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Retirement will test the strength of soccer star David Beckham's global appeal
David Beckham's pecs are as much a part of his brand as his soccer skills; his brand of shoes ultimately more lucrative than the game he's giving up. One of the world's highest-earning athletes in 2013, Beckham's recent retirement from soccer still leaves him with valuable endorsements and unparalleled celebrity. The question is whether he can maintain them.
Only a few athletes, once their job is preceded by 'ex,' manage to maintain a connection with fans: Those who have carefully built up their image beforehand.
Michael Jordan retired from basketball for the third time in 2003 and turned 50 this year. His eponymous Nike brand — a partnership that dates back to the beginning of his career — is still going strong.
The Jordan brand makes up nearly 60 percent of the American basketball shoe market, and a significant part of the estimated US$80 million (approximately NT$2.4 billion) that Jordan reportedly earns each year from ventures that also include deals with Hanes and Gatorade, according to Forbes. At the height of his popularity, Jordan "was just inescapable, and I think Beckham has had that kind of quality up to now," said Ellis Cashmore, a British sociologist.
Beckham topped this year's Sports Illustrated list of the 20 highest-earning international athletes. His estimated US$48 million (approximately NT$1.4 billion) in earnings — most from sponsorship — would rank third on the magazine's list if U.S. athletes were also included. He has deals with Adidas, Samsung and H&M and has his own cologne. The UK's Sunday Times Sports Rich List puts his estimated wealth at some US$250 million (approximately NT$7.5 billion).
Thanks to his years with the LA Galaxy, Beckham's popularity is high even in the U.S., where soccer runs distinctly behind basketball, baseball and football. But he'll have a hard time matching the endurance of Jordan.
Brand Beckham, however, isn't just David. His wife Victoria, a member of pop band The Spice Girls, runs a fashion house. And there's a rising generation of Beckhams as well: eldest son Romeo features in ads for Burberry's spring/summer 2013 collection.
If nothing else, Cashmore said, Beckham has inculcated a new generation of athletes to think far into their futures. Now, in large part because of Beckham, the question young teens with talent ask themselves is: "How am I going to monetize myself?"
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