David Beckham to Join LA Galaxy: Why He Will Be a Bad Experience for MLS

On January 11^th, 2007, international soccer icon David Beckham announced that he has agreed to a five year deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer that is reportedly worth $250 million dollars. This will make Becks the highest paid sports figure in history, with a salary of $50 million a year. This deal surpasses even the record contract signed by baseball's Alex Rodriguez and the Texas Rangers which was worth $252 million but over ten years. Even Michael Jordan did not make this kind of money when he was winning championships with the Chicago Bulls.

This will be a new challenge for Beckham who has been a part of the world's two most recognized teams Manchester United and Real Madrid. Beckham has stated that the large sum of money was not the real motivation for him choosing this option, he rather wanted to promote the game in the United States, which is very much behind in popularity that is enjoyed by football, basketball and baseball. David will bring with him his three sons, along with his wife Victoria who is a former member of the British pop group called the Spice Girls. Victoria has fallen in love with the celebrity lifestyle in Los Angeles, which made David's decision even easier to make.

But what are the LA Galaxy and the MLS getting with this signing? Personally, I have been following soccer for a long time and I can tell you that his talent is not worth this ridiculous amount of money. I can name twenty players in the game today who are worth more than him on the field. I rather have Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho on my team than Beckham, their skills are far superior to the ones of Becks. But what David has is popularity, lots of it. He is the most recognizable sports figure in the world today, aside from the United States where he is still fairly unknown. So basically he is a marketing figure, the best soccer marketing figure money can buy. With him Major League Soccer is trying to promote itself and the game in America.

But will this marketing technique work? In my opinion no, I would still not watch the MLS after he starts playing for the Galaxy. I think he is past his prime time and he went this way to set himself up for retirement. And he will not dazzle with his game even in this league, the only place he might show his genius is on free kicks where he is a specialist. This type of a "promotion" of soccer has been tried in America before. The old soccer league in the 1970s paid large sums of money to legends such as Pele and Franz Beckenbauer, but the sport never grew in popularity. Really the only thing I'm looking forward to from this deal is David Beckham saying the word soccer after years of playing football.