Case study David Beckham

At the end of 2006 David Beckham was British football’s top earner by some margin with an estimated personal wealth of £87m compared to the second richest British footballer Michael Owen (at £32m) (BBC Sport,2007). Interestingly, in terms of where this net value comes from, in 2006 Beckham earned £4.4m from playing for Real Madrid and more than £19m from commercial endorsements.

This case study shows the value of brand management. The Beckham brand has been effectively controlled and managed hence David Beckham has been able to demand large amounts of money through endorsements and image rights.

Fig 1 below shows a list of footballers and how much they earned in 2008. Interesting how the list differs from performance ratings with Kaka who was considered by many to be one of the best footballers in 2008 at the bottom of the list and Christiano Ronaldo who was voted Fifa footballer of the yr 2008 only 4^th on the list. The list shows that to be top earners in sports you have to have control over your brand.

The list takes into account : salary, bonuses, endorsement income and appearance fees.

		Kaká
		AC Milan
		Nationality : Brazilian
		Earnings : £12,850,000

		Ronaldo
		AC Milan
		Nationality : Brazilian
		Earnings : £13,300,000

		Michael Ballack
		Chelsea
		Nationality : German
		Earnings : £13,750,000

		Frank Lampard
		Chelsea
		Nationality : English
		Earnings : £13,800,000

		John Terry
		Chelsea : English
		Nationality
		Earnings : £13,800,000

		Thierry Henry
		Barcelona
		Nationality : French
		Earnings : £16,600,000

		Cristiano Ronaldo
		Club : Manchester United
		Nationality : Portuguese
		Earnings : £19,300,000

		Lionel Messi
		Barcelona
		Nationality : Argentinian
		Earnings : £22,900,000

		Ronaldinho
		AC Milan
		Nationality : Brazilian
		Earnings : £24,000,000

		David Beckham
		LA Galaxy
		Nationality : English
		Earnings : £30,800,000

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