Beckham may be closer to securing land for a soccer stadium.
A funny thing happened to David Beckham and his soccer team partners on the way to getting land needed to build a stadium in Miami for their Major League Soccer expansion franchise. Beckham and his partners won the right from Miami voters to negotiate a purchase of city land that is part of a municipal golf course on Election Day. But the morning after, Beckham and his group were legally barred from speaking to Miami officials because there was an ethics complaint about Beckham’s group. A Miami attorney David Winkler alleged that Beckham’s group, Miami Beckham United LLC, was lobbying the city to get the stadium proposal on the ballot but Beckham’s group members were not registered lobbyists.
Voters said yes to a proposal that allowed Miami to change its no-bidding laws which would allow city officials to negotiate a no bid deal with Beckham’s business to use city land for the stadium. Beckham’s plan to get the lease then build a facility along with other development on a city owned golf course. Four of five Miami commissioners would have to approve the lease. Major League Soccer has been waiting for Beckham to field a Miami franchise since granting Beckham a license to operate a Miami team in 2014. The latest plan is to build a stadium on a golf course, the Melreese Country Club which is owned by the city of Miami. The Beckham proposal is like many others, an athletic facility will anchor a complex that comes complete with shops, a hotel, office space and a public park.  Beckham added new business partners in December 2017. The new partners didn’t care much for a proposed Overton location and the city owned golf course property became the apple of the Beckham group’s eye. It has not been easy for David Beckham to build a stadium.
