David Beckham Lovers

The bidding war has begun ­before a single player or even a formal ­stadium deal has been signed by the former England captain.

American broadcasters Fox Sports and Time Warner Cable both want to become major ­sponsors of Goldenballs' new club as well as securing exclusive TV rights to all home games.

The companies belong to major media conglomerates headed by ­Hollywood studios and both own ­several sports-dedicated telly ­channels in America.

A senior executive at Time Warner confirmed: "We want to tie down a broadcast deal that would also ­involve a major sponsorship role in David's team similar to ones we have with, for example, the LA Lakers basketball team."

And a high-ranking source at Fox told us: "We want to get involved at every level, from screening games to joint marketing deals and even ­getting our branding on executive boxes.

"We want to get involved at every level, from screening games to joint marketing deals and even ­getting our branding on executive boxes"

"We're well aware that there is no infrastructure in place yet but our financial backing could help David establish his club extremely quickly and we want to be in from the ­get-go."

Beckham, 38, who won two MLS ­titles with LA Galaxy, was in Miami last week for a dinner party at the home of local billionaire Marcelo Claure, owner of American wireless distribution company Brightstar Corp.

The former Real Madrid star ­arrived at the mogul's mansion with local mayor Carlos Giménez.

Claure is said to be considering pumping millions into the club in a partnership deal with the former midfielder. As part of his MLS ­contract six years ago, Becks was given the option to buy a franchise for $25million - about £16million - on his retirement.

But a source said: "David understands he will need many, many times that amount to establish a side that will be capable of challenging for honours."

Spokesmen for Claure, 42, and Giménez, 59, refused to discuss last week's talks but our source said: "Negotiations were so positive there could be a formal announcement about business partnerships, ­sponsors and TV rights before Christmas."

Becks is also expected to announce a deal that will enable his soccer side to share the 75,000-capacity Sun Life Stadium with the Miami Dolphins NFL side - until his franchise can build a home of its own.

Our source said: "David loves the big-match atmosphere at Sun Life but his ultimate aim is to build a more modest stadium with a ­capacity of around 30,000 that would also encompass shops and ­restaurants."