Today Robin Abcarian and Grahame L. Jones of the LA Times wrote a piece on DBs stay in LA. They did a pretty good job of capturing both sides of the story. Becks hasn’t necessarily been getting killed in the press, but most of the stuff I have been reading seems as if the writers are getting caught up with anger at the guy for bailing on US Soccer. Thats not what happened. Here are a few excerpts from the article and a link to the full text after the jump
from the LA Times:
David and Victoria Beckham touched down in Los Angeles two years ago like celebrity meteors, sparking showers of attention and speculation about which restaurants they would favor, which A-listers they would befriend and what Victoria would do with herself.
Helped by their good looks (including obvious surgical enhancements, in her case), the Beckhams marketed themselves as a single commodity. They choreographed their move to Los Angeles from Madrid with precision and an eye to what one wag called “world domination.”
Almost predictably, it didn’t work out, and the Beckhams now have Milan in their sights — he for soccer reasons, she for the fashion opportunities the Italian city might present.
The Galaxy publicly says it is trying to keep him, but privately it already is resigned to losing him. Meanwhile, AC Milan, the eighth-richest soccer club on the planet, has offered only a $3-million transfer fee, a fraction of the Galaxy’s asking price.
“Ridiculous,” Tim Leiweke, AEG’s chief executive, said in response to Milan’s paltry offer. The Galaxy wants four or five times as much.
There are figures to support Leiweke’s position. Since Beckham joined the Galaxy, more than 600,000 Beckham shirts have been sold nationwide at roughly $80 apiece. MLS’ television ratings, according to ESPN, were 67% higher for games featuring Beckham in 2007 and 22% higher in 2008 than for non-Beckham matches.
* Quick math says thats almost $50mil in jersey sales alone!
Similarly, Beckham’s presence brought sellouts in several MLS cities, the high-water mark being the crowd of 66,237 at Giants Stadium for his 2007 appearance, and the Galaxy’s average road attendance last season was almost 10,000 fans per game higher than any other MLS team.
So for everyone who says they just took the money and ran, thats just crazy! Like him or not, the man is worth his weight in gold. He gave it a shot and it just didn’t work out for him if you ask me.
In the space of one week in July 2007, he played his first game for the Galaxy, she starred in a one-hour NBC special (“Victoria Beckham: Coming to America”) and they were honored at the Museum of Contemporary Art at a bash hosted by their new L.A. pals Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. Helicopters buzzed above while police kept crowds at bay.
With their three little boys — Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz — the couple moved into a Mediterranean-style mansion in Beverly Hills near the Cruises, paying $18.2 million for 11,497 square feet.
Paparazzi agencies were delighted at the prospect of their new quarry. The Beckhams almost always seemed to enjoy having their picture taken, and Victoria, now a budding fashion designer, would gussy herself up just to go to the store.
X-17, one of Los Angeles’ highest-profile paparazzi shops, immediately created a Beckham team. “We always have someone working on them when they are in town,” X-17 co-owner Brandy Navarre said last week. “We just got pictures yesterday of the boys having a play date in the park with Gwen Stefani’s son, Kingston.”
Unlike many celebrities, the Beckhams have been at ease in the eye of the media storm. They generally drive their own car, accompanied by two vehicles carrying bodyguards.
“As a family, they don’t really hide,” Navarre said. “They have been friends with all of the most famous people here, and that made them interesting to watch. . . . If they leave, it will definitely leave a void here.”
The Beckhams have already made a splash in Milan. Last month in the Italian fashion capital, the couple were featured on a billboard for their good friend Giorgio Armani’s line. She wore a polka dot and lace bra, and he wore briefs.In Los Angeles, the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, a soccer buff who grew up in Italy, ventured the opinion that Beckham would be better off in Milan.
“American soccer is still years away from being able to compete with soccer on the world stage,” Bryant said. “He’s obviously a global player. He obviously wants to play against the best and compete at that level. It’s a tough call, but him being a friend, I want him to do what’s best for him.”
Meanwhile, Leiweke is fuming. “We have every team in the league sitting there waiting for some clarification [on whether] David is going to be with the Galaxy or not,” he said. Even ESPN, he said, has put its MLS ad campaign on hold until it knows whether Beckham will return.
Complicating matters is the “get out of jail free card” that Beckham made sure was in his contract. He can leave at the end of the coming season and MLS, AEG and the Galaxy wouldn’t get anything for him.
All of this is a far cry from what was envisaged two years ago when those who engineered the Beckhams’ move to Los Angeles — including Simon Fuller, creator of “American Idol” — grandiosely talked about their $250-million capture.
It was a fantasy figure, plucked out of nowhere to create a buzz, and when Beckham jerseys started flying off shelves and MLS ticket sales soared, Leiweke permitted himself a slap on the back.
“David has paid for himself,” he said before Beckham had played a single minute for the Galaxy.
The soccer side of things was less clear and is even murkier now. “Can David ultimately prove to a lot of other players around the world that it’s OK to come play in this league?” Leiweke asked at the time. “If that happens, then David has left a legacy.”
