David Beckham is coming to the US. The long-speculated deal with the LA Galaxy has been finalized, which will bring the Derek Jeter of soccer to the same country as his baseball counterpart.
But that’s not the real news: the amazing part is that he will make approximately $250 million dollars over the five-year contract. That’s right: $50 million dollars a year. As pointed out by Mike at My Soccer Blog, “the total guaranteed salaries of all players in the MLS for the 2006 season was about $23 million.”
Handful of Billions – Sound Team
It’ll be cool for MLS to get a bunch of press, but wow is that a lot of money for someone who was never quite as good as the hype and is starting to wear down. Though, to be fair, he’s still about as good as anyone in the world on set pieces.
Meanwhile, Clint Dempsey is heading the other direction, taking his leave of the MLS to play for Fulham in the English Premier League. Good for him, getting a chance to play in a high-quality league, but it is a little depressing to see the best American players head overseas. The long-term goal has to be to build the brand here enough that the most talented players will want to stay. If the Beckham signing helps to do that, I’m all for it.
Any soccer fans out there with an opinion on this? Is it good for soccer in the US? Is it totally insane? A little bit of both?