Fallout from the closure of the David Beckham Academy in Carson, Calif., continued. A Canadian under-12 team — 10 boys and seven relatives from Calgary’s Foothills Soccer Club — booked aweek-long trip to Southern California in April only to learn by chance recently in a Daily Breeze story online that the camp had beenclosed last year without any public announcement.
Needless to say, parents and relatives were furious, especially since the players had spent countless hours doing fundraising. AnschutzEntertainment Group, which ran the academy with 19 Entertainment, David Beckham‘s London-based management company, shut down the academy in December, but theonline registration system used to take applications was still active.
AEG reimbursed the families the cost of their camp registrations. But they are still on the hook for non-refundableplane tickets, vacation packages and Disneyland tickets. Most planned to still fly to Southern California. But they are now on notice that there’s no need to show up at the David Beckham Academy.