“A penny or maybe a few hundred million dollars” were the thoughts of former Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón, who famously led a long protest in 2007,
who were upset with David Beckham’s decision to join the Los Angeles Galaxy instead of staying in the elite.
Beckham then not only rejected a new two-year contract from Real, but also turned down offers from Milan, Arsenal and Tottenham, to join the MLS in the US with the LA Galaxy.
This angered Calderón, who immediately put down the 31-year-old star, calling him “a movie theater mediocrity hungry for the Hollywood lights”.
16 years on, with Lionel Messi ready to join Inter Miami, the Beckham deal – a remarkable achievement that sports analyst Joe Pompliano
now calls “one of the greatest sports deals of all time”, continues to bear fruit.
It is also a reminder to anyone, at any stage of life, of the value of long-term thinking in pressing, urgent situations. While the headlines in January 2007 focused on Beckham’s salary and the commercial relationships he would generate, little has been said about the wisdom of the deal, which was contained in a clause.
The clause stated that Beckham would have the option – whenever he retired – to buy an MLS expansion team, for a $25 million buy-in fee. That was two and a half times what Toronto paid that same year for their own MLS spot.
Messi was still a teenager then, but 11 years later he finds himself with Beckham in Florida, at a club called Inter Miami – which had played its first game just three years earlier. And the value of that club? Estimates from January 2023 were closer to $600 million, but add Messi and the prospect of a new stadium and that figure rises to $1 billion. In other words, a 40-fold (and apparently still rising) increase on the price tag included in Beckham’s contract.
It’s worth noting that Beckham’s actual stake in the club is rumored to be around 25%, and he shares ownership with billionaires Jorge and Jose Mas. Speaking on The Joe Pomp podcast, Pompliano estimated that Beckham’s 2007 move to MLS netted him more than $500 million. While it was a “win-win,” it was clear that “Beckham got the better of it.”
Like so many of Beckham’s on-field triumphs, the triumph in the United States was also a testament to his unwavering self-belief. Beckham arrived in the United States before the social media boom, but was accompanied by 19 sharp “image” experts to turn him into an inspiration for other stars to achieve the “American dream”. The audience rate for MLS has increased by 40% since Beckham arrived.
When Inter Miami played their first official match in MLS on March 1, 2020, Messi posted a video congratulating Beckham: “Who knows, in a few years I can give you a ring (Symbol of Bond – NV)”. Therefore, many people thought that Messi would come here in 2021 when his relationship with Barcelona ended.
There was also information that Messi would come to the United States in 2021 when he left Barcelona for the first time. Beckham and Messi later posed for a photo together at PSG’s training center, a meeting that was widely commented on by the public.
“I like Leo for many different reasons,” Beckham told the Argentine ESPN. “He’s a great dad and a great person. But I think what people love about Leo is the way he plays the game with passion and immersion.”
But mutual appreciation will never be enough. The Messi family’s closeness to Miami is a big draw. Like Beckham’s deal in 2007, the deal is understood to be fraught with unusual terms, especially with regard to revenue from MLS’s major partners Apple and Adidas.
With the World Cup set to take place in North America in 2026, Messi is expected to take American “soccer” to new heights. And, if that happens, Beckham – the first player to own a club in the United States – will only see the benefits of the 2007 deal increase.
