‘Tip My Hat’—Hollywood Star Sends Letter to Beckham, Inter Miami Ahead of Stadium Opening

Inter Miami will host Austin FC on Saturday for the first-ever match at Nu Stadium.

David Beckham (left) broke ground on Nu Stadium in 2023 | Inter Miami

Few people have had as significant an impact on MLS as David Beckham, and his legacy took a new step on Saturday, when he unveiled Nu Stadium as co-owner of Inter Miami.

For one of his fellow celebrity MLS owners, the new ground is just alright. Or, well, “alright, alright, alright.” 

Hollywood star and co-owner of Austin FC Matthew McConaughey addressed an open letter to Beckham before his side took on the Herons at the league’s newest soccer-specific stadium. 

“As Austin visits Miami today for a little shindig on your new pitch, I want to first shout out a sincere ‘thank you’—you didn’t create soccer over here in the U.S., but you d--- sure supercharged it,” he wrote, looking back on Beckham’s influence in the United States since signing with the LA Galaxy and sparking the Designated Player (DP) rule in 2007.

“When you came to the Galaxy, you gave MLS fresh legitimacy, you turned games into events, and you essentially changed MLS from a proving ground to a premier destination.”

Matthew McConaughey is a regular at Austin FC matches. | Daniel Jefferson/Getty Images

With the invention of the DP rule, Beckham’s groundbreaking transfer paved the way for every MLS superstar that has followed, including the likes of Miami’s World Cup-winning talents: Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul. At the same time, MLS lured Beckham to the Galaxy with the promise of a discounted future expansion team, eventually leading to the creation of Inter Miami in 2020. 

“Now, you’re out in Miami, on a similar mission just in a different position—I’ll tip my hat to that,” the Oscar Award continued. 

“Now, I write to you today because my Austin FC club and a busload of verde and black fans are coming into your sea of pink and looking to upset your opening party, so I’m gonna need you and your buddy Leo [Messi] to make some room for us this weekend.”

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World Cup Lookahead

sent. @AustinFC @MLS pic.twitter.com/hLK3U98Zvz

— Matthew McConaughey (@McConaughey) April 4, 2026

While neither Inter Miami’s Nu Stadium nor Austin FC’s state-of-the-art Q2 Stadium will welcome 2026 World Cup games this summer, they both sit at the forefront of the changing soccer infrastructure in the U.S. top flight. 

With the introduction of Miami’s new ground, 22 of the 30 MLS teams now play in soccer-specific stadiums, leading the evolution of the sport in the country as it expects a massive boost in the wake of the World Cup, co-hosted across 16 cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. 

“With the world’s eyes upon us as this summer draws near,” McConaughey added, “We here in the capital of Texas look forward to stopping by to continue cementing one more cornerstone of American soccer for the world to witness.”

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