Beckham

I am not a fan of Beckham's announced move to the MLS. He'll get a $250M contract for 5 years when he arrives this summer, the British press are reporting.

That's crazy.

The Washington Post -- which has the best soccer coverage in America -- published the salaries of every MLS player for the 2006 season. That list is here. Not counting Beckham, the league's highest paid player (Chivas's Mexican star Juan Francisco Palencia) makes $1.35M. The second highest paid player is Landon Donovan, who makes $900k. The Los Angeles Galaxy, Beckham's new team, had four players making $16,500 or less -- right about the federal poverty line. Beckham, by himself, will make more than any other team in 2007.

That's crazy.

Even ARod's legendary contract, the pinnacle of American professional sports greed, is $250M for 10 years. Beckham will make double that, if the reports are true. His contract will crush the league.

Insane.

I hope the size of the contract is incorrect, or the Galaxy have backloaded the contract so significantly that Beckham won't see all of the money, because I have no sense of how American soccer could sustain a pay structure like that.

Anyway. It's a good PR move -- for the next 48-hours at least. Bask in your glory, MLS. The regret will arrive soon.