As I understand it, the figure of £128 million being bandied around is not just salary. It's also the estimated value of endorsements etc over which Beckham has the sole rights, which he currently shares 50-50 with Real Madrid.
To me, the rather more interesting questions are: how on earth can LA Galaxy afford to pay even a fraction of that sum given the fact that they usually play in front of crowds of 10,000 to 20,000, according to their team stats here:
http://la.galaxy.mlsnet.com/schedule/season.jsp?team=t106
.... and what effect will Beckham's presence have in raising the profile and popularity of football in America?
Beckham is an icon to much of the rest of the world, but I can't see his presence alone creating a huge rise in interest in football. The truth is that American men are obsessed with five sports: American football, baseball, basketball, motor racing (mainly NASCAR) and ice hockey. I was in America for a holiday for two weeks until last weekend and every single bar had various games and commentary on, 24 hours a day it seemed. The Beckham deal did make the headlines, but the comments of the sports presenters (mainly snide remarks about football or SAH-KUR generally, Beckham's hairstyles or his tiresome wife, rather than any sort of analysis as to what it meant for LA Galaxy or US football generally) were revealing.
I think that football will always be a minority sport in the States. The Major League appears to have bedded down better than the USSL did in the seventies. However, overpaying aging stars would probably be the quickest way to make it all go bankrupt again.
