Beckham exhibition worth every cent

In the time it takes you to read this blog, David Beckham will have earned almost $400 from LA Galaxy.

Either way you look at it, $1.95 per second, $5952 per hour or $143,000 per day, David Beckham is worth it.

I was hosting a corporate box when the noise welcoming David Beckham LA Galaxy and Sydney FC players erupted. I say David Beckham first because at the end of the day that's why we were there. Discussion in the box was of his corporate pulling power and the fact that there would have only been 10,000 people there if it wasn't for him.

I hadn't quite finished my roast lamb when the first roar of approval began. My mum would have been horrified if she'd seen the number of people getting up from the table without asking to be excused. I got to the glass door in time to see all the players lined up in expectation of the national anthem.

Not all in the box were football savvy though. One young lady was overheard asking who the player in the yellow uniform was. Yep, I know, I couldn't believe it either; she was referring to the referee.

She didn't need prompting when the first shot of Beckham up close was posted on the big screen. The tilted head, starry eyes and dropped jaw said it all. It set the tone for the whole evening.

Every corner kick he went to take was met with a frenzy of cheering, waving and kids running to get a close-up phone camera shot. In the moments before his goal, the flashes of camera light reminded me of the same stadium in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics.

The Doubting Thomas in the box was suggesting it wasn't a free kick to Beckham in the first place. This scenario was staged to give Beckham the chance to bend it like …

Quite frankly I couldn't care less because at the end of the day he still had to score. For a moment we were all transported to a movie set in London where 'Jess' was facing a wall of relatives rather than a wall of Sydney FC players. Becks did exactly what Jess did and it was worth every cent.

We all knew what he was going to do, including the Sydney FC goalkeeper, but he still couldn't be stopped and that's what makes him so special. It was the first time I've seen opposition fans celebrate a goal against them.

Is there any wonder that sponsors want a piece of him.

If it's not his football prowess, money and his famous wife I guess he can always fall back on his looks.

My now learned female guest might not know a referee from a bumble bee but she certainly had 20/20 vision for Becks' bod.

I'll be interested to see the TV ratings, which is yet another tick in the Beckham box. Until he turned up we hadn't had live commercial TV coverage of a club game for many years.

It's so refreshing to see a world famous footballer act so down to earth, paid or not.

I won't go as far as to say he's a saint, after all he did play for the Red Devils - Manchester United.

I will however say that he's posed the question of this event reoccurring next year.

What other player of world fame would we queue up to watch in a friendly?

Right now I don't think there is one. David Beckham appeals to everyone, even us Liverpool supporters.

At $1.95 per second, Tuesday night was the best $8928 LA Galaxy could have spent.