Those incredible feathery, looping cross-field passes from David Beckham to LA Galaxy teammates Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane will soon be a thing of the DVR. The MLS Cup on December 1 will officially mark the end of the Beckham Carson home field era.

On the occasion of Beckham’s imminent departure, International Herald Tribune columnist Rob Hughes reminds that the soccer star is responsible for not one but two major changes to sports league financial rules. There was the discounted foreign workers tax law enacted in Spain circa Real Madrid 20o3 (a.k.a. the Beckham Law). And an equally momentous amendment prior to the athlete’s AEG transition in 2007:

The MLS agreed to a “designated player rule” that, in effect, allowed Beckham, and then a few others, to be paid more than the rest of their teammates combined. A hallowed principle in many sports in the United States, the salary cap, was altered.

Will Beckham pull off the dollars-and-cents-bending trifecta as part of his final player assignment? Or will that have to wait until he becomes an MLS expansion franchise owner? FishbowlLA is betting on the latter.

Read Hughes’ full article here.

[Photo: Photo Works/Shutterstock.com]