Beckham worth $250 million?

Living in Los Angeles, I cannot stop thinking about this question. I agree that Soccer is the fastest growing game in US right now but only Tiger Woods earns more than 50 million dollars a year. Next in line are players like Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, Shaq etc. and I am not sure whether LA Galaxy can market Beckham in US market as much as Kobe, Tommy or Shaq.

Anyways, the deal has two interesting aspects. One, we all agree that Beckham is hardly a force on the field. He is slow, can be brought down easily and has been well past his peak for close to 5 years now. I think that even at his peak, he was a pretty average midfielder. Real Madrid bought him largely because of his huge popularity in APAC region which was used to sell more Real T-shirts.

Second aspect is the structure of the deal. Insiders, including my sports entertainment professor, think that a lot of the 250 million dollars committed over 5 years are tied down into ticket sales and endorsements. If people don't start flowing in LA Galaxy stadium in sub urban Carson and are not ready to pay bigger buck for the tickets then Beckham might be earning not more than 10-15 million a year( I think even that is a very big amount for his caliber!!). And what if the team does not qualify for playoffs again like last year? That would be a big big nail in the coffin!!!