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MLS Ticker: PortMiami stadium would cost Beckham’s group $250M; Defoe out again; and more

PortMiami (Getty Images)

By RYAN TOLMICH

If David Beckham is to get his wish of building a Major League Soccer Stadium in PortMiami, his ownership group is going to have to come up with some extra cash.

The publicly owned waterfront location, which has been eyed by Beckham and co. since the announcement of MLS’ Miami expansion, will cost the group an additional $50 million. The bill for the overall construction of the stadium is expected to reach $250 million.

According to the Miami Herald, the stadium would need to be elevated, as the area around the proposed construction site is considered a flood zone.

However, the group isn’t discouraged and still plans to move forward with the PortMiami plan.

“Miami’s greatness is about the interaction of a vibrant culture and the water,” said John Alschuler, an advisor for the group. “We will earn that $50 million back in increased revenue from the stadium.”

Here are some more news items from around MLS:

DEFOE TO MISS THIRD STRAIGHT GAME WITH HAMSTRING INJURY

Toronto FC enter the weekend with hopes of bouncing back from last week’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Colorado Rapids. However, if TFC are to get a result from their trip to Texas Saturday, they will have to do it without their star striker.

Jermain Defoe, who has missed the past two contests with a nagging hamstring injury, is also set to miss this weekend’s trip to FC Dallas. The Englishman, who leads the team with three goals, is expected to return the field on May 3 following a TFC bye week.

However, TFC will be boosted by the return of Jonathan Osorio, who has missed the past three contests with a hamstring injury. Meanwhile, midfielder Michael Bradley is still listed as questionable after missing last week’s match with groin and quadriceps strains.

GONCALVES TO MISS MATCHUP WITH CHICAGO FIRE

The New England Revolution may have picked up three points last week when they knocked off the Houston Dynamo, but they may have lost something nearly as important.

The Revs will have to head to Chicago without their captain and defensive leader, Jose Goncalves, who came out of last week’s contest with a strained right quad. Goncalves will miss time for the first time in a Revs uniform, having played in all 34 games last season.

However, head coach Jay Heaps has faith in his team’s ability to cope without its captain, as the third-year coach has confidence in his backline, despite the absence of the hulking Portuguese defender.

“You build a team that has depth,” Jay Heaps told MLSsoccer.com prior to Friday morning’s training session. “I think we have good depth and we challenge each other.”

DYNAMO LAUNCH U-23 TEAM

Heading into May, seven of MLS’ 19 teams boasted U-23 sides to bridge the gap between the reserves and the first team. However, the Houston Dynamo are set to make that eight.

The Dynamo announced this week that the club would launch a U-23 side to compete starting in May. The team will be made up of former and current Dynamo Academy players as well as trialists.

“This is another step forward for our player development system,” said James Clarkson, Dynamo director of youth development. “It will be great to work with the college players again and hopefully we find some outstanding talent at the trials. I’m very confident of putting together a very competitive group this summer.”

The Dynamo join the Chicago Fire, D.C. United, Montreal Impact, Portland Timbers, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC as MLS sides with U-23 teams.

Six former Dynamo academy products have been named to the roster (Bryan Celis, Christian Diaz, Juan Lopez, Alex Ochoa, Fernando Pina and Miguel Zapata), while the rest of the squad will be announced at a later date.

Do you like the Miami stadium plans? How will TFC and New England respond without Defoe and Goncalves? Should more MLS teams form U-23 sides?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Jose Goncalves didn’t play in the Revs game at Philly. It was a coach’s decision. This upcoming game is his first missed game due to injury.

    Reply
  2. I assume they only have to fill up to the Zone AE mark of 10′ and not the adjacent Zone VE mark of 13′? Contour data in the area looks like current elevation is about 5′. That would mean at least 5′ of fill if not 8′.

    Reply
      • Not sure. I just grabbed floodplain data from FEMA for the area. It’s flat and the flooding won’t change that much over the port area. If it were say, the size of BBVA in Houston, the park takes up about 12 acres. Say the building takes up 75% of that, this yields about 9 acres. If it’s only 5 feet of fill, that’s 45 acre-feet of fill, or 72,600 yards of fill. 18-wheelers carry about 10-12 yards, so that would be a bit over 6000 trucks of dirt.

        Time to invest in dirt and materials transportation in Miami!

    • At what point does the accumulation of construction demands, insurance costs, political fighting necessary to beat out the office complex, increased cost, etc. become too much to bother with? You’re talking about Miami! Thousand people in the stands watching Miami FC! 10K watching the Fusion when they had a top team! And you’re going to spend more on their stadium than for many of the cookie cutters you have for better funded teams? In an obvious flood area when storm surge comes or it rains hard? This might look OK on paper to people who drool at renderings but it sounds like a boondoggle in practice……

      Reply
    • how many divisions do we have?

      NASL? USL? PDL? NPSL?

      can’t we just reformat them to be MLS 2nd division, 3rd Division, 4th Division?

      Reply
      • Do you want to own the lower league teams or not? If they are “Galaxy II” or “Dynamo U23” then you own it and if it’s in the same city as the big league team it’s basically a money loser because how many fans will pay to watch kids play when the big league team is around.

        MLS could put its farm teams in other cities but then you’re trying to make a team fly in a city that couldn’t get a MLS franchise.

        Or you can basically delegate to someone else who owns the team, who runs the financial risk, but then you lose control of the product perhaps.

        It also bears reminding that one reason other leagues can afford a bunch of age group teams is 50,000 people watching the big league team every week and buying jerseys will soak up a few money losing youth teams.

      • Your logic only covers near future investments. Any smart investor knows that it’s the further future investments that really bear the fruits worth growing. You can either fork over a huge sum of money to a T. Henry to play for your team, Or! you can tailor your own future soccer stars in a sub leage team (Galaxy II, Dynamo III, etc..). If it’s done right, the latter in this one works better in the long run…

    • PDL is focused on u23 growth. I believe every team must have mostly (%?) U23 players and a lot of college players play there between college seasons. That would be the ideal league for a u23 team… Surprised more teams don’t already do this.

      I dont know much about the npsl and how different it is from usl pro. As with all of these other leagues its probably just a different org/budget structure. Agreed they should simplify these leagues and all compete in an open format more

      Reply

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