David Beckham, the charismatic pitchman of Adidas, is leaving Real Madrid when his contract expires on June 30 to play for an American team that belongs to Major League Soccer (MLS), also sponsored by the Big a. The 31-year old English midfielder, husband of Posh Spice, has signed a major 5-year sponsorship deal with the Galaxy football team in Los Angeles. According to the Financial Times, the deal will be worth more than $250 million over its duration in terms of salary, potential commercial endorsements and a portion of the LA Galaxy’s future profits.
The deal was engineered by Simon Fuller, who represents by Beckham and is behind “American Idol”, a widely watched TV program in the USA. Anschutz Entertainment Group, which had supported Beckham’s international football academies, is involved in the deal as owner of the LA Galaxy franchise as well as the Staples Center, which houses the Los Angeles Lakers. It also owns the Millennium Dome in London.
Beckham began playing for Real Madrid in 2003 after a $50 million transfer from Manchester United. It can be assumed that he did not have a great time there lately as the team failed to gain the leadership of the Spanish Premier League during the past three seasons. Sponsored by Adidas, Real Madrid has run into a financial crisis, compounded by the recent bankruptcy of another sponsor, BenQ Mobile, the cell phone company sold by Siemens to Taiwanese interests in 2005.
Adidas already claims a market share of more than 50 percent in the small soccer market of the USA, but the brand is likely to benefit from its association with Beckham insofar as he is the kind of icon who can help build up the image of European football in that country. Adidas’s contract with Beckham runs until 2008 and its partnership with MLS goes until 2015.
