David Beckham’s plan to bring a Major League Soccer team to Miami is hitting some snags as he battles to find a location to build a new stadium.
The British soccer star had hoped to build a 25,000 to 40,000-seat stadium at Port Miami, the world’s busiest cruising port. But his move to lease 12 acres has raised opposition from Royal Caribbean Cruises, which has cited traffic concerns and that the company’s parking lot, day care center and employee gym would have to move to make way for the stadium. Royal Caribbean also says it has its own plan to develop the site.
Meanwhile, other developers are vying for the land, saying it has potential for hotels, apartments and exhibition space.
A Miami source said, “The land Beckham wants is very coveted. The cruise lines want the land, the city wants the land, and developers want the land, so there is definitely going to have to be a lot of politics involved. Beckham is doing a big push for that site, but he’s far from getting it.”
Our source noted that, “The city previously gave up a prime site for Marlins Park, they even made the taxpayers pay for it, and it turned into a failure because of poor attendance.”
Rumors have also been swirling within the Miami sporting community that Beckham needs locally based investors for the project to be green- lit. LeBron James has been rumored as one potential investor. Meanwhile, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has insisted the stadium project must include public amenities. But rumors that Beckham’s main partner, Bolivian billionaire Marcelo Claure, owner of telecommunications firm Brightstar Corp, had been rejected by MLS as a team owner, have been strongly denied.
A Beckham rep told us: “MLS have 100 percent approved Marcelo as partner. His involvement has been contractually signed off by the commissioner. Secondly, Port of Miami is one of many sites we are looking at. We have many options.”
Another source added that research shows a majority of Miami residents are backing a Beckham-owned team.