David Beckham confident his persistence will pay off as he reaches unwanted Miami MLS milestone
Fanfare: David Beckham at the launch of his MLS franchise on Feb 5, 2014 CREDIT: AFP
David Beckham today achieves an unwanted landmark in his aim to launch his Major League Soccer team in Miami.
It is exactly 1,000 days since the former England captain announced - to great fanfare - that he had exercised his option for an MLS expansion franchise and would seek to build that team in the Florida city.
Since then 'Miami Beckham United', as the club is provisionally called, has painfully struggled to get off the ground and there remain some doubts that the franchise will ever be admitted to the league.
Beckham and his partners - Simon Fuller and Marcelo Claure - are quietly confident they will finally gain entry into MLS early next year, however.
To provide some context over the lack of progress, since the Beckham launch date of Feb 5, 2014, another professional soccer team in the city - Miami FC - was announced and, at the weekend, the club completed its first full season in the North American Soccer League.
In MLS itself, for example, Atlanta was awarded a franchise in April 2014 (two months after the Beckham announcement): its team, Atlanta United, will join the league next year.
When asked why he had chosen Miami for his new venture,Beckham simply replied: “I mean, why not?”
However, it now seems that the decision to choose Miami - glamorous, sunny, international Miami - without the land to build a stadium or the money to privately finance it, caused far more problems than expected.
After failed attempts to build a stadium at PortMiami, downtown Miami and the Marlins Park area, the Beckham group finally secured a site in the less-than-glamorous neighbourhood of Overtown last December.
And yet the deal is still not complete, with the Beckham group still in negotiations with Miami-Dade County to buy a final piece of land at the site for their 25,000-seater stadium.
Then there is the issue of financing. After a struggle to strike a deal with an equity partner, reportedly including Qatar Sports Investment - the owners of Paris St-Germain (one of Beckham's former teams) - the group reportedly began talks with Milwaukee Bucks owner Wesley Edens.
But there has been radio silence over the issues of stadium development and funding since mid-June.
The Telegraph understands that the Beckham group is in advanced talks with three or four potential investors and will only commit to purchasing the final piece of land in Overtown until it has a deal with an equity partner and all the money in place to build a stadium.
It is hoped a deal for both the land and the equity partner will be announced early next year.
The total cost for the land and stadium will be around $300 million, a significant sum for a purely privately-financed initiative, something particularly welcome in Miami.
It is also possible, The Telegraph has learned, that the Beckham team could play in a temporary stadium for a year once their own stadium is being built. Preliminary discussions have already taken place with some local venues, including, it is understood, Miami Dolphins' Hard Rock Stadium.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber - who was with Beckham at the launch in February 2014 - remains bullish about the team's chances of entry and enthusiastic about the project.
He told Sports Illustrated last month: “Miami has been a challenging situation for us for many years. We are as close as we’ve been, though that hasn’t changed over the last couple of months.
"We are still working with the investor group to finalize their stadium situation and to solidify their total ownership structure. It has taken more time then all of us had hoped.
"But one way or another, we feel like we’re getting close to the end of the process.”
And yet members of the club's resolutely-optimistic fans' group, the Southern Legion, seem to be running out of patience.
"[The delays are] frustrating to say the least. We hope that things get rolling after the November elections, with politicians no longer focused on getting elected," a Southern Legion spokesman told The Telegraph.
"Another problem is that we haven't heard anything from anyone. MBU, MLS or Miami-Dade County hasn't said a thing neither positive or negative. Just silence. It's concerning and confusing."
Even Beckham himself has admitted his frustration over the lack of progress.
“I mean, delays are always frustrating, but to get it right, sometimes there are delays," he told the BBC in February 2015. "And we will get it right and it will happen. It's taken a little bit longer than we thought.”
With MLS expansion fees already north of $100 million and due to rise to $200 million, it is no wonder that Beckham, who purchased the rights to have a team for a bargain $25 million, wants to see the deal go through.
Garber, for his part, is ensuring that his MLS expansion plans continue in spite of the Beckham delays.
Since February 2014, New York City and Orlando City joined the league while Atlanta, Minnesota and Los Angeles (LAFC) were awarded teams. Garber has also visited Sacramento and Detroit about the cities' MLS ambitions and he is due to visit Cincinnati next month.
Initially, Miami was slated as MLS's 22nd team, it is now due to be the 24th. The goal is to have 24 teams by 2020, so it appears that Beckham and his group still have some time to sort out their issues.
Indeed, with many MLS expansion teams playing in temporary venues initially, there is even more leeway in that regard.
But as the 1,000-day mark passes, with the three-year anniversary looming in the new year, the lack of an official announcement has continued to cause some unrest.
One thing is for sure, Garber will not wait indefinitely to launch a team in Miami with many other creditable candidates desperate to join the league.
Garber on MLS’s expansion slog in Miami: "We are as close as we've been" (by @brianstraus) on.si.com/2cLcWtq
A Miami Beckham United spokesman said in a statement to The Telegraph: “As Miami Beckham United moves closer to launching a world-class soccer club in Miami, our team is in advanced discussions with a number of potential partners that would bring additional resources and expertise to the franchise.
"Any partner selected will share our vision of creating a team that makes Miami and MLS proud. David, Simon and Marcelo appreciate the sustained support of our fans as we work to make our club in Miami a reality.”
“We are supportive of David and his partners’ vision to build a stadium in the urban core of Miami in the Overtown neighborhood,” said MLS Executive Vice President Dan Courtemanche in a statement to The Telegraph.
“Although this process has taken time, we know that they are focused on finalizing the right stadium plan in order to bring MLS to Miami.”
A Miami-Dade County spokesman did not respond to a request for a comment in time for publication.
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