Time ticking on Beckham's Miami MLS team amid deadline, Las Vegas speculation

MLS has waited a long time for David Beckham and his partners to sort out an expansion team in Miami, but it can't wait forever.

Author:
Brian Straus
Publish date:
Dec 12, 2016

On Thursday, MLS intends to unveil the formal process, timeline, and perhaps the fee structure, that will serve as the framework for its expansion to 28 teams. Those details are expected to be finalized at a board of governors meeting in New York City. While Minnesota United and Atlanta United prepare to play in the league next season and Los Angeles FC continues construction on a stadium expected to open in 2018, the roadmap to 28 should come into focus.

Except there’s a speed bump: Miami.

David Beckham’s team, the rights for which he purchased at a deep discount (approximately $25 million) after retiring as a player, was supposed to come in alongside LAFC as club No. 24. He announced his intentions at a news conference in February 2014. Since then, however, there’s been one false start after another, three failed attempts to secure land for a stadium and now a fourth, in Overtown, that's only partially complete. There’s been friction with residents and politicians and a pursuit for new investors that hasn’t appeared to have produced anyone of consequence beyond Beckham, entertainment producer and manager Simon Fuller and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure. Miami Mayor Carlos Gimenez reportedly met last month with lobbyists and new, unnamed potential investors.

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Beckham already has received at least one extension from MLS, which added to the original cost of his buy-in. This weekend in Toronto, the site of the 2016 MLS Cup final, commissioner Don Garber said another deadline is approaching. And while he wouldn’t give specifics, the league’s wish to lay out a schedule for the addition of teams 25-28 is an indication that Beckham is starting to run out of time.

Speaking on Friday to the Planet Fútbol Podcast, Garber said, “There is a deadline. I’m not going go share that with you publicly. I can, but I’m not. There is a deadline, and I think everybody knows that we’ve got to get this thing moving or figure out what David’s plan and alternatives are and what the league needs to do. Clearly if we’re going to teams 25-28 and we’ve not resolved team 24, it has a knock-on effect and has a real impact on our expansion strategy.”

He said similar remarks at his “state of the league” address prior to the final.

“[The deadline is] an agreement we have with David and Simon Fuller,” Garber said. “We need to resolve the Miami situation so we can go forward with our expansion plans and [teams] 25 through 28, because they're team 24. And if they're not going to be 24, then there are going to be things that need to move around. It's something we'll discuss at our board meeting. We may or may not come out of that meeting with anything definitive that we'll announce publicly as it relates to Miami.”

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The focus on bringing in Miami as 24 has forced Sacramento, which is ready to begin construction on a downtown stadium, into limbo. Meanwhile, expansion fees have gone up, which puts Sacramento Republic in a different negotiating position than it was a year ago. Interest from potential expansion markets continues to grow. St. Louis has finalized an ownership group and stadium site, Cincinnati has surged onto the scene after a successful inaugural season in USL and both Tampa/St. Petersburg and Raleigh-Durham have recently declared their intentions. And while the landscape continues to change, Beckham and Miami have made very little progress.

In April, Beckham showed up in Las Vegas to advocate for a new stadium that could house the Oakland Raiders and, perhaps, pro soccer. Beckham has a relationship with Las Vegas Sands, one of the stadium’s backers. Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman had been speaking with MLS prior to the spring. In early 2015, MLS informed the city that it wouldn’t be considering expanding there until after 2018. That date is fast approaching.

What were Beckham, Leiweke doing talking MLS expansion in Las Vegas?

“To bring a great organization like the Raiders is incredible, but it’s bigger than that,” Beckham told reporters in April. “It’s about the MLS coming here. It’s about bringing in the biggest European teams like Manchester United.”

Tim Leiweke, the former head of the organizations that owned the LA Galaxy and Toronto FC and a long-time associate of Beckham’s, said, “You’ve had one issue [in Vegas]: a stadium. This resolves that issue. And there is a qualified, quantified ownership group that’s prepared to step up and help you chase an MLS franchise …. You’re not the only one out there. As Commissioner Garber will tell you, there are a lot of cities now chasing those last four franchises. But with your stadium, with this ownership group and with the might and support of the Raiders, you will never have a greater opportunity to have an MLS team.”

GALLERY: Future, potential soccer stadiums in America

Potential, future soccer stadiums in America

North Carolina FC

The Raleigh bid for an MLS expansion team unveiled a stadium plan for a downtown venue within the boundaries of Peace St., Salisbury St., Lane St. and the N.C. Railroad easement.

Miami

David Beckham's ownership group in Miami has released a rendering for a stadium in the Overtown neighborhood, the latest desired site for an MLS expansion bid that kicked off in 2014.

FC Cincinnati

FC Cincinnati doesn't yet have a nailed-down location for an MLS stadium, but the expansion hopeful has released renderings for a 25,000-seat stadium inspired by Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena.

FC Cincinnati

FC Cincinnati doesn't yet have a nailed-down location for an MLS stadium, but the expansion hopeful has released renderings for a 25,000-seat stadium inspired by Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena.

FC Cincinnati

FC Cincinnati doesn't yet have a nailed-down location for an MLS stadium, but the expansion hopeful has released renderings for a 25,000-seat stadium inspired by Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena.

FC Cincinnati

FC Cincinnati doesn't yet have a nailed-down location for an MLS stadium, but the expansion hopeful has released renderings for a 25,000-seat stadium inspired by Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena.

Portland Timbers

The Timbers are adding 4,000 seats as part of a $50 million renovation to Providence Park.

Portland Timbers

The Timbers are adding 4,000 seats as part of a $50 million renovation to Providence Park.

Atlanta United FC

Atlanta United will share Mercedes-Benz Stadium along with the Atlanta Falcons in a state-of-the-art venue.