Miami Rejects David Beckham’s MLS Stadium Plans

June 11, 2014

David Beckham’s efforts in securing a location for his Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise have been knocked back after the city of Miami rejected his recent plan to build a football stadium on a city waterfront.

Beckham’s business group, Beckham Miami United, issued a statement saying city officials determined the proposed site was an ‘inappropriate location.’

The statement said Beckham’s group would ‘spend the coming months weighing alternatives.’

The group is required to finalise a stadium deal before it can win approval from MLS, the US professional football league, to open a club.

An earlier proposal for a waterfront stadium site also experienced local resistance from cruise lines.

Scrutiny of the deal rose sharply after the city provided $500m (£298m) in public funding to build a new stadium for the Miami Marlins baseball team.

In the statement, Beckham said the second site, sandwiched between two museums and the Heat arena, was suggested to his team by the mayors of Miami and Miami-Dade County.

‘Our package was the most equitable soccer stadium proposal that Miami, or any other city in America, has ever seen – 100 percent privately funded without any local taxpayers money,’ the statement said.

His partners in the endeavour include British entrepreneur Simon Fuller and mobile phone services billionaire Marcelo Claure.