This US premiere’s already looking like a blockbuster

Some 600 media types from 10 countries chronicled Beckham’s brief appearance. He wore a smoky grey suit and drew a verbal yellow card for calling his sport “football,” before correcting himself, saying, “I’ll get used to that.”

At this junction of sport and celebrity, few seemed to notice that Beckham’s new teammates were training on a nearby practice field in anonymity and a decidedly lower tax bracket.

On Friday, commerce was as urgent as soccer, an observation that could not have been more evident if the stage that held Beckham had been shaped like a cash register. The Galaxy will pay him at least $32.5 million, and up to $250 million, over five years in a profit-sharing arrangement, and the team wasted no time attempting to make its money back.

A new blue-and-white uniform has been introduced for Beckham’s arrival, and the jerseys were selling for $80 to $100 outside the Home Depot Center, while water was being hawked inside for $3.25 a bottle.

This is a cult of personality rarely seen outside North Korea. Still, Beckham has undeniable star power. And he is sure to raise interest in the sport. Still, he has his work cut out for him. Until now, the most famous soccer star playing in the United States was Mia Hamm, and she has been retired for nearly three years.

“Potentially in the States, soccer can be as big as it is everywhere else in the world,” Beckham said, a statement perhaps made more out of politeness than accuracy. Not everyone was impressed, or even aware, of his arrival.

Some British reporters have accused Beckham of wanting to become an American Idle, moving into semi-retirement here in a lesser league while his wife hobnobs with Tom Cruise and other celebrities. In the sports pages of The Los Angeles Times on Friday, a column by Bill Plaschke bore the headline “Hype Gripe” and asked why anyone should care about a player who is more celebrity that athlete.

There was one clumsy moment Friday. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, who has been involved in a much-publicised extramarital relationship with a newscaster from a Spanish-language network, was booed, then heckled when a spectator yelled, “Is your girlfriend covering this?”

Shortly after, the half-hour introduction concluded and Beckham prepared to walk soccer’s version of the red carpet, providing sound bites to television reporters lined up along one end of the field. As fans began to leave, Alexi Lalas, the general manager of the Galaxy, had one final exhortation: be sure to buy a jersey on the way out.