The Real cost of Seeing David Beckham in New York
I started following “football” over a year ago when I discovered Fox Soccer Channel on my cable box. I spoke with the British husband of my friend and he explained some of the rules that I was unclear on and a fan was born. I followed the world cup 2006 as best as my schedule would allow and I started following the EPL in earnest.
Naturally I followed the news about David Beckham coming to the states to play for the L.A. Galaxy and I tuned in with excitement to watch his American debut. It was a fairly uneventful match against the Premier League’s Chelsea FC but exciting nonetheless to see the superstar warm the bench and massage his ankle.
SO, when I found out how easy would be to go out to Giants Stadium to watch Beckham and the Galaxy play the New York Red Bulls I jumped at the chance. I went on ticketmaster and ordered up my fun. But as the night wore on I realized that Beckham was really influencing the economy of American soccer in no small way. the following is an inventory of how much it cost me to have fun watching Beckham play.
Red Bulls official jersey by Adidas: $65.00
Ticket to the game $50.00
“Convenience” charge (thanks tix master): $9.70
Order processing fee: $4.00
Round trip bus ticket from Port Authority: $10.00
2 $7.75 Beers at the game (one per half): $15:50
Plus tips: $2.00
One bottle of water at the game: $4.00
Total Cost: $160.20
And that was just me a single fan of the beautiful game spending my evening as a spectator. Multiply that money spent by families of 4 or more and we can begin to see how much one man is changing the shape of American sports.
Thanks to the soccer gods Red Bulls won otherwise it would have been a long ride home. But even had we lost it would have been worth it. That ride gave me time to contemplate the true value that Beckham is bringing to the states and appreciate him for it. He is a special athlete and watching him play was magnificent. He got into a fight, assisted on several goals, got hit in the face by a ball (which ended up assisting the Red Bulls in their 3rd goal of the night), and played the whole 90 minutes.
Now if he could just play long enough and well enough to get more people get involved in watching football we should see a wonderful change in the world of American sports.