America Has Been Good To Beckham’s Wallet

David Beckham's endorsement money doubled his first year in America. Because he needed the extra cash.

By KURT HELIN

Updated 2:00 PM PST, Fri, Nov 6, 2009

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You can question the on-the-field wisdom of David Beckham signing with the Los Angeles Galaxy — clearly he’d rather be playing for AC Milan — but you can’t question it as a business move.

The pop-culture icon and soccer star made $16.5 million in endorsement money his first full season with the Galaxy. That is nearly double what he was making before in endorsement money the year before when playing in Europe. In case you were concerned if he could live on just that sum, remember it does not count the $5,5 million salary he makes from the Galaxy, or the cut of the Beckham jersey sales he gets from the MLS, or the joint endorsements he does with wife Posh Spice.

We’re pretty sure he can afford those Lakers courtside seats.

It may be a lot of money in endorsements, but he may Beckham worth it. Emporio Armani Underwear's sales doubled last year when they hired Beckham and had him post in their skivvies.

Beckham is developing a line of soccer gear with his name on it for Addidas, and his people say they are looking for more sponsors (he actually is losing Gillette and Pepsi, so there is space).

Beckham’s time for endorsements and Lakers games may be limited pretty soon. This Saturday he and his Galaxy teammates take on Chivas USA at Home Depot in the second match of their first-round playoff derby. If the Galaxy win — as expected — they will move on to the next playoff round.

Then just three days after Christmas, Beckham will return to play for AC Milan, helping that traditional European power through the end of its season in May by playing as a sub and taking some free kicks.

Next summer, rather than simply returning to the Galaxy, Beckham is expected to spend his time with the English national team at the World Cup taking place in South Africa. Of course, based on England’s recent history, Beckham could be back from South Africa pretty soon after the tournament starts in June.

Whenever he does come back, he should be able to afford a private charter plane for the flight. Maybe he should get two planes…

Copyright NBC Local Media

First Published: Nov 6, 2009 1:50 PM PST

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0 Comments

{"totSize":3,"payload_type":"json","status":"1","results":[{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"390259_69406967","adminTags":null,"views":416,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"America Has Been Good To Beckham?s Wallet","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2668802,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"7 Nov 2009 00:05:45 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":3,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1201911","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"Kurt Helin...ARE YOU STUPID OR WHAT??! He needed the extra cash??! clearly you have NEVER known who David Beckham is, what he does/did, what is his career, NEVER known football world..and clearly you're a dumb journalist! Being a model is part of his career besides football, and with Beckham, modelling and football come side by side! As same as C.Ronaldo, Kaka, The Great Zidane, Ronaldinho, Thiery Henry, even LAndon Donovan etc, etc! It's just the matter of how big an endorsement they did and how expensive and how much! Armani is not "America"..Adidas - oh yeah..it's adidas, NOT adiddas - is NOT America..Pepsi is NOT America..except for Sharpie and Herbalife (which only SMALL endorsement and SMALL MONEY for him), other BIG endorsement are all from OUTSIDE AMERICA you idiot! And oh..he WILL NOT PLAY AS A SUB in Milan. Have you EVER watched his time in Milan early this year??! In 17 games or so played he has started more than 10 games out of them! And he will do that again next year. And NO..it's not just him..EVERY FOOTBALLER would rather be in the World Cup in the summer than returning back to Galaxy or MLS or any other leagues which are STUPID enough to run through summer and WORST, through World Cup/Euro/tournaments when their are being held! Go and ask LAndon Donovan, Brian Ching, and so on if you must and stupid enough to even get that! And you said America deserve to host a World Cup and will soccer will be big there, when you not even respect the time of the tournaments in the summer? Please..get a life and fix yourself first!"},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"390259_69406967","adminTags":null,"views":416,"createdBy":14137396,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"America Has Been Good To Beckham?s Wallet","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2668802,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"7 Nov 2009 00:37:30 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":3,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"SeeMan","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1202074","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"I probably wouldn't have phrased it exactly as Anon did, but most of his/her information is accurate. Beckham made 6 million euros a year in salary at Real Madrid and, as with every player at the club at the time, his image rights were split 50/50 with the club. The club admitted to making 700 million euros through Beckham's image rights during the four years he was there. So the figure mentioned in this article is taken out of context. It represents the increase in endorsement income that went directly to Beckham's private company rather than in his pay packet from his club."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"390259_69406967","adminTags":null,"views":416,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"America Has Been Good To Beckham?s Wallet","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2668802,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"7 Nov 2009 21:42:29 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":3,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1205695","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"Why the scorn? Why the none too subtle jabs and sarcasm? Is this an actual news story by NBC LA? If so, shame on you. "}],"error":"","totPages":1}