For a cool $1m per week.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...src=rss&rpc=22
For a cool $1m per week.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...src=rss&rpc=22
How does this make ANY monetary sense??
It really doesn't. For the soccer fan this is exciting. For the casual american soccer fan, it will draw a few in, but this and the other handful of international signings in the works will not boost attendance and interest like what happened in the old NASL.
The MLS has survived by keeping costs and salaries low, turning a profit however small sometimes, and then reinvesting it in stadiums and the league itself. Even with his salary being paid by many different sourses this type of deal will start to become a drain on a limited pool of resources. They have had the sense to limit the teams to 1 deal per team.
Honestly I have never been a Beckham fan so I am not fired up about it, especially with him joining the team 2 months before the season ends. There are others I would have liked to see come in. Beckham was the most likely star though because of his age, is disagreements with club and country, and the fact that he can market himself and his wife here for that last huge payout of his career, where the europeans were saying one foot isn't worth the money you want anymore.
They must anticipate selling a bunch of Beck shirts. They aren't getting that back in straight attendance like the Astros do with Clemens.
It is funny. The Astros do not even factor in Clemens in their salary structure. They know that he draws enough extra fans during the year that he more than pays for himself. They just tack his salary to whatever the remaining payroll is for the year. I just don't see that happening in hocker, I mean sockey, mean hockey, I mean soccer in 2007.
His actual salary is "only" 52 million. The other 200 million will be paid by endorsements. However, up until this, the highest paid player in the MLS made 1.3 mil/year. This is Pele part II... Beckham has been on a steady decline for a while and has been sitting on the bench for Real Madrid.
It really doesn't seem to make a lot of sense... even if they sell out every game, their stadium only seats 17,000. And if every person bought a T-shirt, hot dog, and a beer... I don't see how they are going to even come close to breaking even.
As far as selling tickets, he should also sell out everybody else's stadiums when they play on the road. When Pele & Co were playing back in the day it is said that they averaged 70k at their games. The problem is that once Pele left the show was over.
A possible difference in this case is that MLS and soccer in general seem to be gradually growing here. Slow but steady. Something like this is a gamble, but it could give the sport a shot in the arm that it will be able to continue to build upon. It seems like MLS is doing it right, though, by limiting each team to one big-$$$ star.
To be honest he might sell out everyones stadium once, but you will be amazed at the attendance the second time around, plus if he does not play amazing soccer fans won't come either.
Like I said though I am not a Beckham fan so..... I hope he has a profound positive affect on U.S. soccer... I hope..
I know my wife just got interested in at least 1 Houston Dynamo game next year.
I never heard of the guy before yesterday.