Has any other sport player ever got that much money?

[question everything]

It took some really big dealers to wrap up the $250-million package that will bring soccer star David Beckham to Los Angeles later this year to play for the Galaxy in Major League Soccer.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-beckbiz12jan12,1,323007.story

[Little Wing]

1. You are uninformed

He didn't get that much money, he got a percentage of that money, most of it is guaranteed endorsements.

[TomInTib]

2. Astounding

No amount of star power is going to pull the kids off of the baseball field or the gridiron and onto the pitch.

I don't care whichever Spice Girl he is married to.

And there is a finite number of soccer fans in the US who could make this investment worthwhile.

This is crazy stuff.

[tkmorris]

4. That's not entirely true Tom

In fact, more kids under 13 play soccer than any other sport. That has not been true in the past but it is now. Youth soccer has grown dramatically in the last decade or so. In addition, you are seeing an increasing number of middle/junior high schools fielding teams, by popular request. Virtually every high school already does.

Soccer is growing by leaps and bounds in this country, and that trend will only continue IMHO. What is needed is to get a world class product on the field in the major cities for sports fans to root for. The MLS is doing pretty well, but there is still a ways to go yet.

Having said that, I'm not sure a superstar like Beckham is such a good idea. It is likely that other teams will follow suit with players of Beckham's quality (though perhaps not quite as well known here in the states to non-soccer fans), but the disparity between the vast majority of the players on teams and the imported stars might cause some friction. The new MLS will undoubtedly put more fans in the seats and a plethora of games on television, but can it ultimately sustain the expense of doing so? This sort of move eventually killed the old NASL, and if not done carefully might not work this time either.

[TomInTib]

6. "under 13"

I know what you mean.

But the money is in kids over that age.

Equipment sales, etc.

I am way to buzzed to go on with this, but I think this Beckham deal will prove to be a disaster. He was every bit as valuable while playing for Leeds or Manchester or whoever as he will be with the LA team (is that what you call them - teams?). Club. Whatever.

Soccer will never be commercially viable in the US until we have a much larger first-generation import fan that can afford to support the pro teams/clubs.

[silverojo]

5. I totally agree

The last thing we need is the retarded "sport" of soccer to pit country against country in a thoroughly unsportsmanlike manner (hooligans, fans spitting on each other, etc.).

At least the Olympics are civilized. That's why the Tanya Harding debacle was called a "scandal"; in soccer, she would've just been a typical "rowdy fan". :eyes:

The reason soccer has, and will continue to, bomb here is that Americans like sports that are played in a more or less civilized manner. That's why leagues like the NFL, NBA, etc., are cracking down on obnoxious behavior during games.

The only way Beckham became famous in the first place was that he married a Spice Girl, back when the Spice Girls were hugely famous. It sure as hell isn't his soccer playing that has made his name recognizeable in the USA.

[TomInTib]

7. Well put, silverojo

And how many American soccer parents want to expose their little darlings to that sort of crap?

And how many Americans had ever heard of Beckham before he married School Punch? (Well, I am just a little bit sorry about typing that - but not enough to delete it)

[Hav]

9. .

Wow, so much ignorance in every single sentence! Remarkable.

[Art_from_Ark]

3. The Los Angeles Galaxy is bound to be nearly as popular

as the Los Angeles Thunderbirds

[TomInTib]

8. That made me laugh so loud that I woke up my dog. eom