Author Topic: Beckham to US for 250mil?  (Read 1328 times)

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Offline Dave B

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Topic Start: January 11, 2007, 10:43:55 AM »
From ESPN

Quote
MADRID, Spain -- Former England captain David Beckham will leave Real Madrid at the end of the season and sign a five-year deal for MLS side Los Angeles Galaxy, he told Reuters on Thursday.

 

"This week Real Madrid asked me to make a decision regarding my future and the offer to extend my contract for a further two seasons," Beckham told Reuters.


"After discussing several options with my family and my advisors to either stay here in Madrid or join other major British and European teams I have decided to join LA Galaxy and play in the MLS from August this year.


"I would like to thank supporters and the people of Madrid who have made my family and I so welcome in my time here making this an extremely difficult decision to make.


"I have enjoyed my time here enormously and I am extremely grateful to the club for giving me an opportunity to play for such a great team and their amazing fans."


The 31-year-old, who joined Real from Manchester United in June 2003, is the most famous player to sign up for Major League Soccer since it began in 1996.


The deal is reported to be one of the biggest in global sport with Beckham set to earn more than $250 million over the duration of his contract.


The news ends months of speculation about the future of the midfielder whose contract with Real expires at the end of the season.


Having been first choice in the Real Madrid starting lineup since he moved to Spain, Beckham lost his place following the arrival of Italian coach Fabio Capello.


He has only started five of Real's 16 league games this season and was known to be frustrated with his lack of opportunities in the first team.



250 million dollars? Did I read that right?  Does MLS make that kind of money?  Shouldnt they have gotten more guys for cheaper that are maybe a notch below Beckham's talent but still much better than current MLS players?

Offline Senators2005

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #1: January 11, 2007, 10:56:09 AM »
When you said US I thought you meant DC United.  Phew!   :oops:

Offline expos96

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #2: January 11, 2007, 11:13:28 AM »
Beckham is a fine player, but 250 mio?
We thought Soriano was overpaid....

AuRevoirExpos

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #3: January 11, 2007, 01:48:12 PM »
How ridiculous, a guy getting more for playing soccer in LA than any player in baseball history has ever made.

I assume they intend to market him like a Hollywood movie star in order to get their money back.

That even beats the A-Rod to Texas deal doesn't it?

Offline Dave B

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #4: January 11, 2007, 01:49:22 PM »
Quote from: "AuRevoirExpos"
How ridiculous, a guy getting more for playing soccer in LA than any player in baseball history has ever made.

I assume they intend to market him like a Hollywood movie star in order to get their money back.

That even beats the A-Rod to Texas deal doesn't it?


It doubles the A-rod deal per year

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #5: January 11, 2007, 01:53:56 PM »
He'll make 4X/yr what the entire rest of the league makes under the $1 million salary cap...that said, every kid in Asia will buy Galaxy kit, so it should pay off.  

Either way, we'll get to see him play at least twice at RFK this season (and a third time of DC United meets LA in the MLS Cup Final, which is also at RFK).

Zidane or Ronaldo will play for DC United, I can feel it  :lol:

Funny that the most luminous of Real Madrid's "Galacticos" is leaving to go to...the Galaxy

Offline Dave B

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #6: January 11, 2007, 02:32:44 PM »
People are going to go to the games and not feel as though they saw anything special.  He's not a goal scorer and doesnt possess obvious, better-than-everyone-around-him skills.  You might be dazzled by a free kick or something, but if you are gonna make a splash, I think it should be for a goal scorer at least, even if he isnt that much better than other goal scorers.  People can at least come away saying they saw ronaldo score a goal as opposed to beckham making a nice pass.  But I guess talent doesnt equal popularity and if a couple million people around the world buy his jerseys, it helps.

I hope this isnt prohibitve of other players coming over because they feel they should get 50 mil per year or because MLS has no money left

AuRevoirExpos

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #7: January 11, 2007, 05:30:03 PM »
I obviously used to see Beckham quite a lot during his Manchester United heyday. I live only about a 20 minutes drive from their stadium at Old Trafford, though these days I'm mainly to be found during the summer months at the neighbouring Old Trafford Cricket Ground, which is literally about 400 yards down the road from the soccer stadium.

There was a time that he was a great talent, as a play maker and his general distribution of the ball, as well as all his famous tricks from a dead ball situation. But he's past his prime, and he actually seems quite disillusioned following his demotion from the England captain's job. So I think he's basically calling it a day in regard to any aspirations he still had in Europe or England for one of the big world clubs, and simply took the best offer.

He'll make a ton of money for L A Galaxy, just as he did for Real Madrid in Spain, though whether his presence in America will do anything to transform the game there into something as popular as football or baseball, I doubt it.

What sort of attendances do teams like L A Galaxy currently get? Beckham is used to playing of front of 70-80,000 when he was in Manchester and Madrid, I expect the crowds (of mainly girls) will flock to see him based on his public profile and celebrity status, if people turn up expecting to see him win a game single-handed, they're going to be disappointed.

Offline 2k6nats

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #8: January 11, 2007, 05:36:26 PM »
That is SO much money.  Fifty million a year to play soccer in the US?  Soccer just isn't big enough to spend that dough, period.

Offline Senators2005

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #9: January 11, 2007, 05:45:47 PM »
If his wife ends up at RFK for a couple of games...I might actually buy my first DC United ticket!   :wink:


Offline 2k6nats

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #10: January 11, 2007, 06:29:54 PM »

Offline Senators2005

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #11: January 11, 2007, 06:42:18 PM »
I really don't think an additional picture was necessary...you seem to have missed the points.

Offline 2k6nats

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #12: January 11, 2007, 07:37:41 PM »
Quote from: "Senators2005"
I really don't think an additional picture was necessary...you seem to have missed the points.


 :lol: ROFL

Loud and clear.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Beckham to US for 250mil?
« Reply #13: January 11, 2007, 09:30:22 PM »
Quote from: "Dave B"
People are going to go to the games and not feel as though they saw anything special.  He's not a goal scorer and doesnt possess obvious, better-than-everyone-around-him skills.  You might be dazzled by a free kick or something, but if you are gonna make a splash, I think it should be for a goal scorer at least, even if he isnt that much better than other goal scorers.  People can at least come away saying they saw ronaldo score a goal as opposed to beckham making a nice pass.  But I guess talent doesnt equal popularity and if a couple million people around the world buy his jerseys, it helps.

I hope this isnt prohibitve of other players coming over because they feel they should get 50 mil per year or because MLS has no money left


Becks still has one of--if not THE--best set-piece shots in the game...plus, the "250 million" is actually (as I understand it) mostly endorsement money that Real Madrid got much of under his existing contract...his actual salary as a player is a player will still be a lot, but much less than 50 large (probably more like 10).  MLS pays 400K of his salary, and as the first so-called "Beckham Rule" player, the rest gets paid by the "owners" of the team, with no limit to how much they can spend, which had been previously capped at a mil or something like that (MLS owns all the team, but leases out managerial rights to private entities).  I could be slightly off on the specifics, but that's pretty much the gist of it.

This is IMO a grand slam for MLS, the operators of the Galaxy, and to a lesser extent, the owners of every other MLS team, who are indirectly the focus of attention by virtue of this story being BY FAR the biggest Google search item for 11 Jan 07 (totally eclipsing President Johnson's--er, Bush's--latest war escalation).  Most of all, it's HUGE for Beckham, who a), gets to keep all of his endorsement money, and b), gets to be in the absolute epicenter of jet set bling, and c), finally gets to make Posh happy with an address worthy of those...uh, eyes.