David Beckham’s agent hates your earlobes

July 16th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

Almost everything that can be said about David Beckham has already been said, most notably in Grant Wahl’s Sports Illustrated story from last week announcing Beckham’s arrival. Will Beckham change the sport? Will the MLS respond? Will America respond? The answers — maybe a little bit, but probably not.

Want the real story behind Beckham’s magic? The answer lies in his choice of agent … American Idol producer Simon Fuller!

Simon Fuller, Beckham’s manager and the chief executive of London-based 19 Entertainment, acknowledges that making soccer really matter in the U.S. will be a “far greater” challenge than turning Idol into this country’s most popular television program, but that hasn’t stopped Fuller from hatching “a grand vision” (his words) for the next chapter of his most famous client’s career.

“There seems to be a real foundation now for soccer [in the U.S.],” says Fuller, who engineered the midfielder’s guaranteed five-year, $32.5 million contract (plus profit-sharing and mega incentives) with the Galaxy. “David is the most iconic of all footballers, and he’s achieved pretty much everything you can achieve in Europe, apart from maybe winning a big tournament with England. He’s still in his early 30s, still playing remarkably well, and you have to start thinking, What’s the next adventure? The States is the last frontier in terms of soccer.”

As Fuller puts it, “If you have most things you want in life, you can take it easy, you can retire, you can continue to take money off a team in Europe. But our ambition is bigger than that. Shoot for the stars, and if you don’t hit them, then it was fun trying.

“If you do hit them, then you’ve made history.”

Indeed, Simon. No telling whether that vision applies to unleashing 30 or so unbelievably annoying teenie-boppers on the welcoming American populace every sweeps season, but if it does, then consider me officially jumping off the Beckham bandwagon. On the other hand, I do like it when they make fun of the awful singers at the beginning of the season … I smell L.A. Galaxy cross-promotional opportunity!