J. Chris Roselius - David Beckham: Gifted and Giving Soccer Star

DAVID BECKHAM

One of the most popular athletes in the world, soccer star David Beckham's skills are second to none. As he grew into an international superstar, Beckham used his fame to help the sport of soccer grow and make a better future for underprivileged children throughout the world.

About the Author

J Chris Roselius has been a journalist for more than ten years and is the author of several sports books. He resides with his familyin Texas.

Stunning news made headlines around the world in January of 2007. David Beckham was coming to America to play soccer.

The English soccer star was also a global celebrity, known as much for his dazzling free kicks as for his often-changing hairstyles. His past two teams, Manchester United in England and Real Madrid in Spain, were among the biggest and most famous sports teams in the world. The midfielder had played in three World Cups and was a former captain of Englands national team. Off the field, he was married to one of the singers in the popular 90s music group the Spice Girls, and the couple was constantly in the news.

Now he was coming to play with the Los Angeles Galaxy, a team in Major League Soccer (MLS). This league was barely a decade old and had practically no following outside of the United States. It had also struggled at times to get attention within the country. Now, suddenly one of the most famous athletes in the world would be playing in MLS. David Beckham coming to the United States is... [like] Tiger Woods meeting Brad Pitt on the red carpet, wrote USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan. This transcends sports. This is a big, big deal.

Critics of the move said Beckham was heading to Los Angeles for the money. After all, his contract was a reported five-year deal worth as much as $250 million, with endorsements. Beckham would also receive a share of the Galaxys jersey sales and ticket revenue. But Beckham had already made enough money to last several lifetimes during his career with Manchester United and Real Madrid. Money was not the reason he was coming to the United States.

According to Beckham, he decided to come to the United States because he wanted to make a lasting impact, to make a difference on the game in this country. Although soccer is gaining in popularity in the United States, its following still does not come close to that of football, baseball, or basketball. But on the youth level, soccer is one of the most popular sports in the country. Beckham believed in the sports huge potential. He knew he could help turn soccer into a mainstream U.S. sport.

Im not saying me coming to the States is going to make soccer the biggest sport in America, Beckham said. But... if I didnt believe that I could make a difference and take soccer to a different level, then I wouldnt be doing this.

Beckham said he wanted to play in the United States for the kids. There are so many great sports in America, he said. There are so many kids that play baseball, American football, basketball. But soccer is huge all around the world apart from America, so thats where I want to make a difference with the kids.

Full Name: David Robert Joseph Beckham

Place and Date of Birth: Leytonstone, England, May 2, 1975

Parents: Sandra and Ted

Sisters: Joanne and Lynne

Wife: Victoria

Children: Brooklyn, Romeo, and Cruz

While Beckham was hoping to increase the overall popularity of soccer, MLS Commissioner Don Garber was more concerned with the players effect on the league. Garber hoped Beckham would be a huge boost to not only the Galaxy but to every team in the league. David Beckham is a global sports icon who will transcend the sport of soccer in America, Garber said. His decision to continue his storied career in Major League Soccer is testament to the fact that America is rapidly becoming a true Soccer Nation with Major League Soccer at the core.

Garber was right. For weeks after the announcement, sports talk shows chattered about Beckham and MLS. Ticket sales in Los Angeles increased immediately, and teams playing host to the Galaxy were seeing their games sell out. We sold 5,000 season tickets in less than forty-eight hours, said Tim Leiweke, president of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the Galaxy. And Im like, I cant believe what just happened here.

Beckham displays his new Galaxy jersey.

Before Beckhams arrival, some people had complained that MLS lacked star power. Many believed that, without a lot of well-known players, the league was subpar and so not worth watching. But Alexei Lalas, the Galaxys general manager at the time, felt the arrival of Beckham and the following media spotlight would show just how good the quality of play in the league was. One of the interesting things that I think people are going to see, is first off, the attention hes going to bring to the sport and to American soccer, Lalas said. People are going to see the quality that exists over here.

Unlike most soccer leagues around the world, MLS has a salary cap for each team. The league maintains the cap by owning all of the players contracts. In other leagues around the world, the team owns the players contracts. In November 2006, the salary cap for each MLS team was approximately $2 million. In the world of professional sports, that was not very much. Some individual players in Europe were making more money per season than an entire roster of MLS players made. With such a tight cap, it would have been impossible to ever sign Beckham or any other European or Central American star who was still in the prime of his career.

To grow, the league needed to sign players the casual American soccer fan had heard of, such as Beckham. So the leagues Board of Governors decided to relax the salary cap restriction by allowing each team to sign one player for any amount of money, with only the first $400,000 counting against the salary cap.

David Beckham will have a greater impact on soccer in America than any athlete has ever had on a sport globally.

Tim Leiweke

MLS called this the Designated Player Rule. But to many in the press and to fans around the country, it is known as the Beckham Rule. The Galaxy was the first team to take advantage of the Designated Player Rule and immediately created an international event when it signed Beckham.

Cheering fans could not get enough of Beckham during his first press conference in Los Angeles. It seemed he was on the cover of every magazine and the lead story in newspapers sports sections around the country. David Beckham will have a greater impact on soccer in America than any athlete hasever had on a sport globally, Leiweke said. David is truly the one individual that can build the bridge between soccer in America and the rest of the world.

A record 66,237 fans watched Beckham and the Galaxy play the Red Bulls in New York.

Many soccer fans were shocked when they learned of Beckhams deal with the Galaxy. But the news should not have really come as a surprise. For several years Beckham had been talking publicly about finishing his career in the United States. Leiweke had started to pave the eventual move to the United States as far back as 2003 when he helped Beckham start soccer academies in London and Los Angeles.