Profile: Business of Stars – David Beckham is a successful businessman

The English footballer star along with his partners got the right to create a new football team in the United States. David Beckham after a successful career in football felt that time has come to implement his new plans, returning to US football as part of a proprietary team with the ambition to bring once again Miami football to the top.

“It was a dream for me that I wanted to come true”. This was his reply to the BBC when the 45-year-old former Manchester United midfielder, David Beckham was asked about his new business venture in the field of football.

It is said that David Beckham paid 25 million dollars while the Los Angeles Galaxy paid 100 million dollars. The reduced price is due to the agreement that Beckham had made when he signed in 2007 with Galaxy and MLS, which gave him the right to create his own team at a reduced cost. Not to forget to mention that, as of 2020 David Beckham’s net worth is 450 million dollars.

The name of the football team is Inter Miami CF and its nickname is “The Herons”. Of course, the President is David Beckham. The team began play in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the 2020 season at Inter Miami CF Stadium, the site of the former Lockhart Stadium. Inter Miami’s first MLS match was played on March 1, 2020, away to Los Angeles FC, which resulted in a 1–0 defeat.

According to an old article published at the local newspaper “Miami Herald”, the four names from which the owners of the new team were supposed to choose were Miami Freedom Football Club, Miami Freedom United, Miami Freedom FC and Miami Freedom. However, the name that prevailed in the end is Inter Miami CF.

As it is known, Beckham was planning for many years the creation of his team. Assisted by millionaire partners, Beckham is planning to build a 25,000-seat stadium, an investment estimated to reach 300 million dollars. The new stadium, known as Miami Freedom Park, will be completed in 2022. The stadium that would form part of Freedom Park, a mixed-use complex will be constructed on the present site of the city-owned Melreese Country Club near the Miami International Airport.

It is worth noting that the property group, led by David Beckham, includes the Bolivian businessman Marcelo Claure, who has active presence in Miami. On December 14, 2017, Masayoshi Son and brothers Jorge and Jose Mas were added to the owners.

As for the players who make up the team? Beckham planned to have Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney in his team, according to unconfirmed information. But as we see for now, he didn’t manage to add these players to his team.

In 2005, Beckham founded the David Beckham Academy football school, operating from two sites, in London and Los Angeles. It was announced in late 2009 that both would close. After that a mobile academy is being developed by Beckham, to travel around the UK and other places.

Lastly, in January 2019 it was announced that Beckham was set to join his Class of ’92 teammates as part owner of English non-league club Salford City, taking 10% of the club previously held by Peter Lim.

David Beckham has also earned a lot of money from the fashion industry. For example, the Beckhams were paid 13.7 million dollars in 2007 to launch his fragrance line in the United States. In 2003 he signed a 160 million dollars lifetime contract with Adidas, earning nearly half the money upfront, and will continue to earn percentages of profits on all of his branded Adidas products.

In March 2015 Beckham had the third highest social media rank in the world among sportspeople, behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, with over 52 million Facebook fans. Now, almost 54 million people follow his official Facebook page. He also has now over 60 million Instagram followers, the fourth highest rank for a sportsperson.