or care who he is. His wife has more name recognition than he does, in this country. As for the $250 for five years, no sports team franchise in the US can financially support a $50 million a year player. The owner of the team is a billionaire and you know what PT Barnum said about a fool and his money.

 

[romafan]

Originally Posted by edmorel

No one that does not care about soccer in this country (about 99% of the population) will be swayed to now watch it due to Beckham. Quite frankly, most don't know or care who he is. His wife has more name recognition than he does, in this country. As for the $250 for five years, no sports team franchise in the US can financially support a $50 million a year player. The owner of the team is a billionaire and you know what PT Barnum said about a fool and his money.

And his wife is (I assume) coming w/ him! Can the Galaxy seriously believe that the Spice Girl connection is going to jump start Joe 6-pack's interst in the world's 'beautiful game'? I doubt it. More than likely they've researched the boost in (global) sales of Real merch after Beckham joined the Galacticos. If so, I think they're overestimating Becks' marketability - the Galaxy are not Real Madrid....

 

[drizzt3117]

Seriously. $250M? WTF!

 

[texas_jack]

I saw an interview with him last summer in which he said he wanted to be famous in the U.S. I suspect this is just the start of his entry into american celebrity status that could support him after football.

I am concerned we are getting another style disaster role-model for american dunces.

 

[Englandmj7]

Originally Posted by edmorel

No one that does not care about soccer in this country (about 99% of the population) will be swayed to now watch it due to Beckham. Quite frankly, most don't know or care who he is. His wife has more name recognition than he does, in this country. As for the $250 for five years, no sports team franchise in the US can financially support a $50 million a year player. The owner of the team is a billionaire and you know what PT Barnum said about a fool and his money.

That is a fairly absurd assumption. He is the 8th highest paid athlete in the world, is always in attendance at U.S. award shows, has been seen on half of all Adidas commercials aired in this country, frequently photographed in U.S. magazines such as People, US Weekly, etc. and is constantly seen 'hanging' with Puff Daddy, various actors, and other major US celebs. Sure, this may not be your interest or on any of the TV channels you watch, but saying that most don't know of him is silly. I am a huge soccer buff and I have never met someone who at the very least did not know his name.

I think that as opposed to going for someone who is highly acclaimed for tremendous talent (Ronaldinho, etc. - Beckham is excellent, but not what he once was) they chose Beckham because he is the epitome of glitz & glamour in the sport. One of the reasons football is big amongst the youth in Europe is because they not only appreciate the game, but also the lifestyle of people in the profession. They are equivalent to our young movie stars, etc. with Beckham leading the pack in the rest of the world. In Europe, there really is (unfortunately as it may be) no other celebrity couple as well known as Posh & Becks.

With America being the most media-frenzied, celeb-obsessed nation in the world it will help the sport to the extent that Beckham and his wife, both of whom are internationally known, wealthy, attractive celebrities attract alot of attention. I don't think it will "turn the sport around" by any means, but it is not a horrible idea. They aren't going for astronomical ticket sales, but rather, having him here as a powerful marketing tool for soccer in this country.

Either way, the Wikipedia article on soccer in the U.S. has some interesting points:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_..._United_States

 

[ghulkhan]

Beckham cant take soccer to the next level in this country.
1. He sucks
2. This country doesnt have enough people to begin with who know about David Beckham..and the people who do, most of them know he sucks at soccer.
3. He sucks.

Even Real Madrid didnt reallywant him on the team anymore and neither did the England national team
the point is hes not actually good, hes jsut a pretty face, and and that he sucks
and hes not going to change anything because if PELE coudlnt do it, then no one really could...there just now household names around here and to the people who actully know them, yea they wanna spark more interest and watch games adn get people to go say if RONALDINHO was playing but they could give less of a **** about beckham

 

[Englandmj7]

Originally Posted by ghulkhan

Beckham cant take soccer to the next level in this country.
1. He sucks
2. This country doesnt have enough people to begin with who know about David Beckham..and the people who do, most of them know he sucks at soccer.
3. He sucks.

Even Real Madrid didnt reallywant him on the team anymore and neither did the England national team
the point is hes not actually good, hes jsut a pretty face, and and that he sucks
and hes not going to change anything because if PELE coudlnt do it, then no one really could...there just now household names around here and to the people who actully know them, yea they wanna spark more interest and watch games adn get people to go say if RONALDINHO was playing but they could give less of a **** about beckham

He didn't get signed to Real Madrid based solely on his skills; it is a well known fact that his signing alone rocketed Real Madrid above Man Utd. as the most profitable firm in the world......this was simply because of his marketing power. And if you actually think that 'Beckham sucks' then you are an idiot:

Beckham is the fifth most capped England player of all time, has twice been the runner up in the FIFA World Player Of The Year Award in 1999 and 2001 and in addition to being the only Englishman to score in three different World Cups, is also only the fifth player in World Cup history to score twice from direct free kicks. He was captain of the English national team from 15 November 2000 to 2 July 2006.

In the 1998-99 season, he was part of the United team that won the treble "” Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, a unique feat in English football

fyi- Real Madrid wanted to sign him for 2 more years and as part of the deal for him to play for the Galaxy, they are retaining partial marketing rights from him. To say they "don't really want him" is a bit over the top.

 

[whacked]

$50 million a year is unheard of for a soccer player, or about 3-4 times the yearly salary of the previously highest paid player. The LA Galaxy would need some kind of quantum leap in merchandise sales to justify this kind of contract, which is not very likely considering Beckham's marketing power has somewhat diminished over the years.
A heck of a deal for a him though..

 

[edmorel]

Originally Posted by Englandmj7

That is a fairly absurd assumption. He is the 8th highest paid athlete in the world, is always in attendance at U.S. award shows, has been seen on half of all Adidas commercials aired in this country, frequently photographed in U.S. magazines such as People, US Weekly, etc. and is constantly seen 'hanging' with Puff Daddy, various actors, and other major US celebs. Sure, this may not be your interest or on any of the TV channels you watch, but saying that most don't know of him is silly. I am a huge soccer buff and I have never met someone who at the very least did not know his name.

I think that as opposed to going for someone who is highly acclaimed for tremendous talent (Ronaldinho, etc. - Beckham is excellent, but not what he once was) they chose Beckham because he is the epitome of glitz & glamour in the sport. One of the reasons football is big amongst the youth in Europe is because they not only appreciate the game, but also the lifestyle of people in the profession. They are equivalent to our young movie stars, etc. with Beckham leading the pack in the rest of the world. In Europe, there really is (unfortunately as it may be) no other celebrity couple as well known as Posh & Becks.

With America being the most media-frenzied, celeb-obsessed nation in the world it will help the sport to the extent that Beckham and his wife, both of whom are internationally known, wealthy, attractive celebrities attract alot of attention. I don't think it will "turn the sport around" by any means, but it is not a horrible idea. They aren't going for astronomical ticket sales, but rather, having him here as a powerful marketing tool for soccer in this country.

Either way, the Wikipedia article on soccer in the U.S. has some interesting points:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_..._United_States

Go out into the street and ask 10 people what sport David Beckham plays, what team and what US team he just signed for. Also ask what is the name of the professional soccer team in LA. You won't find more than 1 person who knows the answers to all those questions. Beckham is an international star, ex-United States. He is at the awards shows, so is Weird Al Yankovic (who is probably better known here!) He hangs with Puffy, so does Aston Kutcher. At the end of the day, in the US, Beckham does not matter, Adidas does not matter and professional soccer does not matter. All that being said, if he is getting 50 mil a year, he made the deal of the century because I doubt that all the teams combined have 50 million a year in revenue.

 

[dusty]

I didn't know the MLS was still around.

 

[Englandmj7]

Originally Posted by edmorel

Go out into the street and ask 10 people what sport David Beckham plays, what team and what US team he just signed for. Also ask what is the name of the professional soccer team in LA. You won't find more than 1 person who knows the answers to all those questions. Beckham is an international star, ex-United States. He is at the awards shows, so is Weird Al Yankovic (who is probably better known here!) He hangs with Puffy, so does Aston Kutcher. At the end of the day, in the US, Beckham does not matter, Adidas does not matter and professional soccer does not matter. All that being said, if he is getting 50 mil a year, he made the deal of the century because I doubt that all the teams combined have 50 million a year in revenue.

Again; an absurd point. One doesn't need to answer all those questions to know who he is. I am assuming most people don't follow his career path to that extent, as most likely at this point, even 75% of Europeans don't know or care what US team he just signed for, nor does it matter that most Americans don't know who the LA Galaxy are. The point is that they DO know his name and you are most certainly wrong about that. I have no need to go ask ten people as like I said before, I have NEVER met a person who doesn't know who he is, and I talk about soccer every day.

That is like saying you have to know what the Rolling Stones last two albums were, where they are currently touring, and every band members name to understand how astronomically powerful they are (in terms of marketing). Just because you think that people don't know who he is doesn't mean crap. Tell you what, why don't you go ask 10 random people who Tom Brady, Steve Nash, or Alex Rodriguez are and see what they tell you. If they get that right, see if they can tell you what team they play for. The common person would have no clue; I guarantee it (and these are majorly popular American athletes). How about Jimmie Johnson? Do you know who that is Ed? Did you know that he won the 2006 Daytona 500 and that NASCAR brings in more revenue than $2 billion a year annually in merchandise revenue?

Again, I never said he is going to turn the sport around, but you somehow seem fixated on the fact that 'no one knows who he is', which is certainly not the case.

Quote:

Originally Posted by benecios
I think most of you might be underestimating Beckham.Pele,Cruyff,Best etc..all went to the US,and were much better players than Beckham.But Beckham is more than that,he is a brand.
I might be wrong but this scenario would not surprise me:Beckham is all over the news for signing the biggest deal in football history,the media are curious as to what makes this guy so special,therefore interviews,chat show appearances etc...He will be constantly papped leaving every high class eaterie in LA,all over every magazine and hey presto we have a superstar.
He probably wont catapult football into every American home,but he will become a household name.That I have no doubt.

Exactly; excellent point. Some people don't understand the draw of those obsessed with pop culture, of which Beckham is a huge part. When I attended a Man Utd. match in LA a couple years back (they did a promotional tour), there were literally thousands of teenage girls with photos of Beckham to sign, etc. screaming his name and going nuts.

 

[benecios]

I think most of you might be underestimating Beckham.Pele,Cruyff,Best etc..all went to the US,and were much better players than Beckham.But Beckham is more than that,he is a brand.
I might be wrong but this scenario would not surprise me:Beckham is all over the news for signing the biggest deal in football history,the media are curious as to what makes this guy so special,therefore interviews,chat show appearances etc...He will be constantly papped leaving every high class eaterie in LA,all over every magazine and hey presto we have a superstar.
He probably wont catapult football into every American home,but he will become a household name.That I have no doubt.