David Beckham Scores Again-and Again
Goodbye, Madrid. And hellooo, Hollywood. English superstar David Beckham's decision to move there and play for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer was astonishing enough. But that gaudy five-year, $250 million deal left even the gimlet-eyed impresarios of Beverly Hills with their jaws hanging.
Making professional soccer major (rather than bush league) has long been the goal of fans and owners here. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, top international stars-even Brazil's famed Pelé-came to play. But Beckham, a 31-year-old midfielder, is different. Last year, the league changed its rules so a team could pay one player above its $2 million salary cap-a move dubbed, naturally enough, the "Beckham rule." The Galaxy has deep pockets to go with its flashy gold shirts. Owner Anschutz Entertainment Group is a hydralike enterprise that owns other sports teams as well as the Staples Center in L.A. and operates the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
Although he played little this year for Real Madrid, which he joined four years ago after a stellar career at England's Manchester United, "Becks" still curled the ball into the net from 30 yards out more than once during England's lackluster run at last year's World Cup.
The move to L.A., Beckham insists, isn't about money. "I think soccer can be a lot bigger in the U.S.," he says. "From a young age kids are brought up with soccer, then they seem to go into other areas." Beckham runs a youth soccer academy there, but the deal really has nothing to do with what happens on the pitch (er, field).
Along with wife Victoria (Posh of the Spice Girls), Beckham is a global marketing machine who hobnobs with the likes of Tom Cruise. His trademark kicks were immortalized in the film Bend It Like Beckham, and his face is plastered on billboards from Shanghai to São Paulo, selling everything from soda to cellphones. For all his success, however, America's latest superstar is still, according to English league player Kevin Nolan, "a very decent bloke ... and a brilliant footballer." Only now, he's a very, very rich bloke.
This story appears in the January 22, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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