David Beckham’s move to LA Galaxy back in 2007 shocked the football world – but the complex and unique deal he negotiated would go on to save him a vast nine-figure sum.
The England legend opted to move to Major League Soccer from Real Madrid, signing a five-year contract with the Galaxy. He took a 70 per cent pay cut to make the move, with his salary set at £5.4million per year, down from the £16.6m he was earning at the Santiago Bernabeu.
While his weekly pay cheque was smaller than he was accustomed to, Beckham was able to negotiate several different clauses which would end up helping him earn far more money. As well as a clause that saw him earn a percentage of all team revenue, the winger struck a deal with the MLS itself.
As highlighted by sports business expert Joe Pompliano, Beckham negotiated the right to buy an MLS expansion team for £20.2m. That figure was 150 per cent higher than the owners of Toronto FC paid to bring the Canadian team into the league in 2007.
But Beckham’s arrival saw the MLS grow exponentially, with attendances up 40 per cent and the annual television deal going up from £6.4m in 2006 to an astonishing £203m this season, an increase of more than 3,000 per cent.
The MLS has also added seven new clubs since Beckham left Galaxy for Paris Saint-Germain in January 2013, while the value of franchises in the league has skyrocketed from £30m in 2008 to £472m today.
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David Beckham/Instagram)
The massive increase in valuations means that clubs have to pay more to enter the league. New York City paid £91m to enter in 2015, while Cincinnati paid £122m four years later.
So, when Beckham came to set up his Inter Miami team, it meant that he was due to receive a massive discount. That is exactly the way it played out, with Beckham’s side taking to the pitch for their first game in March 2020.
Inter Miami joined the MLS at the same time as Nashville, who paid more than £120m to enter the league themselves. That meant that Beckham saved roughly £105m when he exercised his option.
The team reached the MLS play-offs last season, under the management of Phil Neville, and they are already the 10th most valuable club in the MLS at £473m. That sum is 2,240 per cent more than the expansion fee Beckham paid. It was a long battle from first exercising his discount clause to Inter Miami actually playing their first game, and the former Manchester United superstar admitted he had been left bruised.
“I want to be able to create a legacy that my children can turn around in 20 years and say, ‘My dad built this club’. There were moments where I looked and I thought this might not happen,” Beckham said ahead of Inter Miami’s first game.
“The biggest lesson is I’m more persistent than I thought I was and I’m more stubborn than my wife thinks I am. I’m obviously not from Miami, I’m from east London. So, me going to Miami, trying to buy a piece of land, talk to the politicians, wasn’t actually getting us anywhere, funnily enough.”
