Last week, the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS announced the signing of David Beckham, an aging, yet still wildly-popular English soccer star. He will be leaving his current team in Spain, Real Madrid, and heading for the US coast. The move itself is a blockbuster as the MLS is a growing league in a traditionally non-soccer country and has had a great deal of difficulty in drawing talent in order to compete with the English, Italian, and Spanish top-flight leagues.
But maybe even beyond the shock of the actual move, is the contract that Becks was able to sing with the Galaxy. How does $50 million a year for five years grab you? For those slow in math...that's a quarter of a billion dollars in 5 years for playing a game. I know that contracts in many sports are skyrocketing...I mean baseball has been outrageous for years but I'm not sure what word can describe this.
Most people in the soccer world are aware that Beckham is not player he once was but he still has all of the starpower from his prime. He will draw fans to the game...to the league..to the United States soccer image. It is an interesting prospect for the team, for many players who will enjoy the opportunity to play with David Beckham . An old soccer friend of mine, Ante Jazic, who I played with for many years when we were younger, currently plays for the Galaxy and may have this opportunity. Pretty exciting I imagine.
To top off this interesting story, the Los Angeles Galaxy are also holding open tryouts for $130 to make the team and earn a chance to play. I suppose this is a publicity stunt a la Vince Papale from the Philadephia Eagles many years ago. His story is the one told in "Invincible", the movie with Mark Wahlberg. It'll be interesting to see how this one turns out and maybe we'll end up seeing this featured in a movie at some point...."Bend It Like Beckham 2"?
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