When the Los Angeles Galaxy signed David Beckham to a five-year deal in January 2007, a huge financial figure was instrumental in garnering headlines for the news, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The deal to bring Beckham to America is thought to be the biggest in sporting history,” according to the press release, “with industry experts estimating the combined value of the player contract with commercial opportunities in the United States to be in excess of $250 million.”
That figure appeared prominently in dozens of news articles around the world, including the print Journal’s. Inevitably, in subsequent coverage it has been repeated as a hard number representing the value of the contract.
But the figure was always a projection, and a dubious one. Those “industry experts” were never named. Mr. Beckham’s annual base salary has been just $5.5 million, according to union documents that the Galaxy won’t confirm. His marketing prowess, while it remains strong, is jeopardized by his disappointing debut with the Galaxy: just nine regular-season appearances, six of them losses, with Mr. Beckham notching one goal and five assists. Since the Beckham signing, the Galaxy have lost 16 of 34 games and were outscored by a cumulative total of 13 goals. England’s failure to qualify for this summer’s European Cup will deprive Mr. Beckham of international exposure, and if the national team qualifies for the 2010 World Cup, he may not make the squad.
Whether he will earn $50 million in the contract’s first year, through June 30, is unclear; even if he does, it will be hard to maintain that pace through age 37, by which time his skills are likely to have declined. “The honeymoon with the Galaxy and Beckham has not been all that long,” David M. Carter, executive director of USC’s Sports Business Institute, told me. “They’re struggling with keeping the notoriety and the buzz going. In Los Angeles you need to have a winner and you need to win with some flair. They’re not off to a great start.”
Read the full Wall Street Journal story
.(subscription required)
