How David Beckham Turned a $25m MLS Option Into a $1.35bn Football Empire

In 2007, David Beckham left Real Madrid for Los Angeles.

He was 31. He had just helped Real Madrid win La Liga. He was still one of the biggest names in European football and could have found another top club in England, Italy or Spain.

Instead, he signed for LA Galaxy.

To many football fans, it appeared that Beckham had chosen Hollywood money over football ambition. They missed the most intriguing aspect of the deal.

Beckham had negotiated an option to buy an MLS expansion franchise for $25 million once he retires from football. The option would eventually become the route to Inter Miami, the club he now co-owns with Jorge Mas and José Mas.

People mocked David Beckham when he chose MLS, but it’s turned into one of the smartest moves in sports business history.

He earned around $255m over five years at LA Galaxy, secured the option to buy an MLS club for just $25m, went on to purchase Inter Miami, and later signed… pic.twitter.com/pVxfXk5j0Z

— The Footy Section (@FTBLsection) February 21, 2026

Forbes values Inter Miami at $1.35 billion. The club generated an estimated $200 million in revenue in the 2024–25 season and won its first MLS Cup in 2025.

That is an interesting return on a decision made when MLS was still trying to establish itself as a serious football league in the United States.

Forbes estimated that Beckham made $255 million during his six years in MLS from salary, revenue sharing, endorsements, appearances, and licensing.

But the franchise option was the bigger play.

Beckham was negotiating for ownership while he was still receiving salary as a player. That is what makes the move worth revisiting.

Beckham Bought Into MLS Before The Hype

When Beckham arrived in Los Angeles, MLS did not have the global profile it has today.

The league was still expanding. Its biggest clubs lacked the financial resources of Europe’s elite teams. Beckham’s arrival altered things almost immediately. He drew international attention, sponsors, and television interest to a league that had spent years trying to persuade the American sports market that football had a future.

The Galaxy deal was reported to cost $250 million over five years, but that figure represented potential earnings from multiple sources rather than a straight salary. His annual base salary was $6.5 million, and he received a share of Galaxy’s revenue.

Then there was the part that seemed unusual for a player’s contract.

Beckham secured the right to purchase an MLS expansion team at a significantly reduced price.

By 2013, Forbes reported that he was preparing to return to MLS as a franchise owner, describing the opportunity as another benefit from his Galaxy contract.

In February 2014, Beckham exercised the option and chose Miami. MLS officially awarded the new franchise to Beckham’s ownership group that year.

The club would eventually become Inter Miami CF.

At that point, however, there was little to own. It had no established team and no permanent stadium. It only had an expansion licence, a market Beckham believed in, and a long list of problems that needed to be solved.

Miami Almost Broke The Project

The ownership group searched for a location to construct the team’s stadium for years.

One of the initial ideas was PortMiami. Opposition from port unions killed that plan. Following political opposition, another waterfront location close to the Miami Heat arena vanished. Following that, there were legal issues and community opposition to a proposed stadium in Overtown.

Beckham and his partners kept moving.

The project eventually settled on Melreese Country Club, where the ownership group pursued the development that would become Miami Freedom Park.

According to Beckham, the project accumulated $39 million in debt after the failed stadium plans. At one stage, MLS commissioner Don Garber offered to buy the team back for $50 million.

Beckham declined. “No, Don, I believe in this,” he responded.

That tells you more about Beckham as an owner than any list of endorsement deals.

The easy version of the story is that he spotted a cheap franchise opportunity and got lucky. The harder version is that he kept funding and defending the idea after several plans had failed.

Inter Miami eventually began playing in MLS in 2020. The permanent stadium came much later.

Messi Arrived After The Bet Had Already Been Made

When Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami in 2023, the club’s profile changed positively.

Messi attracted attention from all over the world, increasing demand for tickets, sales of shirts, sponsorship opportunities, and international tours. Shortly after his arrival, Inter Miami won the League Cup in 2023. They went on to win the Supporters’ Shield in 2024 and the MLS Cup in 2025, among many other titles.

Forbes estimates that Inter Miami’s revenue climbed from $56 million in 2022 to about $200 million in the 2024–25 season. The club’s valuation reached $1.35 billion in 2026, making it the most valuable team in MLS at the time.

Inter Miami’s revenue has nearly quadrupled since Lionel Messi joined the club 😳💰

From $56 million in 2022 to an estimated $200 million last season, Forbes estimates the club is now worth $1.35 billion — making it MLS' most valuable franchise for the first time.

🐐 pic.twitter.com/OotSgey2v8

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 16, 2026

Even though he did not start the company, Messi altered its scope. Beckham had already spent years getting the franchise off the ground. José Mas and Jorge Mas had emerged as key players in the ownership group. Before Messi arrived, the team had supporters, a playing team, employees, and business partnerships.

The Argentine superstar simply gave the machine a much bigger engine.

Beckham Turned Fame Into Something He Could Build Around

Inter Miami is the most obvious part of Beckham’s business story, but it is not the whole thing.

For years, Beckham had something most athletes would struggle to replicate. He had enormous attention that survived beyond his playing career.

He was famous for football, of course. But the Beckham name also travelled through fashion, watches, food and drink, advertising, television and popular culture.

He understood that attention could be turned into a business.

That is where DB Ventures became important. In 2022, Authentic Brands Group acquired a 55% stake in Beckham’s brand-management company for about $269 million.

The deal put a value on something: the name, image, and audience Beckham had spent decades building.

This does not imply that Beckham is the owner of every company that bears his name. It indicates that the Beckham brand’s commercial rights have grown in value to the point where a different large corporation can purchase a majority stake in the company that runs them.

That is a very different proposition from simply cashing an endorsement cheque.

Beckham Also Built A Media Business

Studio 99 is another example. Beckham cofounded the production company in 2019. It is now a full-service content studio that creates editorial and commercial work for global platforms and brands. Its clients have included Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, and the BBC.

The obvious example is Beckham, the four-part Netflix documentary about his life and career.

Studio 99 was a production company on the project alongside Ventureland, while Fisher Stevens directed and John Battsek produced.

This section is critical to understand because it demonstrates what Beckham actually built. He did not simply sell the rights to his life and leave.

He created a company capable of producing stories around sport, celebrities and brands, including stories connected to Beckham himself.

The company also produces content for Beckham’s social channels, which have more than 150 million followers globally, according to Studio 99.

That gives Beckham another way to stay close to the audience he spent his football career building.

The footballer became the subject. The businessman helped build the machinery around the subject.

The Beckham Playbook Is Showing In African Football Too

This is where the story becomes particularly interesting for African football.

Sadio Mané is a good example. In 2023, the Senegalese forward became the majority owner of Bourges Foot 18, a club in France’s fourth tier. The project was built around more than promotion. Mané spoke about developing the club and creating an academy in Senegal.

The club has since been renamed Bourges FC, with the club’s own history page describing Mané as its majority shareholder and linking his involvement to its plans for the future.

Wilfried Zaha has taken a different route.

The Ivorian forward became a co-owner of AFC Croydon Athletic alongside musician Stormzy and Palace’s former head of player care, Danny Young. The club plays far below the level at which Zaha has spent most of his career, but the investment has a strong local connection.

Zaha grew up in the Croydon area and has remained closely associated with Crystal Palace and the community around it. BBC Sport has followed his involvement as a co-owner, including his visits to matches in the lower reaches of English football.

African footballers have traditionally had plenty of reasons to prioritise income. Salaries can change lives. Endorsement deals can provide security. For players from countries where football careers can be short and financial systems less forgiving, earning well while the opportunity exists is rational.

But ownership creates another possibility.

The challenge is doing it well. Buying an asset does not automatically make it valuable. A famous footballer can bring attention to a project and still make a poor investment.

Beckham’s story is useful precisely because the difficult part came after the cheque was signed.

Salary Gets You Paid. Ownership Gives You A Stake

Beckham’s football career gave him the leverage to negotiate differently.

His fame helped MLS sell the Beckham story. MLS helped Beckham build his American business. The franchise option gave him a path into ownership. Years of work turned that option into Inter Miami. Messi then pushed the club’s commercial value into another bracket.

Each part of the story built on the previous one. That is why his career remains so interesting.

In 2007, Beckham was walking into a league that many football traditionalists still treated as a retirement destination. He looked at the same league and saw an asset class that could grow.

Nearly two decades later, Forbes puts Inter Miami at $1.35 billion.

The free kicks made Beckham famous. The Galaxy deal gave him the opportunity. Ownership gave him something to build.

For footballers watching from Africa, that may be the most useful part of the story. The salary pays for your life. The asset can outlive your career.