David Beckham Research Paper

Did you know David Beckham signed a $250 million contract when he moved to America in 2007 to join the Los Angeles Galaxies. Some thought this was great for American soccer and other thought it would ruin it. David Beckham was a soccer superstar during his playing days around the world and he has been considered the best English player in the history of soccer. He has accomplished a lot in his career, playing for Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan, LA Galaxy, Paris Saint Germain, and of course, the England National Team. David has contributed to society a lot as he is the UK ambassador of UNICEF, and his move to the LA Galaxies has been a huge part of MLS’s (Major League Soccer’s) development. Although he has done all these positive actions

David came to the MLS looking for a new challenge, but when he was close to signing his contract, MLS had a rule where a team could not pay their players combined salaries over $1.6 million and a single player could not earn more than $150,000. “As of now, MLS signs all players not individual teams, and each team has a $1. 6 million team salary cap.” (“MLS Chief Backs”). Beckham’s move to the MLS made Major League Soccer wake up and realize that they were never going to sell out stadiums if they do not attract top players from around the world. Soon the MLS came up with a new rule, it is often called “The Beckham Rule”. This is because the rule was implemented mainly for David as he was a man who earned a lot in Europe. This rule attracted top talent from all around the world who attracted people to MLS matches. More people began showing up to MLS games and stadiums started to become sold out. It was an event the MLS had not seen before, MLS was finally bringing people together to support their favorite teams. "Every stadium we have gone to we are selling out... We are trying to get up there with all the other sports in the US" (Haydon). David Beckham single handedly brought many American soccer fans together to watch big players like himself. He does not only have a positive impact in society through

One example of how bad David can be; is just last year some of Beckham’s emails to the knighthood administration of England had been leaked. In these emails David is furious that he was denied knighthood after all he has done. These emails expose the “other side” of David Beckham and they also show that he can have a short temper when it comes to things he does not get. “After missing out on the coveted gong in 2013, the footballer – believed to be worth £280million – allegedly wrote a furious email to his long-time PR man Simon Oliveira, moaning about the snub” (Sassoon). Another way he has been a bad influence in society is his move to the MLS. Some can argue that his move to MLS did more damage than it did good. People believe that his switch to the MLS made the league revolve around money rather than actually playing the game. A player could go 10 games without scoring a goal, but it would not matter to him because he was getting paid a lot of money regardless. These big players would steal the spotlight over young and coming stars in the league who deserve the attention. “...preventing rising stars like Taylor Twellman and Brian Ching from getting deserving attention” (Weintraub). The big salaries will divide team dressing rooms and mess up the league as a whole. This is because other players on the team may believe they should be getting paid millions of