The "How Can they Justify Beck's Pay?" thread

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

season ticket purchases will increase because of Beckham signing with the Galaxy and others such as Ronaldo, Davids reportedly signing with various MLS clubs.

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

"LA already sells out most of its games. How will this help struggling teams?"

I think it's a safe bet that Galaxy tickets will cots more in the next 5 years and all seats will sell out.

Becks will also sell tickets in Columbus, Dallas, Chicago, etc. Crew games vs. Galaxy will sell out next 5 seasons. Wanna bet? I wouldn't be surprised to see 40-50K at Giants Stadium during his first match in NY.

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

sccrgrl80 and MarvelousNTx since you are both the same person I only have one question to ask you. Are you using two different computers or do you have to keep logging out when you switch Id's?

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

They're not the same person. We have ways of tracking these things.

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

It seems an awfully conveniant tag team.

 

Re: MLS Economics 101

Everyone makes good points. It will be quite interesting to see how it all plays out. No question about the impact Beckham makes for MLS. As someone said earlier....MLS got more worldwide press today than it has over the last few years combined. No question Beckham puts rears in the seats and sell merchandise. Is the signing a longterm good for the league though? Short term it looks great for sure. I agree you can expect 40-50k at RFK and in NY for his visits. Hopefully long term it is good for the league too. I only worry about how many of these types of contracts can be awarded before hurting the financial status of the league. You know Red Bull will go pull something off now to rival this. DC United has stockpiled a ton of $$ the last couple of months. I just dont want to see teams getting into bad contracts that ruin the financial stability of the league as a whole. Otherwise bring on the bigtime signings as long as it is financially healthy to do so!

www.soccermogul.com

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

No they sure wouldn't.

Exactly, he's being paid the big bucks for his publicity and the other income streams he brings to AEG and all his sponsors, only a small portion has to be justified by soccer:

LA is paying him 3M a year for what he brings to the team, and he easily brings that in the form of increased ticket prices and used ticket percentage to increase parking/concessions/merchandise sales.

MLS is paying him 400k a year which they will see in the form of away game attendance needing 25K increased gate per game (for example 1000 people at $25 each). MLS will be paying this 400k to every DP signing whether they increase attendance or not so this is really an added bonus.

Beckham's not a flavor of the week. He's been at the peaks of the celebrity world for years and years and a move to LA will keep him there. His face will be everywhere in advertising (based on his looks), sportscenter (based on his play, he's still quite good by mls standards), tv gossip shows (always has been abroad and even some here, now paparazzi will be all over him), entertainment events (his wife will likely do something to get back in the limelight), etc. There are tons of ways he will be used and he's not a dumb guy. He knew that this move would keep him in the spolight when he began asking for it several years ago.

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

This is absolutely true. I am from Los Angeles and have been a Galaxy fan since day one but I now live in Dallas. I used to be a Burn season ticket holder just to support the league and they actually had a fairly entertaining team back then(Graziani, Kries, Zarco....) After Southlake I never renewed. I went to a few games a year since then, mostly when the Galaxy were in town but not nearly as many as I used to. Well today my wife and I bought a couple of 10 game FDC season ticket packages because we don't want to miss out on the likes of Beckham, Ronaldo & whomever else makes there way into MLS. If they weren't there I would probably just keep walking up to the gate and buying tix for the G's matches. Bottom line is I'll pay for season tix to see Ronaldo w/ NYRB but I wouldn't make the trip from Arlington to Frisco to see NYRB w/o him.

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

The only problem is : Beckham isn't Ronaldinho , and you'll soon realize that...
Beckham is nothing but hype, and as he's getting older and older, his game will decline...

In his 5th season, he'll be 37 and at this time nobody will be fooled anymore...

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

MLS fanboys cant take any criticism. Should everyone just become
a Beckham zombie like yourself?

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

I haven't seen any posts on this thread from Quakes fans. Or is this a prediction? Whatever. There are going to be snide comments 'cause it's the Gals, and that's what we do. We would just like an opportunity to someday once again beat the crap out of the Glammaxy. The presence of an aging overpaid star would just make it all that much more fun.

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

Beckham will be 32 by the time he joins MLS, 33 during his first full season with the Galaxy.

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

Even so...he was never fast and his game doesn't depend on physicality. He's all about touch and placement, anyway. He's getting older, sure, but Carlos Valderrama played forever...who says Becks can't do him one better and change the soccer landscape in the process?

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

Is there a longshot that with all this money that will now be generated, that a drafted entry MLS player may actually make enough to rent an apartment by himself and actually buy a car instead of ride a bicycle to work? If we can finally raise the bar for entry salaries, we may be on the road to credibilty

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

Beckham doesn't need to be Ronaldinho in America because the impact that Ronadinho would have would be a drop in the bucket in comparison to what Beckham brings.

No one can deny that he isn't as good as he was when playing for United but just because he has been dropped from the England team doesn't render him obsolete overnight.

He will still be the best player in the MLS. You're over estimating the quality in the league. This is a guy who has captained England for 6 years and played with two of the biggest clubs in the world. He should have a massive impact on field and will have a massive impact off the field. He is 31 and the expectation that he can continue to perform for another 4/5 years is justified. He has never had fitness related problems.

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

I don't know who you are, but you have to know that MLS is not a piece of sh!t league, the level is pretty good. Beckham won't come there and becoming the best player in MLS easily...
This guy is only a name, a face, a marketing toy, in Europe everybody knows that.
The question is what would happen when his performances will be under the expectations... I just wait to see him play under hot sun summer in US...

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

his game is boring, and will bore american people quickly

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

For the first time in ages I actually agree with something Krayzie says. Becks won't find it easy to be the best player, especially when the other DPs arrive, but he will be up there.

That's partly true, he's certainly a marketing man's dream who always knows the right thing to say. Even when things are going wrong at Man U, Madrid and England he always says what a honour it is to play for these teams. But...he's much more than a face, he's still a very effective player who works so much harder than he's given credit for..

He'll be fine in the sun, most international tournaments are played in the summer, the Spanish league goes right into the summer and there was even a day in 1993 when the sun came out over here.

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

If you can name a better player I'd like to hear it. I'm not saying that becks will blow the MLS away but he has proven himself at the highest level to be a better player.

I agree that the MLS isn't crap but at the same time it isn't La Liga or the Premiership. Beckham had other offers on the table and if he was such a poor player he wouldn't have been rated by United and Madrid. They are not in the business of signing poor players just to justify hype.

His fame is just an upside to a very good player. He will rarely beat someone on the wing but invariably whips in good crosses and plays the cross field pass, and take set-pieces, that's what he can do. He has always had detractors, including myself, but this a huge move for the MLS not because of the quality one player will bring to the league but that the attention the league will now garner will be incredible. No player can make the same impact as Becks can in America. His arrival gives the league more relavence in a country dominated by 3 other sports.

 

One thing nobody's mentioned is that if he plays RW and not central midfield, his touchline partner will be Chris Albright. Albright is pretty fast, so with Becks' vision and passing ability, Albright could be deadly on overlaps. Becks holds and holds and then threads a pass behing the left back to Albright.

IOW, the Gals will have arguably the league's best fullback (damning with faint praise, I know) and almost certainly the league's best wing, on the same side. They will wreak HAVoc.

 

Why Beckham's Compensation is a no-brainer

OK - everyone is shocked at the $250 million number for Beckham. But let me run something by you here on why this is actually a near 'freebie', though not without risk, for the Galaxy/MLS. (Though it would take some 'behind the scenes machinations to make this so, it's not beyond the pale given what we have seen from MLS in other situations.)

What I have seen of the $250M number is that it is broken down as follows:
$50M salary, $50M in LA Galaxy proifts, $50M in merchandise, $100 mill from endorsements.

So...let's look into those numbers a bit shall we?

$50 M in LA profits: Are the LA Galaxy making a big profit today? I would submit no, they are not. Hence, any share that Beckham has in those profits (and I would bet it is a share, not "Here David take the first $50 million in profits we realize") is money that doesn't exist today - it is money that his presence is going to generate. Hence, 'free money' to the Galaxy. Plus, I would imagine that this will also include some level of MLS/TV Licensing rights money directly and NOT just LA's cut of it. I would imagine that the MLS/TV licensing rights just got a lot more expensive.

$50 M in merchandise; Again, this will be David's cut of the merchandising that MLS sells. I doubt MLS sells that much ($50M) merchandise today, period. Again, this will be Beckham's share of the additional money that he brings in. Again, free money to Galaxy/MLS since it doesn't exist today.

$100 M in endorsements: see above. While some of this may be direct MLS money, I bet more of this is coming from MLS sponsors or some such. You can bet that Beckham's 'brand name' will be coveted by a lot of folks and his 'Q' rating in Asia is EXTREMELY attractive to many US corporate sponsors. They will pay MLS a lot more to be associated with MLS and this will help pay for this money.

Now...you get to the $50 million in salary. Well, first realize that this will come off the Galaxy revenue stream before any profits are realized. Hence, BEFORE Beckham can realize the upside of the $50 million in profits stream, enough revenue has to be generated by the Galaxy to cover all other operating expenses (including everyone else's salaries, the increased security and travelling costs not to mention the need for media handlers, etc., etc.). This to me, represents the 'guaranteed money'.

So...the only real exposure here is if Beckham is a total bust and doesn't generate enough revenue to cover the $50 million in salary AND the miscellaneous expenses of his presence. I think that is a pretty low risk proposition. He is well worth $10 million a year in exposure and revenue to MLS.

What this really boils down to is that Beckham is at the level that his 'stardom' is actually worth more than his pure soccer ability. His ability to generate revenue for the MLS outstrips his ability to generate revenue for the EPL or LaLiga, hence he is more valuable to MLS and MLS is willing to compensate him more, by giving him a share of the revenue he generates.

Thoughts? I know I've made a couple of leaps here, but I don't think any of them are that outlandish....anyone familiar with these types of contracts have anything to say?

 

Look, I can see how with increasing in ad revenue tickets sales, shirts, ets. Beckham MAY be worth $9 million.

However, what I have trouble justifying is spending $9 million on one player, while other are making $15-$25k. If MLS is serious about keeping promising players in the league, and increasing the level of play, you have to pay a living wage to your players, which it is not currently doing. Before MLS starts spilling out huge cash for past their prime players, why don't we make sure all the players can make a living?

 

Re: 5 years $250million- THEY WERE KIDDING RIGHT?!!!!!

Spot on mate. Let us all not forget who manages the Beckhams, none other than Simon Fuller. For those who dont know who he is. Well his resume includes owner / creator of the American Idol / Pop Idol series and all that goes with it. We will all be seeing alot of the Beckhams over the coming years

 

I guess they aren't that worried about $15-$25k players being snapped up by foreign clubs.

 

Re: Why Beckham's Compensation is a no-brainer

Seems like reasonable numbers. In the first year, generating $10 million shouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't be surprised if the value of the jersey advertising (the front, the sides, the socks ) went up by $7-8 million in itself.

The bigger question is what happens in year 5, and it wouldn't surprise me to find that some that money is not guaranteed.