David Beckham

[kencar]

Off to America

Obscene amount of money quoted and who gives a 5 year contract to a 32 year old (which he will be when he joins in the summer)

[Scotty]

That rumour has been flying around over here for ages .... Beckham to LA Galaxy so that posh spice can pursue a career of some sort in hollyweird.

the other part of the rumour is that he will not only be a player but may receive part of his payment in the form of part-ownership of the club and that the club will help him establish the "beckham brand" of 'soccer' training camps for kids in the the USA

... anyroads, I guess I will see him play if/when Toronto FC play the Galaxy  :004:

[Harry Chibber]

£128,000,000/5 = £25,600,000/52 = £492,307 A WEEK!!!

[CaleyD]

I wouldn't take the cut in pay personally  :015:

Harry, they only play 8 months of the year

£128,000,000 / 5 = £25,600,000/33 = £775,757 A Week

5 Day Week & 8 Hours a Day?

£19,393 an Hour  :015:

[Harry Chibber]

must be the highest paid footballer ever.. Now MLS have taken the cap off wages they can offer does this mean the end of football as we know it???  :024:

I guarentee you'll see other big names to follow

[Heilandee]

Totally obscene,  and on the same day 650 Dundonians are told their American employer is pulling the plug on their livliehood  :008:  the world's gone mad

[CaleyD]

They are only allowed to pay 2 players more than the capped amount and wages in excess of $400,000 must be paid by the club and not the MLS.

[EWS]

Remember how much they pay their other sports stars.

[Dmacca]

Beckham & his daft missus bore me nearly as much as the royal family!! one of the greatest footballers ever  :020: i wouldnt let him tie Cantona's laces.

[Council Juice]

he gets a lot of bad flak but he is a superb passer of the ball and a hard worker.

Ridiculos wages, but hey their yanks.

Mind u in the 70s when they were paying huge somes to pele and best etc it all went belly up so they had better be careful.

[Glebeict]

  Beckham is on the front page of the Ottawa Citizen newspaper this

    morning. LA Galaxy and Toronto FC have already more publicity in

    one day than since they were formed. Shirt sales will also sky rocket.

  Also I think a lot of other teams will now try and sign "names "

  It would be better if they tryed for young stars though.

 

[dunco]

£128,000,000/5 = £25,600,000/52 = £492,307 A WEEK!!!

Them wages are far too high for a small soccer nation. How they going to make enough money from becks to pay him for 5 years

[Scotty]

According to the local news here last night, Toronto FC sold more than 600 tickets yesterday for the game against LA Galaxy.

Bearing in mind that no-one knows when this game will be played, what day, what time, what month so dont even have a clue if they will get to it or not so it shows that whatever else he is (or is not), he is a player who will put bums on seats.

I saw an interview with him on the news last night and he actually came across reasonably well. He got his facts straight when he said " 'soccer' in America is the most popular sport amongst kids up to a certain age, and then went on to talk about how he hopes he can change that by raising its profile and establishing more of his soccer academies.

I think this Englishman may eventually be at least partially responsible for a new upswing in the fortunes of the Canadian and US national teams as interest in the sport soars just as much or even more than when they first set it up and enticed the likes of Pele to play in it. If the Americans start throwing money at the game (instead of at Beckham) they could be a serious force to be reckoned with in coming years.

In the short term, I think Canada may benefit first .... with Toronto getting an MLS team, and advertising it heavily in newspapers and TV,  and the youth world cup here later in the year interest is already reasonably high and even though he signed for a team thousands of miles away the buzz on the news last night was palpable as Beckham is a name that even those not interested in the sport know. interesting times ahead - just hope the bugger doesnt get a hat-trick against Toronto  :004:

[Scotty]

Them wages are far too high for a small soccer nation. How they going to make enough money from becks to pay him for 5 years

If there is one area where the Americans do well that is marketing/sponsorship. They will make a fortune from Beckham merchandise, shirts, 'bobblehead dolls', collectors items, all sorts of things and thats before they even start to sort out humungous deals for corporate sponsorship.

I think you will also find that he will not actually be paid that amount of money. That may be the value of the contract, but the rumours over here for several months now were that he would sign for the galaxy (because posh wants a stab at hollywood) and that the galaxy would not only help him establish more Beckahm soccer schools but also that he would eventually become one of the owners of the team so part of the contract will be for the schools, part will be in shares in the team and the rest will be wages (which the US tax people will take great delight in making into a far smaller amount)

[DaveDargo]

An annual salary of $10m

His existing sponsorship contracts with his four sponsors - Motorola, Pepsi, Gillette and Volkswagen - are estimated to be worth $25m

His merchandising shirt sales will bring in $10m

His share of the club profits: $10m

That adds up to $55m. Multiply it by five and you get $275m.

From here

[beachcomber]

I saw an interview with him on the news last night and he actually came across reasonably well.

Yeah, I reckon he always comes across well, and seems genuine and sincere, as well as being a superb hard working saaccer player into the bargain.

He is a fully paid up member of the lucky ******* club along with other feckers like Mick Jagger with charmed lives who've never had to do a proper days work in their puff .

"Hey Brad shall we go to the saaccer game" - it's just never gonna catch on.

[wyness_is_god]

Only cares about himself, No interest in LA Galaxy  :018:

Wants to promote "Soccer" over in the states, hopes he can pursuede kids into the sport, at what part of any interviews yet has he actually commented on playing for LA Galaxy  :018:

Still £492,000 a week  :005: Dont suppose they need any more people to "promote the game"  :024:  :001:

[dunco]

Yes u make a good point scotty and davedargo, by the sounds of ur replys the club will make more money so can easily afford his wages