by Travis Casey

Created on: January 17, 2007   Last Updated: February 10, 2009

David Beckham is more than just an extremely talented footballer. He is also a marketing machine. His transfer to the LA Galaxy is not only about trying to raise the Galaxy off of the bottom of the league table, he is there to sell merchandise on behalf of the Galaxy and raising their revenue.

If Peyton Manning was offered $70,000 a day to play for the Hamilton Tiger Cats in the Canadian Football League, it would be goodbye Indianapolis, hello Hamilton. And why not. Unless one is into good causes for charity or possesses a burning desire to save the planet, any person in employment sells their services to the highest bidder. If the Galaxy has that kind of money to throw around then good luck to them. But there are much bigger issues here.

Malcolm Glazier, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers bought the biggest known English "soccer" team when he bought Manchester United. What does an American want with a foreign soccer team. Money. Why did Real Madrid pay Manchester United $42 million for David Beckham in 2003? Money. Since Beckham join Real, over one million Beckham shirts have been sold. And in Europe those shirts sell for around $70. Do the math.

And let's not forget David's wife. The former Spice Girl, Posh, was famous in her own right long before she married Beckham. She loves the celebrity lifestyle and with her trying to break into the movies over the past couple of years, L.A. is the perfect place for her. Just imagine for a moment that the money wasn't mentioned in the Beckham household when the move was discussed. David and Victoria do seem to be very close and she does have extraordinary influence over him. David says "Victoria, we can stay in Spain, or I've been offered a job in London, or the north of England or Los Angeles. Where should we go?"

"Oh David" Victoria swoons " you have your soccer school in L.A. Perhaps we should go there. You can develop your soccer school and I'll see if there's any movie scripts going. Maybe we can both be in the pictures".

Beckham is still good footballer. Not great, but still good. But brand Beckham is still worth millions of dollars. The Galaxy is probably getting the most famous footballer in the world today. Even if people don't like soccer, they will tune in to, or go to, a Galaxy game just to see this David Beckham guy. This move will make him the third highest paid sportsman in the world behind Tiger Woods and Michael Schumacher. In Europe, Beckham is known for his football, his shirts, his ever changing hairstyles, his flashiness, his fashion (good or bad) and his wife (good or bad). He is a marketing machine. He doesn't have to sell his soul like a politician for vast sums of money.

I can just hear the CEO of the Galaxy saying "Just be yourself David and I'll pay $128 million". Who's the fool?

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