• Chicago Tribune/AP, Monday, June 25, 2007 10:33 AM

Sponsors are counting on David Beckham to reach out beyond the soccer field in a way the United States hasn't seen since Pele was with the New York Cosmos from 1975-77. Beckham joins Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy next month, a major injection of star power for a league that has lacked a marquee mainstay.

Adidas is launching an ad campaign this week featuring Beckham and New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush swapping sports during practice in "Futbol vs. Football." To mark Beckham's arrival, Adidas also re-taped its "Impossible is Nothing" commercial with him to make his soccer past understandable to an American audience.

Perhaps more importantly for sponsors, Beckham is married to Victoria Adams, the former Posh Spice, and is friends with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. European Web sites track his hairstyles, and paparazzi tail Becks and Posh, the most celebrated of England's WAGS (wives and girlfriends).

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