U.S. players hope for cash boost from Beckham effect
By Simon Evans
MIAMI, Florida (Reuters) - U.S. soccer players are hoping that the impending big-money arrival of David Beckham in Major League Soccer will make them all a little bit richer.
Beckham signed for MLS side LA Galaxy in January in a deal which will earn him a reported $250 million over five years in overall earnings.
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That is an unthinkable figure for any other player in a league which, in financial terms, remains dwarfed by the U.S.'s traditional sports of basketball, baseball and American football.
Even without the sponsorship and marketing deals, the former England captain's basic annual salary of $5.5 million is more than 50 times the average for the league according to salary figures released by the MLS Players Union.
Beckham's new team-mate LA Galaxy forward Robbie Findley earns a salary of just $36,000 but the union believes overall player earnings could rise as a result of the 31-year-old's move from Spain's Real Madrid.
"The interesting thing is that he negotiated a deal which was based on what the market would bear for his services which unfortunately does not happen that often in the MLS," union executive director Bob Foose told Reuters.
Unlike in Europe, where clubs strike individual deals with players, nearly all MLS salary arrangements are set by the league itself.
Beckham signed for Galaxy under a new 'designated player' arrangement which allows each club to sign one player on their own terms. The two next best paid players in MLS are both designated players - Mexican Cuauhtemoc Blanco who will play for Chicago Fire, is set to bring in $2.5 million while Colombian striker Juan Pablo Angel will earn $1.5 million with New York Red Bulls according to the union's figures.
PRIVATE MATTER
An MLS official declined to comment on the player earnings and the league issued a statement saying: "We do not comment on the salaries of our players because it is a private matter and not appropriate for us to do so."
Foose hopes that in the future more players will be able to strike individual deals such as Beckham's.
"He has negotiated a deal on his market value - and that is great. There are not many players worth what he is but it is about accessing a real market," he said.
"The reason that we published the numbers was the hope that it creates upward pressure on salaries. We hope Beckham can create that upward pressure. I don't want to overstate the influence of one player but it helps. Average salaries have been increasing in the past year," said Foose.
The union chief said that U.S. players also suffer from a lack of competition - English and European clubs, among the biggest payers in world soccer, are deterred from signing American players due to work permit restrictions.
The top earning American player in MLS is Claudio Reyna who is on a $1 million deal with New York.
Beckham's career in the U.S, is expected to begin in August but the money-spinning around his move has already begun.
Celebrity Web sites reported earlier this month that Beckham and his pop star wife Victoria have bought a 13,000 sq foot, nine-bathroom home in Beverly Hills valued at $22 million. Victoria will chronicle the family's move to LA in a six-episode reality show for U.S. television.
Updated on Monday, May 7, 2007 5:43 pm EDT
