Tim Leiweke is heading MLS Miami stadium negotations, and the former Toronto FC executive says that process isn’t looking too promising.
Leiweke told the Miami Herald that David Beckham’s MLS Miami group continues to make progress with the city with regards to acquiring land near Marlins Park. However, negotiations to acquire six more privately-owned land parcels have stalled as the current owners continue to hold out for additional money.
“They know what we’re doing and unfortunately they’ve let that create an absolutely unrealistic conversation,” Leiweke said. “They can absolutely blow this deal up, and they probably will blow this deal up. We’re willing to overpay. We just don’t want to be the stupidest guys on the face of the earth.”
Leiweke went on to say that the negotiations have “not been the smartest negotiation I’ve been a part of”. Beckham’s Miami group has already failed to acquire stadium sites at PortMiami and adjacent to the AmericanAirlines Arena.
With the MLS board of governors meeting just several weeks away, the Miami group is expected to have a stadium location signed, sealed and delivered by the first week of December. But, if they don’t, Leiweke fears for the future of the project as a whole.
“If we don’t have a deal by that MLS board meeting it’s up to the commissioner and the board to decide what happens to this option. But I am worried,” Leiweke told The Miami Herald. “It’s been a long time since this has been discussed and we’ve been unable to come to them with a viable plan that works
“If at the end of the day, whether it be the politics or the greed of the situation we’re facing makes this unable to happen … then I’ll let the commissioner decide. But I don’t like those odds and it makes me very nervous about MLS in Miami.”
What do you think of Leiweke’s comments? Concerned about the future of the project?
Share your thoughts below.
This is Leiweke’s MO: Make a lot of public noise to intimidate people, and act like a bull in a china shop. He thrives on intimidation and power trips. He’s also not very bright. When he came to Toronto, he wanted to take down pictures of past Maple Leaf glories because they represented the past and served as a distraction to the present. Imagine somebody trying to do that with the Yankees, Dodgers, Cowboys, Packers, Celtics or Lakers, for example?
Besides, despite Leiweke’s track record with the Galaxy, he couldn’t get a football stadium built in Downtown Los Angeles, despite all his blowhard bravado.
And Garber will continue to pan to Beckham, and probably give him an extension. San Antonio has a plan with a stadium ready to go…..
Lieweke calling people greedy is a laugher, especially when Becks United wants to avoid paying taxes.
What Beckham understands about Miami is that it’s a city that is appealing to top-class European talent. Top guys like Pirlo, Gerrard, and Henry so far have wanted to play in New York or Southern California. Is not inconceivable that Beckham could Ronaldo to Miami; that will never happen in San Antonio or Sacramento. Beckham and Claure want to grow Miami into a world-class soccer franchise. While difficult and certainly a long-term proposal, the allure of Miami to international players makes that possible.
So Beckham want to create a ClubMed for semiretired footballers? The notion that top athletes don’t want to go to San Antonio because of the city itself is pretty narrow minded. The Spurs have done quite fine atracting and keeping some of the NBA finest with one formula: a top class organization that wins championships. At the end of the day, athletes want to win and if you create that you will attract talent to just about anywhere.
Tell that to the player’s wives who push for a move to Madrid, London, and Paris over Manchester.
Well, Florida is already a big retirement state. But not sure why Becks thinks playing retirement league football will automatically get results in MLS. Pirlo, Gerrard, and Gramps proved as much this year.
Meanwhile San Antonio and Sacramento with proven fan bases and solid stadium plans wait. Miami is clearly not ready at this time. I think it is time for MLS to move on.
The potential Sacramento and San Antonio investment groups should be on the phone to Beckham stat. Try to bring him onboard and invoke his $25 million franchise coupon. Miami may be sexy but you already have Fort Lauderdale and (soon) Miami in the NASL, plus teams in Orlando,Tampa, and Jacksonville. I wouldn’t touch Florida. If Beckham want glitz he should go to Las Vegas. If he wants success he should go with Sacramento or San Antonio.
Sacramento is guaranteed to be another Portland and sell out every game. They have a great ownership group lined up. They have a stadium site. Why does MLS deal with this crap in Miami?
Go with the sure thing… GO TO SACRAMENTO!!
I think Tim Leiweke is just notifying the press and others that the holdup is due to some very greedy landowners who are asking a Kings Ransom for a few needed parcels. They are doing this because they can. as the Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami offficials are loathe to invoke their Eminent Domain powers to force the acquisition of the needed land. Eminent Domain proceedings can be quite political although the process is quite fair and the sellers always realize a very good profit through the adjudication process where the court determines the fair market value, the seller also realizes a very good tax advantage. But those who advocate absolute property rights say eminent Domain is just government theft. It’s not, and has been upheld by the US Supreme Court through several landmark cases over the last few decades
But what the Beckham group are not sating is that they have the Miami School District as a partner who will for a low nominal cost acquire the Beckham MLS stadium an lease it back to the Miami MLS team for a nominal sum and also have complete priority calendar rights.
And here is the big hammer;
As a school district, The Miami School District can initiate Eminent Domain proceedings on it’s own, without City, Council or State oversight or approval.
Do you think hat they would allow a beautiful state of the art facility to be used by the School,District for any event it seem suitable for and at no cost, go bye-bye without thier say?
I don’t think so.
Leiweike is just biding his time and let the negotiations play out. But if they stall, they will start playing hardball, and I bet just the hint of an Eminent Domain acquisition will make the property owners more amenable to a privately negotiated price.
You are wrong in many counts but at the day it doesn’t matter. They’ll build a stadium nobody wants and will hold soccer games nobody will attend.Politicians will take that into consideration more so than the wishes of a couple of nobodies like Beckham or Leiweike. Two names that mean absolutely nothing in local politics.
And finally, do not EVER underestimate a school districts desire for facilities when offered. School Districts are fiefdoms unto themselves and care very little about what other government’s politics are. If it comes down to the ED hammer, they will wield it like Thor’s
As a former city planner who has overseen many a redevelopment project and too many eminent domain cases, I know of what I speak.
What was it that Mark Twain said? Something like, for practice God made idiots. Then he created school boards. I’m curious, where were you a city planner? Although I was not one, I was often very involved in the process from the governmental side and from the standpoint of a landowner in a community planning group.
In the Public Sector: LA City,LA County/South Bay. Central Orange County. Ca, North San Diego County. Arizona and Colorado
Private Sector LA County, Arizona Colorado.
I prefer not to name the exact agencies, but it’s over 20 years experience.
Before that I was an analyst with the NGSIA in Washington DC.
These comments from Leiweke are the first signs of smart negotiation in this process. The local politicians and landowners have been playing Beckham from the start. Unfortunately for Miami, it may be too little too late. MLS doesn’t need a Miami team playing next to Marlins Park. If they had brought in Leiweke in time to negotiate either of the waterside locations, that might have been good for MLS.
Good riddance. NASL has already gotten further in a shorter amount of time.
Throw this ridiculous expansion idea into the trash and let Sacramento come in already.
I say blow that sheat up. Nobody cares except for a half a dozen people that stand to make a lot of money out of the deal.
what happened to the idea of working with school district? I was under the impression they owned some better land than the “spiritually tainted” area around the Marlins Stadium.
if I owned the little holdout parcel I would hold my ground too!
New leadership? While people love to bash Garber every chance they get, and while no Commissioner is perfect, he has led MLS to unprecedented heights.
I wish we could fast forward 30 years when Pro/Rel is in place and the real clubs with real fan bases with real ownership groups can be at the appropriate level.
NYCFC with no real timetable on a SSS and this Miami fiasco are complete blunders by Garber/MLS obsessed with a particular city over an actual fanbase, support and stadium plans.
We need new leadership and a new voice to take the next step with MLS or it’ll forever feel plastic and manufactured.
Miami is a disaster and I don’t get the bending over backwards to place a team in arguably the worst sports city in the country. Too early to label NYCFC a failure though. 30k attendance in the baseball stadium and while their performances were generally laughable they were no more laughable than previous expansion teams.
seriously.. i guess this is all Don Garber’s dream and we are just along for the ride.
How does pro/rel change the likelihood of Miami? It’s a poor choice if it’s slotted into a chosen league, it would be just as poor a choice in a Darwinian system, since it’s an idea without a real fanbase.
You mean how does cities being anointed “first division” clubs that are complete quagmires from the jump?
Asking a question you already know is a waste of both of our times.
Hear hear ! Couldn’t have said it any better. Let things grow by themselves.
Enough with the pining for pro / rel. It’s not happening in the USA unless it’s put in place at a minor league level; it’ll never happen at the MLS / 1st division level. America uses a franchise model. Why would any deep pocketed investor pony up a $100 million franchise fee, commit to building a stadium, and then risk that his team has a bad year and gets relegated to play the likes of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds? I’m not saying you shouldn’t wish for pro / rel, but it won’t happen here; it’s a vestige of a system with 100+ years of soccer history. MLS is following the NFL model. I see a finalized MLS with a similar 32 teams across the country (and Canada) and probably a conference set-up. The “let things grow by themselves” is playing out with lower division clubs like Seattle, Montreal, Minnesota, etc., proving the demand is there and seeking “promotion” to MLS. Another possibility is that a leauge like the NASL grows to challenge MLS and eventually forces a combination whereby some strong teams join MLS, some smaller market teams join the USL, and some fold. Think NHL-WHA or NBA- ABA.
I get it NFL people run MLS. They run something close to a monopoly and tried to even steal and market the local cup that those successful teams in the PNW created. So rather than creating history they would kill it. So yeah, I agree with you, under this commissioner who bends over for NFL owners, there will be no soccer pyramid in America. But under a different commish, who had the guts to say F U to those owners, let them leave, and invite new ones in who actually love soccer more than football – and there are plenty who would – it might be a different story. It only takes a little imagination to see the potential of a bigger 2 or 3 division MLS with regional cups and playoffs to go up or down or win the whole thing. Could be different than all the other leagues in the world, and possibly, eventually, better. Different from other American leagues too, which is exactly why it could be popular here.
When marketing something among crowded competition, isn’t the point to make it stand out, to not imitate? MLS, fine league, but could be so much better.
What a silly situation. I love that Beckham wants to own a team, but his unwillingness to go elsewhere is going to doom him. Miami’s politics and history of sports teams seems like a heck of a hurdle for a growing but fragile league. Why does he want the team there so bad? Cause he likes to hang out there? Seems like really weak reasoning for such a massive investment.
It’s a shame because there are some other expansion candidates with existing fanbases and infrastructure that Beckham could easily make the difference for. Maybe Leiweke can convince him to look elsewhere.
Ive been skeptical of mls in Miami since it first started being discussed in 2008. Nothing ive seen or read in the last 7 years has caused me to change my mind. This isnt happening.
Leiweke has gone to the press as a negotiating tactic – and the game of chicken ensues. If I owned the land I would play hard ball with this shark!
Well, the property owners are about to miss out on the overpay they’d be getting if this was going to work out, so everyone loses in the end. They’re not going to get offers above market for that land from anyone else.
“They know what we’re doing and unfortunately they’ve let that create an absolutely unrealistic conversation,”
Rich people that simply cannot believe other people won’t roll over and let them become richer.
I hear San Antonio has an actual stadium and are ready to expand. This one has become a joke
Miami never really made sense to me as a destination based on the meh support for the first MLS team, and indifference to the minor league sides. That they can’t get a stadium done in Miami, particularly after the Marlins’ deal, is no surprise. It seems very political and Beckham is coming from the outside trying to impose.
But my pet theory is the league owed Beckham his option where he chose, he chose Miami, and they are simply indulging him a few years while real expansion takes place. You wanna try Miami, have at it. You’ll notice it’s the only one of the new “teams” not technically “awarded” when it was given, which I think is so they can back out easier. He has to create the necessary conditions, stadium etc., before he actually gets the team.
I see him getting maybe one more year, or maybe this is it, and then it’ll be, do you want to be part of a team ownership group in another city, eg San Antonio? Do you want us to pay you something for your option to go away? Do you want in on an existing team? I don’t see Miami working so the exit strategy MLS uses to walk away will be the interesting part.