“He was the last guy you’d have picked to go corporate,” Reuters’ Andy Clark says of L.A. Galaxy President Alexi Lalas. Twelve years ago, Lalas looked like a hippie: he had long curly red hair, an equally long goatee, and he played guitar and sang in a band called the Gypsies. Nowadays, the man may have cleaned up his look, but he’s still “out there” says Clark. “We just didn’t know until January how far.”
This is not a Lalas-roasting (a popular pastime recently among American sportswriters); rather, Clark commends him for the part he played in landing the most recognizable sports figure on the globe. Popular and well traveled as a player, Lalas says he sensed — wait for it — a kindred “adventurous” spirit in Beckham. “There are certain personalities and certain characters that can adapt and can recognize that this whole thing we do here can be a wonderful adventure,” he said. It so happens that Becks, odd man out at Real Madrid, was on the lookout for a new adventure just as Lalas and co. came calling.
Whatever you think of Lalas’ management style, no one can takeaway the part he played in one of the biggest sporting coups in history — which will stand even if Beckham doesn’t live up to his promise on the field. As the businessman says, “It’s not a risk. There is a method to any perceived madness. This has made not only good soccer sense but good business sense. We’ve already recouped our costs.”