Beckham Shirts Seen Bringing in Less Than $2 Million for French Team PSG

David Beckham may not pay his way for Paris Saint-Germain’s Qatari owners in shirt sales.

The French soccer team can expect no more than 1.5 million euros ($2 million) in profit from extra shirt sales if Beckham joins from Los Angeles Galaxy, according to Andreas Ullmann, head of market intelligence at Cologne-based Sport & Markt AG. Other financial spinoffs will depend on the 36-year-old midfielder’s success with the club, Ullmann added.

Le Parisien newspaper yesterday reported that Beckham, the best-paid soccer player according to France Football magazine, had agreed to a gross monthly salary of 800,000 euros with PSG, co-leader of France’s Ligue 1. Beckham’s management agency XIX said the former England captain had “yet to make a final decision” on his soccer future.

“There may not be millions and millions to earn, but there is a tangible effect,” Ullmann said in an interview. “At this stage in his career, you can’t compare his sporting impact to Messi or Ronaldo who will likely stay where they are for four or five years.”

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi lead Spain’s La Liga in scoring.

Soccer teams typically get no more than 15 euros from each 70-euro shirt sold after revenue is shared with the apparel maker and distribution and tax costs are factored in, Ullmann said. Paris Saint-Germain, whose shirts are made by Nike Inc., can expect to sell between 50,000 and 100,000 extra shirts if Beckham joins, Ullmann said.

Qatari Investment

Qatar Sports Investments, an investment arm of the Qatari government, bought a 70 percent stake in PSG in May and said it would build the team into one of Europe’s strongest. PSG, which counts French president Nicolas Sarkozy as a fan, won the last of its two national championships in 1994.

Beckham helped to raise the visibility of Major League Soccer since joining the Galaxy in 2007. He was the highest- profile signing in the U.S. since Pele joined the New York Cosmos in 1975.

In the two years after he joined Real Madrid in 2003, the Spanish team’s sponsorship and advertising income more than doubled to 45.9 million, according to team accounts. Sales of jerseys and other merchandising jumped 62 percent to 54.1 million euros.

Beckham’s effect on PSG, which is sponsored by airline Emirates, may be more limited because he’s nearing the end of his career, according to Conor O’Shea, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets in Paris who covers Lagardere SCA, the owner of PSG’s marketing partner Sportfive.

Big Name

“Beckham is still a big name even if a bit less so than when he joined Real Madrid,” O’Shea said.

Paris Saint-Germain is reviewing its contract with Sportfive, which gets a cut of team sponsorship and merchandising sales, O’Shea said. Sportfive officials didn’t return e-mails seeking comment and PSG spokesman Mathias Barbera declined to comment in an e-mail.

PSG was eliminated from the continent’s second-tier Europa League last week.

For soccer fans, buying a PSG shirt with Beckham’s name on it may not be a good long-term investment, Ullmann said.

“It could be out of date in six months or a year,” Ullmann said.

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