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David Beckham announces launch of his MLS Miami team David Beckham announces launch of his MLS Miami team
(35 minutes later)
Former England captain has endured long journey to found clubFormer England captain has endured long journey to found club
Beckham paid $25m for rights to new expansion franchiseBeckham paid $25m for rights to new expansion franchise
Tom Lutz Chris Smith in Miami
Mon 29 Jan 2018 17.34 GMTMon 29 Jan 2018 17.34 GMT
Last modified on Mon 29 Jan 2018 18.24 GMT Last modified on Mon 29 Jan 2018 19.01 GMT
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David Beckham finally has his Major League Soccer team. After a process that has taken years to complete, the MLS commissioner, Don Garber, confirmed the former England captain’s club will be based in Miami. An emotional David Beckham said Miami had made his “dream had come true” after finally becoming a Major League Soccer team owner. The Miami MLS team plans to enter the US top-flight as its 25th team in two years.
Garber said Beckham had wanted a team in Florida since he joined MLS as a player in 2007. “It is with tremendous pride that we welcome Miami to Major League Soccer,” said Garber, at a rally attended by fans and local officials. “We know the right people are in place and the time is right for Miami to become a great Major League Soccer city.” The new club, which is yet to be named, was rubber-stamped by MLS 1,454 days after the former England captain arrived in Miami pledging to bring a professional team to the city. Now, with most of the hurdles cleared, MLS commissioner Don Garber has awarded Miami a franchise that will bring professional football back to the city for the first time since 2001.
We’re live in Miami for a major announcement… #FutbolMiamiMLS https://t.co/OmParfG18K Yet there are still questions. Fans will be heavily involved in selecting the colours and name for the team, which targets 2020 as its first season. It will likely play in temporary home until a new 25,000-seat stadium in Overtown completed.
Beckham’s group hope that the new MLS team will appeal to Miami’s sizeable Latino population, and Monday’s announcement ceremony was in both Spanish and English. Local fans sang and chanted in the crowd as the news was announced, and a welcome video that included figures such as Jay-Z, Serena Williams, Jennifer Lopez and Neymar was screened. During a press conference short on real detail, Beckham told a packed crowd of raucous fans and dignitaries at the Adrienne Arsht Center: “When I was awarded the team there was only one city for me. And it was here. I was drawn to city for the same reason millions are, the diversity, the culture, the weather, the beaches and the people.
Beckham said he had already had calls from high-profile players who were interested in joining his new club but he also emphasised he wanted to build on local talent. “Our pledge to our fans in Miami and around the world is simple: your team will always strive to make you proud on the pitch, our stadium will be a place that you cherish visiting, and our impact in the community and on south Florida’s youth will run deep,” Beckham said. “I had calls from top players, I’m not going to say who, saying ‘I’m in’. Of course we want to bring the top players in from Europe, but the thing we’re most interested in is top homegrown talent.
MLS owners have to pay $150m to join the league but Beckham only had to front $25m as part of the deal that brought him to America in 2007. Beckham’s plan has changed many times in the four years since it was floated, most notably because he was unable to get waterfront land that his group wanted for a stadium site. “We’ll build a state of the art academy. That’s how you build a community. When you see talented young players go on and represent their country, that’s when we’ll sit back and say ‘job done.’ That’s when we’re going to be proud of it.”
However, in June Miami-Dade commissioners voted nine to four in favor to ratify a recommendation by the mayor to sell Beckham’s partnership a county truck-depot, which would become the last piece in a nine-acre site for a planned 25,000-seat stadium on the Miami River. The MLS commissioner, Don Garber, hailed an “historic day in our league and in the history of Miami sports.”
“Everyone knows that we did the announcement for Miami four years ago, and then we’ve had a lot of bumps along the road and that’s been frustrating,” Beckham told Good Morning America on Monday. “But now we’re in such a positive place.” The announcement comes after years of failed stadium initiatives, local political maneuvering and a search for additional investment. A major breakthrough came last June, when the investment group secured the final three-acre plot of land necessary to build the new arena in the city’s Overtown district, describing it last year as “the last chance to get a stadium or soccer team.”
Beckham’s group paid just over $9m for the last piece of land. It had already paid $19m for the other six acres needed. Beckham’s group says the planned stadium would be privately funded, and the stadium would also be subject to county property tax. However, the project remained in serious doubt, until local construction magnates the Mas brothers, Jorge and José joined the group in December. “No longer will you drive to a game and drive home. We’ll have drums, chants, pre-game, post game. We’re going to rock it,” Jorge Mas added.
The plan has also faced local opposition, including a legal challenge from businessman Bruce Matheson, and must still gain zoning approval, but Beckham says there is no doubt the Overtown site is the one his team will call home. Miami had an MLS team, the Fusion, between 1998 and 2001 but it folded due to poor attendance. The group has long envisioned a European style “walk to the match” in the historically African American neighbourhood, where there’s still ardent objection and an ongoing legal appeal. It’s a couple of miles away from the initially-proposed waterfront location next door to the NBA’s Miami Heat, but a world away in terms of the glamour originally sought by Beckham in 2014.
Beckham helped boost the league’s profile when he joined LA Galaxy in 2007. He played for them until 2012, winning two MLS Cups. The investment group is also providing “every penny” to build the new arena after the city, stung by the construction of the Marlins Park baseball arena at astronomical estimated public cost of $2.4bn over 40 years, closed off the purse strings to new stadium projects. That financial burden was lessened by Beckham’s right to purchase an MLS expansion franchise for just $25m. Part of the contract that of the brought him to the LA Galaxy in 2007, it’s a very agreeable deal. Nashville will have to pay a reported $150m expansion fee to become the league’s 24th team.
Beckham is bringing plenty of financial clout to the project. Marcelo Claure is the CEO of US mobile network Sprint, while SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son joins the Mas brothers. British entertainment mogul Simon Fuller is also on board.
The appetite for the football in the city is currently at its highest since the Miami Fusion folded back in 2001. Recently, while Beckham’s group wrangled with politicians, second-tier Miami FC, co-owned by Italian legend Paulo Maldini, has come to the fore. The team made it to the quarter-finals of the US Open Cup last season drawing crowds upwards of 10,000 during the run.
Eric Braz, founding member of the Miami MLS Southern Legion Supporters Group, until Monday the game’s loyalest fans without a team, said: “My life is complete again. This is going to bring the community together around soccer. We set this group up in a bar 10 years ago. There were times we thought this wasn’t going to happen, but today we finally get to celebrate.”
David BeckhamDavid Beckham
MLSMLS
MiamiMiami
US sportsUS sports
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