By DAN KARELL
A stadium deal isn’t yet in place, but David Beckham and Major League Soccer are looking very likely to return to Miami.
Beckham has exercised the clause in his contract to buy into MLS as an investor-operator and will be in Miami on Tuesday and Wednesday along with MLS Commissioner Don Garber to rally support for an MLS club in Miami, according to the Miami Herald. Beckham and Garber are currently scheduled to hold a press conference on Wednesday morning, with a major announcement expected.
Stadium negotiations are continuing between Beckham’s management group and Miami-Dade County officials. Beckham’s preferred stadium site is a piece of county-owned land in the southwest portion of PortMiami. The Herald reports that a stadium deal could be reached “in the next few months.”
Beckham and Garber will attend an invitation-only reception on Tuesday evening before attending the press conference the next morning. On Wednesday afternoon, Beckham is expected to hold a meet-and-greet with youth soccer players at Kendall Soccer Park, southwest of Miami.
When Beckham signed with MLS in 2007, he was given an option to buy into the league for a cut-rate price of $25 million to operate any club outside the New York City market once he retired. It was expected since Beckham retired last May that he would join MLS as an owner and run a new expansion franchise.
MLS has already had a franchise in Miami (though they played their home games in Fort Lauderdale), the Miami Fusion, which operated from 1998 to 2001. The team was contracted, along with the Tampa Bay Mutiny, following the 2001 season.
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What do you think of this development? Excited for MLS to return to Miami? Do you see Beckham getting his preferred stadium site? Think this is a mistake for MLS?
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