David Beckham's Latest Challenge
This segment was originally broadcast on March 23, 2008. It was updated on July 9, 2008.
You've probably heard of soccer player David Beckham, but what might surprise you is that with the possible exception of Tiger Woods, the 33-year-old Englishman is the most well-known and well-compensated athlete in the world.
As Anderson Cooper first reported last March, Beckham had spent his career playing in Europe, but last summer began a five-year contract in the United States for a little-known soccer team called the Los Angeles Galaxy. He was hired to win games, and to finally make soccer into a big-time, moneymaking spectator sport in the U.S.
It is a long shot, but as you're about to discover, David Beckham made his name by performing under pressure.
It was the soccer equivalent of two outs in the bottom of the ninth: with just seconds left against Greece in 2001, David Beckham needed to score to send England's national team to the World Cup finals.
"As soon as I hit the ball, as soon as it left my foot, I knew it was in," Beckham remembers.
Asked how he can know that, Beckham tells Cooper, "I'm sure if you asked Tiger Woods, you know, when he hits a great shot and when he hits the sweet spot, it's the same with soccer. You know, the same when you're takin' a free kick."
That goal solidified Beckham's standing as a soccer legend, but his fame far transcends the sport. With his ever-evolving style, modest demeanor, and wife Victoria, better known as "Posh Spice," he's known around the world. Wherever he goes, he's followed by a traveling scrum of fans and photographers, bodyguards and handlers.
He calls it the "circus."
"When you're asking me about it…I'm sort of, like, yeah, I don't know what to say. It's like, no, I don't see all the fuss," he says.
The "fuss" - part genuine interest, part manufactured hype - has helped turn David Beckham into a one man global brand. He's sold clothes, perfume, phones, pens, sunglasses, and drinks. Recently, when ads for Giorgio Armani underwear debuted, sales jumped 30 percent worldwide.
According to a Beckham source, he earns around $40 million a year from seven current endorsements.
Asked if that interferes with his playing sometimes, Beckham says, "No. Never. That's one thing that I've always be able to keep separate. The commercial things that I do are always set aside. They're always second to my football. And second to, obviously, my soccer, sorry."
"You still say football," Cooper remarks.
"I know. I know. I'm tryin' to get used to it," Beckham replies.
Photos: "Beckham's Debut"
There's a lot to get used to for Beckham: compared to the top European leagues, America's Major League Soccer is in its infancy. The league has 14 teams in cities across the country and one in Toronto. It's backed by wealthy investors, but has lost hundreds of millions of dollars since it was founded in 1996.
"So why come to Los Angeles? You've competed for the best teams in the world. Why come here now?" Cooper asks.
"I just felt that I needed a new challenge," Beckham says.
Beckham's arrival in Los Angeles last July was greeted by the soccer faithful as the second coming; 700 members of the international media turned out at the Galaxy's stadium to get a glimpse of Beckham and his wife. But on the field his first season was mostly a disappointment.
Beckham didn't end up playing many games for the Galaxy last year. "It wasn't many at all. It was a nightmare, to be honest."
It was a nightmare because Beckham arrived with an injured ankle and only played in five major league games. The Galaxy had a losing season, and there were concerns Beckham was past his prime.
"There were some writers in England who, when it was announced that you were coming here, said that you were coming here to hang out on the beach and, you know, cash a big check," Cooper remarks.
"The beach thing is close," Beckham jokes.
"Some of them looked at it almost as a semi-retirement," Cooper says.
"My answer is, 'No.' Because I'm passionate about the game. I'm passionate about this move. I'm passionate about the fact that, you know, this sport can grow here. And the potential is huge here," Beckham says.
It's not the first time an international star has been lured by the potential of American soccer: in 1975, the year Beckham was born, Brazil's Pelé, widely considered the best player ever, was hired by the New York Cosmos in the struggling North American Soccer League. He helped build interest in the sport, but the Cosmos and the league eventually went out of business.
"All due respect to Pele, David's unique. He has an unbelievable personality and is a great ambassador," says Tim Leiweke, the CEO of AEG, the company that owns the L.A. Galaxy.
Leiweke says despite Beckham's injury, the move has already paid off. Since Beckham's arrival, attendance at all Major League Soccer games is up nine percent; on average, about 17,000 people now come to watch the games. So far they've sold around 300,000 Beckham jerseys. It's become the number one selling soccer jersey in the world.
"In terms of what he's making, what can you say about the deal?" Cooper asks Leiweke.
"David Beckham had a good year. You know, I don't know his endorsements and I stay out of that. That's his business. But from our standpoint when we sat down on a piece of paper and said to David, 'Here's what we think you can make here,' he did better than that," Leiweke says. "And I think he's happy with that. Amazingly I don't think he cares. Simon cares."
"Simon" is entertainment mogul Simon Fuller. He's the man who created "American Idol," and as David Beckham's manager is the architect of the unprecedented deal that not only pays a $5.5 million salary, but also gives Beckham a large share of Galaxy ticket sales, merchandise, and concessions.
"You have the potential, with incentives and bonuses, and endorsements to make around $50 million a year. Is that accurate?" Cooper asks.
"Apparently," Beckham replies, laughing.
"And it's also been said that after five years you can make as much as $250 million," Cooper remarks.
"I heard that as well," Beckham says.
Beckham doesn't like to talk about money. He grew up in a working-class section of northeast London. A soccer prodigy, he first appeared on television at age 11. By 14, he'd signed a contract with England's most famous team, Manchester United. At 21, he became a household name, stunning soccer fans with a 57-yard goal, one of the longest in the history of the sport.
Beckham has never claimed to be the best soccer player in the world, but he can be one of the most exciting to watch. He's known not just for scoring, but for passing; an offensive mid-fielder, he tries to set his teammates up to score.
While his career has been marked by stunning victories, there've also been very public failures. In 1998, Beckham was ejected from the World Cup for a kick against an opposing player. England lost the match against rivals Argentina and was eliminated from the tournament. Almost everyone in England blamed it on Beckham. His family was harassed, and he received death threats.
"There was a sort of dummy of me with an England shirt on, with a noose around, hung up outside a pub in England," Beckham remembers.
Asked if the English take soccer too seriously, Beckham tells Cooper, "I'm not sure I'd say they take it too seriously. But, you know, sometimes it oversteps the mark. Like I played in European championships two years later, and as I was walking off the pitch, some England fans shouted up, 'I hope your child dies of cancer.'"
Beckham's reaction? He gave them the finger.
"It was reported at the time of me just being, you know, my petulant self. Until the actual truth came out about what people had shouted at me," Beckham says.
Vilified by the press, and under police protection, Beckham persevered, eventually winning back the fans, and becoming captain of England's national team.
"When you have so much criticism thrown at you, you either go one way or the other. You either just sit in the corner and cry or you come out fighting. And I've always been able to come out fighting," Beckham says.
His weapon of choice is his right foot. With it, he's able to bend the soccer ball around or over opponents. On the Galaxy's home field, he gave 60 Minutes a rare look at how he does it.
"It's literally findin' the right place. And keepin' it there," Beckham explains.
"Are you looking at the net at all?" Cooper asks.
"I literally stand here, take one look at the goal keeper and then just concentrate on the ball, because I know that if you put it in the spot, the exact spot where you want it, there's no way the goal keeper's gonna get there," Beckham explains.
It's easy when there is no one blocking the goal perhaps, so we decided to build a wall - the same kind of wall Beckham faces when he does a real free kick.
"It's always at an angle. That's the way, you know, the wall is always lined up," Beckham explains.
"[Do you] Try to bend the ball around them or over it?" Cooper asks.
"You either bend it around them or you bend it over them. But the wall is good because it's as close to a game situation as you can get," Beckham explains, before proceeding to strike several of his characteristic free-kicks into the net.
While on the field with Beckham, we noticed he was sporting a new tattoo. All together he has 15, including one of his wife.
"Why do you like tattoos?" Cooper asks.
"I think everybody's got a way of expressin' their feelin's. And mine is through my tattoos," Beckham says.
The three cherubs on his right arm represent his sons, named Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz.
Photos: Posh And Becks
Beckham told 60 Minutes the place he feels most at ease is on the soccer field. Cooper wondered how comfortable Beckham's new teammates were with him, and spoke to Josh Tudela, Chris Klein, and Peter Vagenas.
"David Beckham probably makes more in a week than some of you guys on the team make all year. Is that strange?" Cooper asks.
"I would like more of our players to eventually reach the status of him. Rather than be mad at a guy making a high salary," Klein says.
"I purposely sit next to him in the locker room. And when he leaves every day, I kinda check around and see if he's dropped any $100 bills," Vagenas jokes. "So I've supplemented my income that way."
Halfway through his second season in Los Angeles, Beckham has scored some impressive goals and the Galaxy are winning games. But CEO Tim Leiweke admits soccer in America has a long way to go. "We're not as pretty a league as you can see in places like Europe," he says.
Asked if he can compete with British soccer, Leiweke says, "Not now. And in all due respect to the leagues over here, you go to a game over there. And it's a life experience. Soccer in Europe is a religion."
David Beckham's eventual legacy as soccer prophet or profiteer depends on the league's progress over the next few years, but he's already preparing for the day he'll have to hang up his cleats: Beckham and manager Simon Fuller have the option of buying their own Major League Soccer team in 2011 at the end of Beckham's contract.
And in Los Angeles, Beckham's created a soccer academy for kids not far from where he practices. It's a way of extending the Beckham brand to a whole new generation, while also building support for Major League Soccer.
"You know things aren't gonna turn 'round, you know, and get bigger in the next six months or a year. You know it's gonna take five, ten years to obviously grow the game," Beckham says.
Produced by Keith Sharman