April 17 – David Beckham’s dreams of starting a new football franchise in the United States have suffered their first wobble.
Two months ago the global footballing icon announced that he had exercised his option to become the owner of a Major League Football team in Miami and in March unveiled a blueprint for a new 25,000-seater stadium, promising to make it “the people’s club”.
Under Beckham’s plans, the stadium would also be home for shopping, office space, a hotel and an outdoor plaza. “We don’t want to be an enemy to the people who are opposing the stadium,” Beckham said recently. “I want to work with them to change their mindset about the fact that we are here to help the community and help Miami”.
But trouble is brewing following the publication of a full-page advertisement in the local newspaper saying the site chosen should instead be used for the expansion of the port area rather than for a soccer team.
The advertisement appeared earlier this week in the Miami Herald under the headline ‘Here We Go Again’, reportedly placed by a newly formed alliance of port-based interests led by cruise line Royal Caribbean.
While supporting the concept of a new soccer franchise, the advert said the port site chosen was not appropriate “due to the risks a port stadium would pose to jobs, cruise and cargo operations, security, and the port’s promising future.”
Neisen Kasdin, an adviser to the Beckham group, countered: “The plan doesn’t interfere with port operations. It will likely generate more revenue for the port in the shorter term than other concepts that have been discussed.”
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