With unprecedented access to David Beckham and the L.A. Galaxy, Wahl exploresthe consequences, both on and off the field, of Beckham's quest to change thenature of American soccer while redefining the role of a global icon.

In twelve years at Sports Illustrated, senior writer GRANT WAHL has written thirty-one cover stories and more than two hundred articles while covering five World Cups, three Olympics, and twelve NCAA basketball tournaments. Wahl has won four Magazine Story of the Year awards, given by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. He lives in Baltimore with his wife, Céline.

From the Hardcover edition.

Introduction: The Beckham Experiment	p. 1
We <$$$> Beckham	p. 7
The Beckham Sweet Spot	p. 24
The $250 Million Fairy Tale	p. 37
American Idle	p. 49
"Let him be the Captain, You be the Star"	p. 71
Velvet Ropes, Fried Chicken, and Alligator Arms	p. 85
New York to London to Los Angeles (In Five Days)	p. 108
$18,465 Per Minute	p. 122
The 19 Takeover	p. 144
Beckham 2.0	p. 162
A Ruud Awakening	p. 182
Europe Vs. America	p. 196
Good Teammate, Bad Captain	p. 214
"We're the Owners, and we're Gonna act like It"	p. 234
The Galaxy Death Rattle	p. 248
New Beginnings?	p. 264
Commitment Issues	p. 278
Afterword to the Paperback Edition	p. 289
Acknowledgments	p. 301
Index	p. 303
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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INTRODUCTION

THE BECKHAM EXPERIMENT

In the summer of 2005, on a gorgeous morning in Marina del Rey, California, I bumped into an old acquaintance in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. In almost any other city in any other country, David Beckham would never have dared to tempt the paparazzi and swarming fans who track his every move. But here he was, hands in his pockets, comfortable, unbothered, just like any other bloke. It had been two years since our last meeting, a long and candid interview in New York City just before Beckham’s move from Manchester United to Real Madrid–the world’s biggest sports story of 2003. Now Real was in town for a preseason exhibition game against the Los Angeles Galaxy. Beckham and I said hello, caught up with each other, and (not for the first time) talked about his desire to play in America someday. He sounded earnest, but I figured that day was six or seven years away, when Beckham would be a spent force on the European scene.

Less than two years later, in May 2007, I found myself sitting across from Beckham in Madrid, just the two of us in a quiet makeup room for an hour. On a rainy day in the Spanish capital, he had arrived at the studio by himself, an entourage of one in an outfit bearing no logos. In his
plain white V-neck T-shirt, ordinary blue jeans, and five-year-old brown work boots, he could have passed for a cattle hand in Kalispell. In his only interview with a U.S. sports journalist before he joined the Galaxy that July, Beckham explained why he had shocked the sports world four months earlier by signing at age thirty-one with a team in Major League Soccer, the eleven-year-old U.S. soccer circuit.

“When I’d spoken to you before, the U.S. always interested me on the soccer side more than anything, and at some point I always thought I would play in America,” Beckham told me. “But it came earlier maybe than I actually expected. A decision had to be made, and I’ve always gone on a sort of gut instinct:Is it the right time?I believe it’s the right time. I’ve spent four good years in Madrid playing with some of the best players in the world. I’ve played in Europe for almost fifteen years at the highest level and won just about everything I possibly could. And then this was offered to me: Do I want to be an ambassador for the MLS?”

It’s not often that the world’s most famous athlete decides to leave the comfort and security of the environment in which he became a global icon and embark on a new and risky adventure in one of the few countries where he isn’t a household name. Yet that is exactly what David Beckham was doing by leaving Europe to join the Galaxy on a five-year contract. He certainly didn’t need the money after earning an estimated $150 million in the five years before his move to America. Nor did he need the fame after marrying Victoria Adams (aka Posh Spice of the British pop group the Spice Girls), winning seven league championships in England and Spain, serving as captain of England for five years, and establishing himself as an undeniable global marketing force from Europe to Asia. Nor did Beckham need to drop down to MLS’s lower standard after proving with Real Madrid and England in the first half of 2007 that he could still thrive at the sport’s highest levels.

But to hear Beckham make the case, the decision to relocate his wife and three young sons to Los Angeles was an easy one. “It didn’t take me long to think about, to be honest,” he said. “Moving the family to the U.S. was probably one of the easier decisions, just because the lifestyle was going to suit the children and me and Victoria. And on the playing side, I had to look at everything. I’ve always known the level is not as high as it is everywhere else in the world. But if I can make a difference and make people mor

Excerpted from The Beckham Experiment: How the World's Most Famous Athlete Tried to Conquer America by Grant Wahl
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