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What a waste of a quarter billion dollars. For the same amount that the Galaxy promised David Beckham to come to Los Angeles, they could have paid the salaries of all 26 New York Yankees in 2007 -- plus the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In the NFL, they could have covered an entire team operating at the salary cap for almost two and a half seasons.
Granted, it's a five year contract and includes a lot of non-salary compensation (like portions of ticket/merchandising revenue). But the same $250,000,000 Beckham stands to make by 2012 would pay for an NBA team at full salary cap -- for the same five year period.
With so much invested, it's disgusting that Beckham hasn't even started to deliver. As a soccer fan longing to see the sport take hold here, I expect dividends. Where are they? "He has done nothing locally to sell the sport," claims TJ Simers. He's right.
Beckham hasn't lifted up his team, hasn't filled the stadium, and hasn't done much of anything. He's spent more time in the stands than on the bench, much less the field.
Some people have defended Becks, saying he's been injured and was over-extended by playing three matches in two continents in three days. Boo-freaking-hoo. 14 year olds have tougher schedules with their traveling teams, and they're stuck in the middle seat of a Dodge Caravan. Something tells me Beckham isn't flying in coach -- unless it's Coach. As in the famous leather maker.
The bigger question is why this athlete over-extended himself in the first place. It's one thing that he transitioned quickly from soccer in Europe to soccer in the States. It's a whole different issue that he's been trying to make it back to the British national team. Obviously that's the pinnacle of the sport, and most people would kill for an opportunity to play at that level. But Beckham had another commitment -- one worth a quarter of a billion dollars -- waiting for him. Even if he scraps his way back onto England's roster, his aging body probably won't be able to stay on until the next World Cup in 2010.
With rumors of his acting career quashed, there's been some murmuring that Beckham may transfer back to Europe to pursue his international interests. Fine. Leave. It's not like he's doing the Galaxy any good. In fact, they seem to do better without him.
Maybe he'll just be homeless, since apparently England doesn't need him, either.
From Silverlake hipsters to USC frat boys, LA should unite in the message brought to us by this t-shirt company.
That's right, David. Take Posh with you. And your "too American" kids.
Thanks to Anti for modeling this sweet t-shirt.
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You still spouting off that incredibly wrong "$250,000,000.00" number? Do some research you hack. It's more like $50,000,000. this was figured out 7 months ago.
'British national team'?
I assume we'll be seeing this article every time a star athlete gets injured, right?
Adam, you're a pretty good writer, and I have no doubt that eventually you'll be covering sports for a living someday (maybe even now!). But do us soccer fans a favor - when you do move on to a newspaper somewhere, don't write about soccer. You don't understand it. You don't care about it (or facts, evidentially - there's a World Cup in 2012?) and you don't want to care about it.
I mean, quoting TJ Simers? Really?
I think he has a point about Beckham doing jack shit to promote the sport.
If you guys are done flaming, Adam has a point.
Beckham's commitment to England is going to hurt us a lot.
Jamesey - You failed to respond to my comment (responding to your's) in a previous post where I pointed out that nobody has refuted the $250,000,000 PACKAGE. As I addressed the day after he was announced AND in this post, that figure is not raw salary -- but it is a $250,000,000 financial commitment. None of the links you provided in response to the other post did anything to refute that. I'd be happy (and relieved) to see any links that prove that.
Goodness - club v. country! However shall the team sort out this unique and unexpected difficulty?
I don't like Beckham, but you can't blame him for taking a huge pile of cash for what is essentially a holiday for him.
The blame should be on whoever ridiculously over-paid him. They obviously didn't factor in the fact that injuries are part-and parcel of soccer careers.
RMS - Thanks for the nice words, and mea culpa on 2012 -- that was a typo.
I understand athletes get injured. While Dodger fans are understandably frustrated about Jason Schmidt, I didn't rip him for being hurt (no Giants conspiracy involved, I swear!). I didn't rip Shaun Livingston for his horrific injury. But neither of these guys were trying to push through their problems and come back too soon, much less compete for Team USA. Trying to overcome adversity is often valiant ... but that doesn't mean it can't be misguided. That's the point of this piece. Beckham is treating LA as his second (third? twelfth?) choice. That's fine, but in that case he's overpaid.
We'll have to disagree on my soccer knowledge, but I can confirm that I do care -- way, way, way more than most Americans. I quoted TJ Simers because he's great antagonist. I don't think he knows anything about soccer. In fact, he probably hates the beautiful game. But he does know the LA sports market, and his quote was spot-on.
anti looks great there
i love that pic!
I don't blame Beckham - an injury is an injury, and he HAS been going around promoting the sport (besides appearances & interviews, I think it's evident that his mere presence is promoting soccer in America - very few media outlets were paying attention before he got here, unfortunately). But I do place some blame on ESPN & the MLS for overhyping his arrival. ESPN banked so much on Becks appearing in a match where it wasn't even guarenteed that he could play! That's just foolish.
He may not be selling out stadiums, but he's certainly doubling the attendance. I think that's worth something, don't you?
-robina
Adam, blame the MLS for a lot of this.
1) the league hyped this like mad, looking to Beckham as THE quick way to make the average American care about "soccer." (And the Galaxy supposedly made Beckham's salary back in merchandise sales before he ever took the field. So it's worked to some degree...hell, LAIST is talking about it.)
2) the league refuses to abide by the international football calendar. Every major pro league in the world stops play for international friendlies, qualifiers and certainly the World Cup. But not the MLS. How many games has Landon Donovan missed this year because of US national team games?
3) any sane person will avoid TJ Simers...
you obviously are not a fan nor understand the sport. it's not possible to change a team in less than 2 months. when you join a club and you're already injured, it prohibits your ability to effectively play. yet, in his first two starts, in superliga and mls, he scored 1 goal and 3 assists. that's pretty impressive. it just so happens he got injured again, which, if you want to blame someone, was his fault. it was just unlucky. in fact the person he went after the ball against was also injured. beckham's transfer to america was not only to help the galaxy, but the mls in general. the invest has already paid most of itself off. and how dare you say that the stadiums aren't filled. galaxy has no season tickets available through 2009. not to mention, just him being in giants stadium, NOT PLAYING, drew over 60,000 people. i hate the ignorance that just because he's on the team, the galaxy are supposed to when an mls cup. this is not the way soccer is. mls is WAY behind in ability and technique compared to the rest of the world. beckham is not used to that level of play. christ, give him more than 4 games to adjust!
Adam, you appear to misunderstand the situation. Beckham is currently filling stadiums and clearly will continue to put people in the stands, not just in LA but all around the country, including many that will never have come to a MLS game but for Beckham playing. A percentage of this new attendance will enjoy what they experienced and come back.
Beckham has brought international attention to a league that has been ignored if not scoffed at.
Moreover, because of the interest and attention, there is more money flowing into the MLS because of the increased coverage of games in which Beckham is playing on ESPN and ESPN2.
Beckham is paid the huge portion of his salary based upon his ability to generate additional ticket sales, ad revenue, sponsorships, merchandise and so forth. That is to say, he is only paid based upon his contribution to the team and league. Based on this proportionality, there should be no reason to complain. If he produces, he is paid. If not, he isn't, for the most part.
Herbalife has estimated that their sponsorship of the Galaxy in the Beckham era has already brought them somewhere between half a billion and a billion impressions in the various media.
In my opinion, that's money very well spent, all the way around. I'm not sure that the MLS could have found a more effective way to gain exposure and attention for their dollars.
Will Beckham be more effective in attracting ad dollars, attention and fans if he is healthy and plays? Absolutely, but injuries are a fact of life and in this case the current situation, blame should probably be placed more at the feet of Coach Yallop for playing Beckham the day after his international appearance for England, knowing that he was already not fully healed.
The fact is that it's better for the MLS if Beckham continues to play for England, continues to be internationally relevant. Beckham would not have come here if he had been prevented from playing for his national team and I'm not sure that he could be prevented, under FIFA rules.
Finally, flowing from this move, a number of other highly respected European soccer talents have expressed that they might also make similar moves to the MLS, which will only make the league better, well attended, more widely covered and more competitive.
dear anti,
your tats are hot!