October 2008 and David Beckham had turned his back on European football to set up home in Los Angeles, playing for LA Galaxy and becoming the face of the MLS as football looked to continue growing in the USA.
In his lengthy interview with Guillem Balague, Beckham was already looking towards a life after hanging his boots up, noting that, “I never wanted to be a manager, but an owner? That’s a possibility. I like a challenge.”
Certainly Beckham was having the desired impact if some of the stats that went with the article were anything to go by. Within two months of him signing for LA Galaxy, they had sold 7,000 more season tickets than the previous season, and had boosted ticket sales by 48% overall. The TV audience was up by 22%, LA Galaxy’s income was five times greater and half a million orders for Beckham shirts had been placed – this for a club with a stadium capacity of 27,000.
Read more about the Beckham effect here.
