Politicians in Miami have thrown a lifeline to David Beckham’s ailing plans to launch a Major League Soccer franchise in the city.After twice knocking down the former England captain’s proposals to build a new stadium on prime waterfront land, city leaders are now offering a temporary ground-sharing arrangement with Florida International University while the search for a permanent home goes on.
The plan would probably allow the team to begin playing within the next couple of seasons, a stated aim when Beckham and MLS commissioner Don Garber announced the franchise amid much fanfare at a press conference in Miami exactly 12 months ago.
Perhaps more significantly, the proposal, in the form of a unanimous vote by Miami-Dade county commissioners to open negotiations with FIU over using its 23,500-capacity stadium, appears to reverse politicians’ stance over the welcome shown to Beckham and his team.
“It makes sense to keep talking about it and show the international community and the local community that we are serious about soccer,” Juan Zapata,a Miami-Dade commissioner whose district includes the FIU stadium, said after the meeting. “It would just be a wonderful thing for this community.”
Zapata said commissioners had done Beckham “a great disservice” when they rejected the waterfront stadium plans last year. “When I’ve met with him, I have apologised, because I think we could have treated him a lot better,” he said.
Beckham’s investment group, which includes Bolivian telecommunications billionaire Marcelo Claure and the entertainment impresario Simon Fuller, announced in June last year that it was pausing to consider its options after the commission rejected plans for a stadium at the Port of Miami and one further along the waterfront.
In a statement after this week’s vote, the group, Miami Beckham United, appeared to be lukewarm about the ground-sharing proposal.
“Our focus is on identifying the location for the team’s permanent home,” the statement read. “Careful consideration will be given to FIU when we address a temporary facility.”
Opposition to the launch of the Miami expansion franchise included fears that taxpayers would be left to fund some of the stadium or costs, but Beckham has always insisted no public money would be needed. To that end he has pursued state and federal grants that support start-up costs for new sports ventures.
Additionally, Zapata insisted that tax money would not be used to pay the rent for any ground-share, although he did not rule out any financial arrangement between the franchise and FIU being on favourable terms.
It is also unclear if the scheme would pass MLS requirements. Last February, when Garber took the stage alongside Beckham at Miami’s Perez Arts Museum press conference, he was unequivocal in his praise for the franchise. Beckham was, he said, one of “very few people [who] have that focus that enables him to translate what made him a great athlete into what will make him a great owner.”
By last December, however, the MLS chief seemed to be cooling on the idea following the commissioners’ stadium rebuffs.
“If we don’t have the right stadium, we’re not going to Miami, nor should we go to any market without the right stadium plan. Until we get it finalised, we can’t make a commitment to go to Miami.”
In an interview with CBS Miami, Pete Garcia, FIU’s director of athletics, said the university was keen to work with Beckham.
“We just don’t want them going some place outside of South Florida,” he said. “Whatever we can do to facilitate bringing Major League Soccer here, David Beckham’s group, we will do.”
By Richard Luscombe, Guardian
