By Ben Nicholson
May 23 – David Beckham, in his bid to build a Major League Soccer stadium in downtown Miami, is envisioning a new location for his home turf. Having met with opposition for a waterfront park, largely from disgruntled businessmen from the port area, he has switched his attention to filling a water basin with a 20,000-seat stadium.
The estimated cost for the new stadium for the MLS’s 23rd franchise is put at £20 million. Miami has recently invested over $15 million to improve the area that the stadium would occupy.
Beckham is showing an increased sensitivity to the desires of the Miami locals, supporting his mantra that this will be “the people’s club”, by seeking to avoid the port and also by turning the prospective neighboring land into new green space.
“By expanding Museum Park with new public spaces anchored by world-class art and science museums and a world-class soccer club, we’ll be activating the waterfront on a year-round basis,” Beckham said in a statement.
The new schematics do seem hurriedly put together following the rejection by local authorities of the original plan to build the stadium in Port Miami.
They omit street level perspectives of what the stadium will look like, clouding the issue whether the stadium will block water and park views. Nor do the designs have any parking allocated. Beckham’s group reportedly believes there is already sufficient parking in the area, despite concerns expressed by the management of the Miami Heat NBA franchise.
Local residents will likely need more convincing and more details if the plan is to succeed. The burden remains on Beckham to prove that replacing green space with a grey stadium will benefit the city.
The new plan has gained support of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado. Miami residents will have the opportunity to approve the proposal in a referendum later this year.
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