LA Galaxy Reaping the Rewards of the David Beckham Investment

By: Bob | April 19th, 2007

Now that we have closed the chapter on the great David Beckham penis controversy, we can turn our attention once again to what his imminent arrival to MLS means for American soccer. When the $250 million announcement was made back in January (has it really only been three months), there was a lot of gasping at the dollar figure. It turns out that three months ahead of Beckham even taking the field in the US the investment has already paid off for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

The club has sold 7,000 new season tickets, leased eight new corporate suites, attracted that dopey Herbalife sponsorship and increased its merchandise sales.

From Bloomberg:

David Beckham already has brought Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Galaxy an additional $13.3 million in revenue, more than enough to cover his salary for two years.

Beckham, who won’t play until July, signed a five-year contract with the Galaxy in January that will pay him an MLS- record base salary of $5.5 million annually and might be worth as much as $250 million with his cut from jersey sales, endorsements and sponsorships.

“We’ve already made our money back,” said Tim Leiweke, 49, chief executive officer of Anschutz Entertainment Group, the Los Angeles-based company that owns the Galaxy. “We were never worried about our financial commitment.”

The most interesting part of all of this to me is watching the Galaxy try to become a global club. They have scheduled exhibitions against Chelsea, Rangers, the Vancouver Whitecaps and if you check your schedule they are probably playing your Sunday league team too. In addition they are working on a long-term partnership with Rangers and they continue to be linked to signing Zinedine Zidane. All the while they have muddled their way through the first two games of the MLS season with disinterest.

Great clubs are built on a tradition of winning and on people caring about them. Maybe they will win this year and for years to come. Or maybe they will just be a club built on image. Who knows. For now I find it fascinating to watch it all play out.