Is this obscene

[manker]

Now I'm all for a chap making a decent living, however that seems to have gone a wee bit over the top.

Is it right that someone should be paid that sum of money for playing soccer (or anything for that matter) and for their ability to advertise stuff. It seems obscene to me. You could invade a small country with that kind of cash.

Well, if it makes you feel any better, with all that tax he'll be paying, I'm sure at least part of this money will be going toward invading a small country at some point.

===

It's a lot of money for a bloke to be paid for smiling and kicking a ball for sure but I'm not sure 'obscene' is the word I'd use. There is simply no-one else in the world that could fit this job description.

The people who are paying him expect to reap a greater financial reward than they are laying out for the Beckham product, so I think of it purely in those terms.

[manker]

Apparently, according to reports, he'll be only the second highest paid sportsman in the US, I'm guessing Tiger Woods would be number one, but I wouldn't put money on it.

Doh, well that's what I get for being presumptuous. Thinking about it, Tiger's just finished designing and building a course in Dubai, so I guess that gets factored in.

Another interesting statistic is the average gate for LA Galaxy, 20,000. For a 'nothing' game that's quite a gate, there's plenty of British teams would like those figures.

Indeed. I imagine their stadium is huge too so that's likely to be at least doubled now.

[wolfy1]

beckham going to the U.S to play out his career just shows he's in it for the money,fair play to him cus he's crap anyway

[Ava Estelle]

beckham going to the U.S to play out his career just shows he's in it for the money,fair play to him cus he's crap anyway

Did you take a wrong turn on the way to the lounge?

[j2k4]

You think it's about winning the MLS - I'm quite sure that winning the MLS, altho' kinda desirable, is of little moment to the financiers of this deal.

The thinking behind it is that Beckham, beause of who he is, can have a greater impact on football in America than any single athlete in any sport has before. They want Beckham to kickstart a process which will enable the LA Galaxy to be huge, they want that to make the MLS huge, which in turn will make football in America huge.

This has been tried before, BTW.

Another fellow past his prime, went by the name of Pele.

[manker]

You think it's about winning the MLS - I'm quite sure that winning the MLS, altho' kinda desirable, is of little moment to the financiers of this deal.

The thinking behind it is that Beckham, beause of who he is, can have a greater impact on football in America than any single athlete in any sport has before. They want Beckham to kickstart a process which will enable the LA Galaxy to be huge, they want that to make the MLS huge, which in turn will make football in America huge.

This has been tried before, BTW.

Another fellow past his prime, went by the name of Pele.

It has?

Surely someone should have informed the brokers of this deal that there can't possibly be any point in having another crack. Quite obviously they don't have a clue what they're doing and they're just throwing good money after bad.

Fie on them.

[Ava Estelle]

This has been tried before, BTW.

Another fellow past his prime, went by the name of Pele.

Totally different.

There is far more to Beckham than there ever was to Pele, and I'm not talking about football.

AEG, one of the chief financiers here, are also backers of the Beckham Football Academies which will become huge earners over the coming years.

[manker]

Another interesting statistic is the average gate for LA Galaxy, 20,000. For a 'nothing' game that's quite a gate, there's plenty of British teams would like those figures.

Indeed. I imagine their stadium is huge too so that's likely to be at least doubled now.

Wrong again

Just reading an article now and their stadium only holds 27,000.

[Ava Estelle]

The Home Depot Center is the soccer training headquarters for the United States Soccer Federation Men's and Women's National Teams, as well as the David Beckham Academy for youth ages 8 to 15.

Plenty of room to expand though, look at the plan, the highest level is only on one side.

http://web.mlsnet.com/t106/stadium/

[manker]

The Home Depot Center is the soccer training headquarters for the United States Soccer Federation Men's and Women's National Teams, as well as the David Beckham Academy for youth ages 8 to 15.

Plenty of room to expand though, look at the plan, the highest level is only on one side.

http://web.mlsnet.com/t106/stadium/

Yup, yup. I wonder if theyll do that tho'. It would be another massive outlay if stadium improvement building contractors are anything like they are over here.

Maybe it would be more cost effective to stay there in the short term - with ticket price hikes - and eventually ground share at the Coliseum, if demand justified it and so long as it's possible.