Thursday, January 11, 2007

beckham, my darling, i love you.

you may or may not have heard, one of the most recognizable people in the world is coming to los angeles, to play for my favorite team. beckham is joining the galaxy, for the next five years. and, he actually turned down a contract w/real madrid (my international favs) to come to the states. why?
"There are so many great sports in America," the former Manchester United star said. "There are so many kids that play baseball, American football, basketball. But soccer is huge all around the world apart from America, so that's where I want to make a difference with the kids."

pretty cool. wants to come to the u.s. to raise the profile of the game. sweet. he'll be here in august.

sadly, the fuego (our local side) aren't playing the galaxy this year. unless, they run into them in the u.s. open cup.

8 comments:

Monticore said...

Yes!! Are Posh and Brooklyn comming too

Anonymous said...

that's probably the smartest thing I've ever heard from him.

Good for him, now I'm a fan!

edluv said...

and he said it while sounding like a leprechaun.

Scott and Malisa Johnson said...

I heard something about an outrageous pricetag . . . what was it?

Monticore said...

i think it was 250 million over 5 years. Yikes!

Arthur said...

the real reason beckham is coming to the third-rate mls is that he isn't getting any playtime at real madrid. so, though they were offering him a contract extension (for less money than he wanted), it was money to sit on their bench. though he's still a good passer and free-kick taker, he's too slow for the top leagues now. however. he should do fine playing in america

Unknown said...

Ha ha... You love a man.

edluv said...

although i disagree with my brother's assessment that the mls is third rate (mls allstar team beat chelsea which is in effect and all star team), i do agree that beckham has lost a step. he couldn't go back to england, as none of the top tier teams wanted him. one of the teams in england that it would have made sense for him to go to doesn't need him because they've already got the guy that replaced him on the enlish national team.

and yes, he hasn't been getting as much playing time @ real either. but, he is still an asset for both the mls and the galaxy. he will put more rears in the seats. he will help the continuing improvement in the league. he brings increased visibility to the league world wide.

as for the deal, he's really only getting paid about 2 mil a year by the mls system. the other 8 mill a year comes from his endorsements (adidas, pepsi, gillette, motorola, etc) and other deals (50% revenue on all his jerseys sold, a share of the ticket sales, etc). this information is readily avaible, so, all the dumbass sports reporters that think this is going to bankrupt the league should do a little research.

i don't really love beckham though. i respect his ability and the fact that what he is doing has brought tons of attention to the mls, something quite amazing since it's playoff time.