The SIG Column – 11 January
David Beckham’s reported $128m five-year deal to move to LA Galaxy is
dividing opinion in the Sport Industry Group office. Head of media, Drew Barrand
draws up the battle lines of the debate…
“When a big news story in sport comes along, it has a habit of making people
drop everything they’re doing at that time to discuss it.
In fact, if multi-national businesses were to calculate the hours lost from
employees’ time due to heated debate on such issues, they’d probably have enough
money to relocate their entire workforce onto Roman Abrahmovich’s yacht.
Like most of our industry colleagues however, the Sport Industry Group office
is fortunate enough to file such discussions under the banner of ‘work’ and
proceed full steam ahead to arguing the issue with a clear conscience – if not
without an inappropriate level of stubbornness in defence of your viewpoint.
The David Beckham contract saga is a case in point. After speculation linking
the former England captain with practically every club with a transfer budget,
and many without, Beckham finally announced that he will leave Real Madrid for
US team LA Galaxy at the end of the season.
Cue the office argument. Will Beckham become the world’s biggest sports star?
On one side of the fence is the view that Beckham’s American move will
catapult him into a commercial stratosphere even he has yet to reach, making him
the richest and most recognised sports personality on the planet – a title
currently held by Tiger Woods and the top US NFL and basketball stars despite
the latter’s single market appeal with ‘our David’ floating around the bottom of
the top 10. The love of the Americans is the final piece in the puzzle of
worldwide domination for Brand Beckham.
The other side of the argument believes that Beckham is a commercial figure
in decline, albeit from an immense starting point and, while the LA Galaxy move
will undoubtedly make him the biggest fish in a tiny pond, the nonchalance with
which the US public regard ‘soccer’ will not help him match the US’ other
sporting icons. His lack of on the pitch impact has lessened his popularity
amongst Europeans and no amount of serenading of the American market is going to
help him reach the world summit.
That Beckham has been a commercial freak is not up for debate. For the last
five years, he’s bestrode the European and Asian markets like a colossus – so
far ahead of any other footballer that if he looked down all he saw was dots.
That he has yet to truly crack America was the only piece of the jigsaw missing.
The question that divides opinion is whether, as his playing career begins to
wind down, he can maintain his appeal in Europe whilst breaking the US.
After a few hours of…ahem…’healthy debate’, the Sport Industry Group office
is proud to announce that it still can’t agree. But whatever happens to David
Beckham’s commercial pull in the future, there is only one element about the
deal that we can all get behind. Victoria’s going to love it.”
