Beckham announces MLS Miami franchise plans
David Beckham has confirmed the launch of his own Miami-based Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise at a press conference today (5 February) – the first in the Florida city since 2001.
The 38-year-old's move into football ownership is expected to cost him £15m - around 25 per cent of the price other new clubs have to pay.
On Monday it was announced that Beckham would be making a 'significant announcement' alongside MLS commissioner Don Garber in Miami.
Speaking at the press conference Garber said: “David chose Miami because he believes in this city. People here love this sport. We together have no doubt it will be a very successful MLS team.”
The franchise is not expected to take part in the MLS until 2017 with major issues such as the stadium still to be ironed out, though Beckham confirmed the stadium build would be completely privately funded and also revealed the stadium’s location.
“We don’t want public funding, we will fund the stadium ourselves, “said Beckham. "It’s something where we have worked very hard to get to this stage. We’ve had some great work from the mayor and the commissioners. We want to create the people’s football club.
“We can’t build a stadium in two weeks, this is going to take time. Once we have the right investors and we have the site we want, you’ll know more. We will be in downtown Miami. I think it’s important we are in this part of the city because I see what The Miami Heat has done and football fans love to commute, love to walk to games. It’s a community. Once we have the site we’ll be quick, very quick hopefully.”
City mayor, Carlos Giménez also promised the stadium build would be “iconic” to the city of Miami. He said: “We started our negotiations last week. We know that we have to get rolling , identify and get control of a site to start construction of a stadium. We’re going to do all we can to get this stadium built asap and start enjoying football matches.
“If you come back in five years, you aren’t going to recognise Miami and that stadium needs to be part of that Miami.”
On how the actual team will take shape Beckham said: “For me i wanted to create a team that we can start from scratch. We will want to bring some of the best players in football to this team. I've seen what happens when you bring great players to a team. We will bring great players in to this team, but the one thing I want to achieve is to set up a great academy to bring local talent, local children, local football players that believe they can reach the top.”
The MLS currently consists of 19 teams, but the league announced in 2013 that two further sides would join in 2015 – Orlando City SC and New York City, which is part-owned by Manchester City.
The last MLS team in Miami folded after being in existence for four seasons. It struggled with poor attendance and had the lowest income in the MLS.
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