I have never been the world's biggest soccer (football for my European readers) fan. I have attended a Columbus Crew game, that is an American Major League Soccer (MLS) team, in the past. I watch soccer sometimes when it is on ESPN, it is often the Champions League finals, and I will root for the USA during the World Cup. However, that is where my soccer fandom ends -- as far as I am concerned, "football" is the game played with the oblong, pigskin ball featuring two heavily armored teams battling on the gridiron for the ultimate supremacy in either the NFL or NCAA.

English soccer star David Beckham came to America earlier this year, joining the Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy with a base salary of $5.5 million and guaranteed compensation of $6,5 million, making him by far the highest paid soccer player in the United States. Throw in some marketing opportunities and profit-sharing options offered by team investor Anschutz Entertainment Group, and he's in a league of his own: Nearly 30 percent of MLS players are paid either $17,700 or $12,900.

Beckham's former team, Real Madrid, had paid him nearly $32 million annually. So, why the move for less money? Beckham is not just an athlete, but a fairly successful pitchman. His biggest endorsement, Gillette, pays him an estimated $9 million for three years, and he also lends his image to Pepsico (NYSE: PEP) products, Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), Adidas and -- yep -- Brylcream. Playing around the United States will give him a higher profile in the only market he hasn't conquered yet: ours.

B. Brandon Barker is the author of the novel Operation EMU.

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