Here’s the latest update and corresponding media coverage surrounding Miami Beckham United’s ongoing efforts to bring a Major League Soccer club to Miami. Led by David Beckham, Marcelo Claure and Simon Fuller, Miami Beckham United is actively working to identify secure a site for a purpose-built soccer stadium in Miami. Keep current with the latest team news on Facebook and Twitter.
Official Miami Beckham United statement:
“David Beckham is very positive about the future of the club, and he continues to enjoy incredible support from the people in Miami. Right now, our focus is on identifying the location for a purpose-built stadium that will be the team’s permanent home. Careful consideration will be given to FIU when we address the opportunities for a temporary facility.”
Reuters: Beckham still weighing options for Miami soccer stadium
More than a year after David Beckham swooped into Miami, the retired English football star has not secured a spot for his planned Major League Soccer team, but he and his partners are still searching, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
“The Miami Beckham United team is actively looking at four or five sites,” Tadd Schwartz wrote in an emailed statement.
Beckham’s group has remained mostly quiet since local officials last year rebuffed two attempts to secure land for a 25,000-seat bayfront arena in the city’s downtown.
A first push last year to build the stadium on an empty tract on a small island mostly occupied by the port of Miami was fought by a maritime group led by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. A second effort to tuck it in between the NBA Miami Heat’s basketball arena and the city’s art museum also failed.
“You can’t build a stadium overnight, so finding the right site, finding the right place in Miami is important for us. But it will all start coming together pretty quickly and everything will start happening pretty soon,” Beckham told E! Online late last month.
Miami-Dade County lawmakers are to hold a Tuesday vote to allow the county to open negotiations with Florida International University to use its American football arena as a temporary home for Beckham’s team in south Miami.
“Right now, our focus is on identifying the location for a purpose-built stadium that will be the team’s permanent home,” Schwartz wrote.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber has long emphasized the need for the club to have its own facility near downtown Miami.
“If we can’t get the right stadium, we can’t go to Miami,” Garber told Reuters in October.
Miami Herald: Commission wants David Beckham to temporarily house MLS team at FIU
In an attempt to jump-start bringing David Beckham’s stalled Major League Soccer team to Miami, county commissioners on Tuesday asked Mayor Carlos Gimenez to propose using Florida International University’s stadium as a temporary home for the franchise.
The unanimous yet largely symbolic move directs Gimenez to reach out again to Beckham and his investors, almost a year to the day since, on Feb. 4, 2014, the soccer star made a splash when he announced his plans for a Miami team.
Three months later, commissioners formally rejected Beckham’s idea to build a permanent soccer stadium on Miami-Dade County-owned land at PortMiami. MLS has said a new soccer-specific is required before Beckham can launch his expansion team.
Yet Commissioner Juan C. Zapata, a longtime proponent of professional soccer in Miami whose district includes FIU, has argued that Beckham might have better luck finding a stadium site once his team builds a fan base — by playing somewhere temporarily first.
“It’d just be a wonderful thing for this community,” Zapata said Tuesday.
About a dozen Miami MLS fans sat in the commission chambers and applauded after the vote.
Beckham’s group, Miami Beckham United, has quietly been looking for a stadium site since June. Bruised by the rejection from the county and from the city of Miami, which dismissed an idea to fill the deep-water boat slip north of AmericanAirlines Arena to build there, the investors have been reticent about details of their real-estate search.
John Alschuler, Beckham’s real-estate adviser and lead negotiator, told the Miami Herald that the group remains focused on finding a permanent stadium site that fits its needs. Beckham and MLS have insisted on housing a team downtown near young professionals and mass transit.
“We’re pleased that members of the commission want to encourage movement,” Alschuler said. “We view that as a positive step.”
However, he wouldn’t commit to FIU — or any other site — as a temporary venue. Marlins Park in Little Havana and Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens have also been mentioned.
“Careful consideration will be given to FIU when we address the opportunities for a temporary facility,” local Miami Beckham United spokesman Tadd Schwartz said in a written statement.
Beckham raised fans’ hopes last week when he told entertainment-news site E! that he and his investors hope to have Miami franchise news soon.
“We’re pretty close to announcing certain things and then the stadium will come after that,” he said. “You can’t build a stadium overnight, so finding the right site, finding the right place in Miami is important for that.”
Neither Beckham’s group nor MLS have publicly set any deadlines for announcing a stadium location.
El Nuevo Herald: Condado Miami-Dade permite a Beckham usar el estadio de FIU
David Beckham podrá utilizar el estadio de la Universidad Internacional de la Florida para su nuevo equipo de fútbol, incluso si esto es algo que no le interese al ex astro inglés.
La Comisión del Condado Miami-Dade aprobó el martes de manera unánime proponerle a Beckham y a su grupo inversor usar las instalaciones deportivas de FIU de manera temporal hasta que éste encuentre un lugar para construir su tan deseado estadio.
“Sería algo maravilloso para esta comunidad”, dijo el comisionado Juan Zapata sobre la posibilidad de que Beckham acepte la oferta.
Zapata, cuyo distrito incluye la universidad estatal, dice que el ex jugador del Real Madrid tendría mejor suerte encontrando un sitio para la cancha y sumando apoyo si el equipo engrosa su fanaticada jugando en la Major League Soccer (MLS) lo antes posible, con una casa temporal.
Pero la propuesta por parte del Condado no seduce ni a Beckham ni a sus allegados.
John Alschuler, consejero inmobiliario de “Becks”, le dijo al Miami Herald que ellos siguen enfocados en encontrar un espacio donde levantar su estadio que satisfaga sus requerimientos —un lugar en el centro urbano de la ciudad, preferiblemente en downtown Miami y con vista a la bahía de Biscayne.
“Estamos muy contentos de que los miembros de la comisión quieran estimular el movimiento [de este tema]”, dijo Alschuler. “Lo vemos como algo positivo”.
Se cumple aproximadamente un año desde que Beckham presentó de manera extravagante, glamorosa y ante cientos de fanáticos y medios de prensa su visión para una franquicia de la MLS en el sur de la Florida.
Diseños arquitectónicos del idílico estadio mostraban un coliseo futbolístico de nivel europeo, con la bahía y las luces de la ciudad de fondo. Pero los comisionados destrozaron el sueño del ex mediocampista, rechazando en mayo de 2014 por 11-1 la idea de construir sobre una pequeña isla en el Puerto de Miami.
Otra alternativa presentada por “Miami Beckham United”, el nombre de la empresa detrás del proyecto, proponía erigir el estadio al lado del American Airlines Arena, en terrenos sobre el agua que deberían ser rellenados, pero la idea tampoco tuvo éxito ante los funcionarios.
Desde un principio, Beckham aclaró que su estadio no sería construido con fondos públicos.
“En este momento, nuestra atención se centra en la identificación de una ubicación que pueda servir como hogar permanente del equipo”, dijo el portavoz de Miami Beckham United, Tadd Schwartz, en un comunicado. “Se le dará atenta consideración a FIU cuando repasemos las posibilidades de una instalación temporal”.
El sitio deportivo ESPN asegura que en los últimos meses Beckham ha explorado la posibilidad de utilizar terrenos privados para edificar el estadio tras las dificultades de encontrar terrenos públicos.
Fanáticos del fútbol en Miami temen que el astro se canse de los bloqueos burocráticos y busque otra ciudad para empezar su franquicia. La MLS ha expresado su deseo de expandir la liga a 24 equipos, y ciudades como Minneapolis, Las Vegas, San Antonio, y St. Louis han manifestado interés en suplir alguna de las cuatro plazas disponibles.
Por su parte, Beckham dijo el jueves pasado que él y sus socios esperan poder inaugurar el equipo en Miami pronto.
“Estamos muy cerca de anunciar algunas cosas y luego vendrá el estadio”, dijo Beckham al portal de entretenimiento E!. “No se puede construir un estadio de la noche a la mañana, encontrar el sitio adecuado, y encontrar el lugar correcto en Miami es importante para eso”.
Como parte de la resolución aprobada por la Comisión, el alcalde condal Carlos Giménez tendrá 90 días para negociar el arreglo con FIU.
Este artículo fue complementado con información de la reportera del Miami Herald Patricia Mazzei.
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