David Beckham, partners target Miami stadium deal next to Marlins Park
David Beckham's protracted quest to find a home for a soccer-specific stadium in Miami may have finally reached its conclusion.
Beckham and his partners expect to start negotiations with the City of Miami next week to build a privately financed stadium on city-owned land next to Marlins Park, according to a report in the Miami Herald on Friday.
Representatives from Miami Beckham United met with Miami mayor Tomas Regalado on Friday to discuss a potential deal and pinpointed the former Orange Bowl site as its preferred option for a 25,000-seat stadium.
"Today's meeting with Mayor Regalado was another positive step toward bringing a world class soccer club to Miami," a spokesperson for Miami Beckham United said in a statement on Friday afternoon. "We're still in the early planning stages and several viable options still exist, but our preferred stadium location is the former Orange Bowl site. David, Marcelo [Claure] and Simon [Fuller] are thrilled by the initial outpouring of support we've received from our fans and we're excited about sharing our plans with the City, County and community soon."
The deal is expected to focus on building a home for a MLS expansion team without the participation of the University of Miami, according to the Herald. Beckham and his partners weighed the possibility of a ground-sharing arrangement with the university to work together to construct a stadium capable of housing both the expansion team and the Hurricanes football team, but this deal is likely to proceed without the university itself.
Beckham and his partners -- a group that includes Bolivian billionaire Claure and longtime Beckham manager Fuller -- spent much of the past year searching for a suitable site after the Miami-Dade County Commission authorized mayor Carlos Gimenez to negotiate with the group in Dec. 2013. They first targeted parcels in downtown Miami, but their first two choices -- a waterfront site on Dodge Island opposed by cruise companies and an abandoned boat slip next to AmericanAirlines Arena -- were discarded after city and county officials expressed doubts about reaching a deal on those sites.
In the wake of those public setbacks, Beckham and his partners retreated from the public eye and spent most of their time working behind the scenes. Miami mayo Regalado urged the group to consider Marlins Park as a potential alternative to the preferred downtown site long ago, but Beckham and his partners explored several other options before settling on this particular parcel.
This particular site strips away some of the hurdles encountered elsewhere. In contrast to other possible locations, this site is owned by the city alone. It is also readily available for a quick turnaround if the two parties reach a deal.
Beckham held an option to purchase a MLS expansion team as part of his playing contract with MLS. He declared his intention to exercise the option and place the team in Miami during a press conference in March 2014. MLS said at the time it would not officially award Beckham and his partners a franchise until the parties reached an agreement to build a new stadium.
