Weekend Read: Circus David Beckham Lands In the US

Authored by Jay Baage on July 13, 2007 - 6:51am.

When it comes to winning matches, the US soccer season so far is not going too well for LA Galaxy - it is languishing second from bottom in Major League Soccer's Western Standings. But who cares, soon they will have circus David Beckham to entertain the crowd and the game will come second. Also, if you see it this way, since they can’t hardly suck any more than they do right now, it can really only go up from here.
"This is the story of a star at the top of his form coming to Major League Soccer," says league Commissioner Don Garber, who on Friday will help Los Angeles Galaxy officials unveil England's David Beckham, this nation's newest sports icon and marketing powerhouse. "David will raise the credibility of our league."

Yes, the credibility can’t go much down, not to mention ticket sales, soccer merchandising and media coverage. It is with this in mind that Garber hopes to tap into the world’s soccer fortune, which if soccer takes off might make Beckham’s $250 million five year deal with the Galaxy seem like pocket change.

And so far, Beckham has already delivered on two promises – increased ticket sales and US media coverage of soccer.

He's currently on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and is in a racy photo spread with his wife, Victoria, in W magazine. Then there's the news conference today Friday that CNN and Entertainment Tonight are guaranteed to attend, an ESPN interview during the MLS All-Star Game near Denver on July 19, and saturation coverage — ESPN will bring 19 cameras, including a Beckham Cam and a Celebrity Cam — of his Galaxy playing debut July 21 in an exhibition game against English soccer giant Chelsea. Then there is a gazillion articles and blog posts about the Beckham's if you do a Google News search.

"Beckham is more a celebrity than a soccer player," author and NPR sports commentator Frank Deford says. "He's also smart like a fox. He knows exactly who he is and what he's capable of. It's a brilliant move by the Galaxy."

As a reminder of what a marketing powerhouse David Beckham is, he was was Google's most searched sports topic in both 2003 and 2004 and is generally consider soccer’s most elite global advertising brand. Beyond his major adidas campaigns, he boasts countless non-sport endorsements as diverse as Best Buy electronics and Disney theme parks.

And LA Galaxy and MLS are not holding back. A quarter of a million replica team shirts have already been ordered, before they were even unveiled.

"We're already well over a quarter of a million units that were ordered ... without knowledge of what they were going to look like," Galaxy president Alexi Lalas told the club's website.

"We will look to do significant numbers and historic numbers not just with an MLS context but with an international jersey context," he added.

During his first six months in Madrid the club sold more than one million Beckham shirts. This is the kind of sales that MLS is hoping for.

After he left Spain on a high midway through last month with Real celebrating its first Primera Liga title success for four years, the club's director of marketing Jose Angel Sanchez said Beckham had been worth in excess of $600 million in marketing revenue, according to Reuters.

Then we have ticket sales. The Beckham effect is already showing, for example, 30,000 fans have already snapped up tickets to see him play when LA Galaxy play NY Red Bulls in New York next month. It may not seem like much for the 80,000 capacity of Giants Stadium where the game will be held. But compare it to last year’s average of only 10,729 fans per game, so you can see what a difference Beckham makes.

Beckham's first away game with the Galaxy is scheduled for 31 July in Texas, when the LA team takes on FC Dallas in the SuperLiga competition. The 20,000-capacity Pizza Hut Park is nearing a sell-out for that game with only the most expensive, $250 dollar (£125) seats and also ones near the corners still available, according to the BBC. Tickets to that game and other Beckham games are also selling for around $400 on ebay.

Now, with so much riding on one player, what will happen if he gets injured? LA Galaxy and MLS better have taken out a good insurance policy on their new star.

Joakim Baage