Beckham’s Big Bucks

22. January 2007

Both the front and back pages of the newspapers here in England have been dominated in recent weeks by the news that David Beckham, the former England football captain, is set to move to America at the end of this season to continue his football career at the LA Galaxy football team. According to reports, he will be paid £500,000 (€750,000) a week for his services. This is a staggering sum of money and it’s no wonder therefore that the story has generated so much coverage on both sides of the Atlantic.

Beckham has been a wonderful footballer over the last ten years or so and he has certainly become one of the most iconic sports stars of the modern era. Brand Beckham extends to every corner of the globe, although ironically America is probably the place where he is least well known. He hopes that he will be able to “sell” football (or soccer as it is known in America) to the American people, who have traditionally always preferred other sports such as American football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey. Do you think he has much chance of persuading the Americans to like football?

He can become a superstar in Hollywood alongside film stars such as his good friend, Tom Cruise. And I imagine his wife Victoria will enjoy being in the limelight among all the glitz, glamour and razzmatazz of Los Angeles. Rumour has it that she is already looking for a house in the Hollywood Hills.

As a football fan, I find it sad that Beckham has chosen to make this move because we in Europe will now miss out on seeing his talents. And at the age of 31 there can be no doubt that Beckham still has much to offer the game at the top level. By going to America, he is guaranteeing himself a bumper final pay day before he finally hangs up his boots, but the standard of football is nowhere near as high in Major League Soccer as it is in the tough leagues in Europe. He has also forsaken his chance of getting back into the England team after losing his place following the World Cup in 2006. Do you think Beckham is making the right move by going to America?

I must say I think the wages he will receive for playing football are slightly obscene. Surely nobody is worth that much money, especially when you consider how much poverty and suffering still exists in the world today. Does Beckham deserve to be paid so much more money than, say, doctors, nurses, scientists or people in other professions whose work is surely more important and beneficial to society? It is an issue which stimulates heated debate and I’d be interested to know whether you think footballers deserve to be paid such high salaries. I guess you can’t blame David Beckham in all this – it is the people who are offering him such ridiculous sums of money who are to blame. Perhaps there needs to be a cap on salaries not just in football but in other sports too, for ultimately it is the fans and supporters who end up having to pay for these wages through increases in ticket prices.

I’d be really interested to know what German people think of David Beckham and what his profile is like in Germany. He is probably one of the world’s most famous sportsmen so I imagine you all have an opinion on him. Do you like him as a footballer? Have you bought any of his books or other products?

What is for certain is that he will be in our newspapers and magazines for many years to come because there seems to be avid interest in his every move. I enjoyed watching Beckham play for Manchester United in the late 1990s and I genuinely hope the move to America works out for him. The next chapter in the Beckham saga is about to be written and I think the story will be an interesting one…

Read more of the coverage of Beckham’s move to America by following the links below:

Beckham’s Current Club: Real Madrid
Beckham’s Future Club: LA Galaxy
The David Beckham Academy

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