Becks & Posh in Neverland? Here is my best translation from this morning's Italian sports daily the gazzetta dello sport. http://www.gazzetta.it/Rubriche/CalcioEstero/Primo_Piano/2007/01_Gennaio/17/neverland.shtml 17 gennaio 2007 And now Beckham dreams of Neverland The Spice Boy & his wife Victoria would be interested to live in Michael Jackson's house for 15 million euro. but its to far from the Galaxy's (HDC). LOS ANGELES (Usa), 17 gennaio 2007 - A dream contract? Well then you also need a dream home. Having already signed a guaranteed contract of almost 200 million euro for 5 years, David Beckham isn't afraid at all of Michael Jackson's asking price for his home which is a home out of the story books: 15 million. The propriety is around 2,800 acres of land at Los Olivos, a place situated at 150 miles from the Los Angeles Galaxy's (HDC), the new team of the English midfielder. Its actually the distance of the facility that will impede the conclusion of the purchase. Neverland, today is actually no paradise. The propriety was abandoned a year abnd a half ago by Michael Jackson, because of his pedophile scandal , and moved to Bahrain. Today the park and home need a face lift: this would also explain the lower price of the singer. Jackson, however, had to come up with money last year for Neverland: 50 people who worked at the ranch are still waiting for income. Between payments , debts and fines he owes 300k euro. According to the English tabloid The Sun, Beckham & Victoria, before making a decision,will visit Neverland & then will look at another 30 villa's that are on Posh's list. Anyway, they are nting to give a gift to their kids Brooklyn, Romeo & Cruz, and have "invested" 75k euro in the next initiative: to buy 3 beds for the kids. A bit particular, seeing how they will be constructed in the shape of a stadium. Because after a dream contract and a dream home, you also need a dream bed. Or not?
To the guy asking why the Galaxy is taking all the risk. They aren't, part of the salary is bing paid by the MLS. Moreover, AEG, the owner of the Galaxy, owns 5 MLS soccer teams so they will spread the salary (and reap the rewards) across those 5 teams.
People got to understand that most of about 40-42 of the 50 million Beckham gets a year is coming out of his image rights. MLS and L.A. Galaxy are only paying the rest of it. They can afford to do so because they own a percentage of Beckhams image rights which they make money from. Players like Beckham, Ronaldo, etc.. pay for themselves through their image rights.
I would think that 10 million a year could bring a number of very good argies and brazilians, such mix could even improve Landon's game, thus making the Galaxy a very good team at all levels, not just improving the team image. Real Madrid is interested only in the jerseys that Beckham sells in Japan, and Manchester United doesnt want him even for free, the whole thing can go up in smoke if some hot headed defender crack one of Becks bones, and there are 250 million dolars riding in his bones.
I believe the financial risk is worth it, Becks should be a big draw, as a brit i have limited knowledge of the MLS but i am hoping the press surrounding the transfer to The Galaxy will prompt skysports here in England to show MLS games. Heck the hype around Becks has already pushed me to look up the galaxy on the net and order a ship full of merchandise( i hope to be one of the first to wear the real thing before all the market stores here in the city of Hull start to bang out cheap shoddy knock offs lol) I also think Becks is an ideal role model, having 2 young kids myself, and he can do a lot for the profile of u.S football/soccer across the rest of the world and thats great as it seems theres a heck of a lot of previously unseen talent over there.
So alteast 3 clubs in your league are owned by the same company lol,thats one hell of a league you guys have got overthere.
Actually you own nothing as far as Becks is concerned it's the other way around he's going to be taking a cut from every-bloodything including your gate reciepts,that and that only is the reason he has decided to retire from football as WE know it.
You continue to flaunt your ignorance on our boards. AEG only owning 3 clubs is a huge success for our league. They used to own more...
Wow, you are dense. MLS is a single entity league. This is a neccecary evil and has produced the sustained growth over the past 10 years. Almost all of the teams have comparable talent so the games are almost always entertaining. There is not the diference between Chelsea and Watford that you have in England. We are quickly moving away form this structure with the designated player rule that allowed Beckham to come here being the first step. There are now many groups clamoring to own an MLS franchise. As the league becomes more popular we will move to an old fashioned system, but for the time being this system has kept soccer (football) alive in the USA. For that I am appreciative.
You obviously have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, so why do you keep posting and making smart ass comments around here?
As if you would know.... You apparently have us confused with people who care what you "think" - and I use that word loosely. Maybe you ought to focus your efforts on keeping Arsenal to under 6 goals a game... ha - one hell of a league you have over there.
I think in a way Raftastic is correct(maybe im bias as im a huge liverpool fan myself, probably more of a fan than i am of the tigers), Beckham will leech a load of cash from both the club and the MLS because from what i have heard about his contract is that he has been given 100% of his image rights which means he takes everything from every sale of merchandice bearing his name or image!! What he is bringing to both the club and the league is priceless publicity(not that this is all he is bringing i expect him to shine as a player and attract other european stars to the league) At the end of the day, what were his choices, come home to england and end up spending his midweek playing cup matches on a crappy pitch in the pouring rain at places like macclesfield and stoke(no offense to these places) and getting 20 grand a week, or going to L.A with lovely weather,scenery, and a chance to be part of something that could be potentially very very special. No doubt there will be loads of untapped talent in the MLS waiting to shine but players of becks calibre can help nurture, train and encourage these players and give them even more chance to become world stars and be on a par with the u.s. football, baseball and basketball stars. if in 5 years he helps discover 5 superstars it would have been worth it, especially to galaxy fans if he helps them win things on the way!!!
One thing that is unclear is the exact agreement about his image rights, what percentage ticket sales, and such. It is generally thought that he will get 100% of his image rights, but what exactly does that mean (as opposed to RM who took 50%)? Is this all football related image rights, all non Galaxy image rights, or all non MLS image rights, or something different. Does he get everything from Jersey sales, or will AEG get some small percentage? One day, we will know the specifics of his contract...but I do agree that he is bringing in priceless publicity.
I wonder how much beer prices will go up? Paging TommyMack: Where can we get those smuggle-friendly liquor shots packaged in plastic??? Topper
Just a good luck note to you LA Galaxy guys from a DC fan. I think it's a great great signing, both for MLS and Beckham. MLS cause it gives the league super publicity and a great player we all want to watch. Gives Landon a teammate too. Beckham cause he wants to get into Hollywood LA and all that. Nothing wrong w/that cause I think he loves that stuff. I figure he'll be in movies and such. Now f off