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David Beckham insists he is not going to the United States for the dosh.

Maybe so, but Major League Soccer is already cashing in on the biggest signing in its 11-year history.

Toronto FC, who will be making their MLS debut in 2007, are making fans of the former England captain pay extra to watch him in action.

Recognising the 31-year-old midfielder can be a money-spinner for them as well as LA Galaxy.

They have told spectators keen to watch their home game with Beckham's new team that they cannot buy a one-off ticket for that match - they have to purchase tickets for three other Toronto matches on top.

It may be a cynical ploy designed to generate extra finance, but it is legitimate.

It is also just the tip of the iceberg as far as Beckham's impact on football in the United States is concerned.

He may have signed a five-year deal that will net him £128m, which equates to £492,000 a week or £70,000 a day, but he promises to shoot the game of soccer into the US sporting stratosphere.

Not since Pele, George Best, Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Moore and Johan Cruyff strutted their stuff in the ill-fated North American Soccer League in the Seventies and Eighties has football in the US had such a stellar name to conjure with.


New England Revolution coach Steve Nicol
Too many people have a view of the MLS as a retirement home, but it is anything but

Steve Nicol
New England Revolution coach

"Everybody I have talked to is absolutely ecstatic at the news," said Steve Nicol, the former Liverpool and Scotland defender who is now in charge of MLS side New England Revolution.

"To be able to entice a player of his quality says a lot for the league. Too many people have a view of the MLS as a retirement home, but it is anything but.

"Hopefully this move will open the door for other high-profile players of Beckham's calibre."

Sean Wheelock, an American sports journalist, agrees.

"I thought he would probably move to either Spurs or Arsenal, sign a three or four-year contract and then come over to America when he was 35," he said.

"That's been the history of world-class footballers and superstars in both the North America Soccer League and Major League Soccer.

"They come at the tail end of their career when they are 35, 36 or 37, but Beckham is not 32 until May. He has got a lot of good football in him despite what all his detractors say."

No sooner has Beckham put pen to paper on his contract with the Galaxy than there is already talk of other big names joining him on the other side of the Atlantic, the likes of Luis Figo and Brazilian star Cafu.


MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER FACTFILE
Thirteen teams will compete in the MLS this season, which kicks off on 7 April
There are two conferences - Western and Eastern - with six in the Western and seven in the Eastern
LA Galaxy play in the Western, alongside Chivas USA, Colorado, FC Dallas, Houston and Salt Lake
The top four teams in each conference qualify for the play-offs - the winners contest the Conference finals, with the MLS final taking place in November

But MLS officials hope the real impact of Beckham's signing will be on the number of people watching and playing the game in the US.

"We really feel he has the opportunity to positively change the sport of football for an entire nation," said MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche.

It is a sentiment echoed by Nicol.

"Anybody who is interested in US football want the best players in their league," he said.

"That makes the league better, but long term it encourages more people to play the game, kids who are all striving to be Beckham.

"We need role models, both home and overseas players. We need to get to the stage where young American players want to stay and play in this country. That's the objective.

"I cannot think of any negatives. It's going to mean bigger crowds, bigger attendances. It is great for the league and I can't wait 'til New England play LA Galaxy."

Beckham's move has already attracted more than its fair share of hyperbole.


A lot of folks believe it will take the US winning a World Cup to really change some people's opinions here

Don Courtemanche
MLS spokesman

MLS commissioner Don Garber claims it is "one of the most important moments in the history of soccer in this country and perhaps the history of professional sports".

But there are still those who regard the move as just another money-making chapter in the never-ending Beckham epic, insisting the player's claims that his chief aim is to promote the game and ensure its future prosperity in the US are a load of hot air.

Why? They think the game of soccer will never take off in the States and come close to rivalling the big four sports of American football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey.

"A lot of folks believe it will take the US winning a World Cup to really change some people's opinions here, but soccer continues to increase in popularity," said Courtemanche.

"There are about 18m individuals who play the sport here and we have a large Hispanic population in the States, around 44m. Football is the game they love."

Beckham's arrival will only enhance that popularity, too.

"David Beckham is not really known as a sports figure in the United States, he is known as a pop culture figure because of his wife and because of the film 'Bend It Like Beckham'," said Wheelock.

Mexican striker called Francisco Palencia
Mexican striker Francisco Palencia was the big earner in MLS last year

"He is continually in celebrity and gossip magazines. A lot of people who have never thought about watching a football match or buying a ticket are suddenly going to be very interested in Major League Soccer."

Garber agrees.

"He's a guy who just makes people happy, who makes them excited, and he is going to do tremendous things to bring the sport to higher levels in the United States," he said.

MLS cannot hope to match the standards of the English Premiership or La Liga in Spain, Beckham's two old stomping grounds.

According to Wheelock, MLS stands somewhere between the lower tier of the Championship and the top end of League One.

Beckham will hopefully change that, although we will probably have to wait a while.

Nevertheless, MLS officials are delighted to have got their man and are no doubt rubbing their hands in glee.


MLS commissioner Don Garber
He's a guy who just makes people happy, who makes them excited, and he is going to do tremendous things to bring the sport to higher levels in the United States

MLS commissioner Don Garber on Beckham

After all, the reason they made such a crucial change to their regulations in November last year was to allow them to pull off such a high-profile signing as Beckham.

Until then, there were very strict rules about how much they could pay a single player - and it wasn't that much.

In fact, there was just one player who earned more than $1m (£514,000) last year - and that was a Mexican striker called Francisco Palencia, who played for Chivas USA.

Beckham's deal blows that to smithereens and will no doubt lead to envious glances from his future team-mates as well as players from rival teams, whose average wages are around the £40,000 mark.

But will there be any hostility?

Not a bit of it, according to former Newcastle winger Paul Dalglish, who now plays for MLS side Houston Dynamo.

"David Beckham has proven himself at the very, very highest level, so he deserves to get paid whatever he's getting paid," said Dalglish, the son of Liverpool and Scotland legend Kenny.

He also thinks Beckham will have little trouble settling in to yet another new lifestyle.

"He's going to love it," said Dalglish. "Los Angeles is a great city. It's probably the only place in the world where he could go and blend in because there are so many superstars there."

Some of those superstars will probably turn out to watch him play at the Home Depot Center, which can hold 27,000 spectators, far shy of the capacity crowds that packed into Old Trafford or the Bernabeu.

They will probably become his friends, too.

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