David Beckham’s $220 Million Miami Stadium

[finehoe]

Tim Leiweke of Miami Beckham United gave a presentation on what the group is planning for a new soccer stadium.

    It will be built without parking garages. The focus is on being pedestrian and mass transit friendly, and they count almost 7,000 spaces already in the area.
    Cost is expected to be about $220 million. A new financial backer will be announced soon.
    There will be about 25,000 seats.
    Seats will be covered by a roof. They want the field itself to be under open air for a quality natural turf.
    The stadium will be LEED certified, and the focus is on making it as environmentally friendly as possible.
    They will be assessed and pay property taxes. No government or CRA subsidies whatsoever.
    There won't be a retail or restaurant component in the stadium. They want area shopping and retail to thrive, and not be contained within the stadium.



http://www.thenextmiami.com/beckhams-220-million-stadium-will-have-25000-covered-seats/

[Tacachale]

Not surprising. Miami has made it abundantly clear that it doesn't particularly care if they get a soccer stadium (or MLS team), and for whatever reason Beckham and MLS really, really want to be in Miami. This is their fourth location at least, and it's the first time they're proposing doing it without the city, and paying taxes. We'll see if the city lets them get away with the no parking thing, it sounds nice, but it's more likely an attempt to get out of building garages.

[RattlerGator]

People are not going to *walk* from those area parking spots to that stadium. They just aren't. I'm not sure this thing gets done.

[I-10east]

Khan has revived to old shipyards plan and moved it to MIA? Oh wait...

[finehoe]

Khan has revived to old shipyards plan and moved it to MIA? Oh wait...

You knew it wasn't Khan as soon as you saw this: "They will be assessed and pay property taxes. No government or CRA subsidies whatsoever."

[Adam White]

Khan has revived to old shipyards plan and moved it to MIA? Oh wait...

You knew it wasn't Khan as soon as you saw this: "They will be assessed and pay property taxes. No government or CRA subsidies whatsoever."

^Ha!

[Tacachale]

You also know it's not Khan considering that they're dumping a whole lot of their own money into an unproven project that no one really seems to want.

The Miami area has had a number of pro soccer teams that have given comparatively limited support (including one of the only two MLS teams to truly fail), it has plenty of sports stadiums that could be rented or refurbished for a lot cheaper than $220 million, and a serious case of stadium fatigue after Marlins Park. This is Beckham's fourth attempt to build a stadium in urban Miami (the first three did ask for millions in taxpayer money), which isn't a good sign. Maybe he and MLS really see some potential that no one else does, or maybe they've just painted themselves into a corner on opening up in Miami, but compared to other successful MLS expansions in the last few years, this one is really very strange.

[Adam White]

You also know it's not Khan considering that they're dumping a whole lot of their own money into an unproven project that no one really seems to want.

The Miami area has had a number of pro soccer teams that have given comparatively limited support (including one of the only two MLS teams to truly fail), it has plenty of sports stadiums that could be rented or refurbished for a lot cheaper than $220 million, and a serious case of stadium fatigue after Marlins Park. This is Beckham's fourth attempt to build a stadium in urban Miami (the first three did ask for millions in taxpayer money), which isn't a good sign. Maybe he and MLS really see some potential that no one else does, or maybe they've just painted themselves into a corner on opening up in Miami, but compared to other successful MLS expansions in the last few years, this one is really very strange.

It could fail - and might. But I reckon Beckham is banking on soccer's growth in popularity in recent years as well as the local hispanic population and whatever value his name adds to the project.

I'm sure he's also taken the relative success of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers into account (they average over 5000 per game).

You never know what will happen and this could be a major flop - but the market for soccer in South Florida (and in the USA in general) has grown since the days of the Miami Fusion.

[fsquid]

Hispanics haven't really taken to MLS though.  They'd rather watch the Mexican league on the TV.

[FlaBoy]

Who cares?!

[Adam White]

Hispanics haven't really taken to MLS though.  They'd rather watch the Mexican league on the TV.

That's not entirely true. I believe Houston and Dallas both have Latino supporters' groups, for example. And nothing stops people from watching multiple teams or leagues. I personally think it's completely stupid, but I know a number of people who have numerous favorite teams across multiple leagues.

And there is a difference between watching Mexican soccer on TV and sitting in a stadium watching live soccer - and maybe even seeing some of your favorite, slightly over-the-hill soccer stars enjoying themselves in their twilight years.

[Tacachale]

You also know it's not Khan considering that they're dumping a whole lot of their own money into an unproven project that no one really seems to want.

The Miami area has had a number of pro soccer teams that have given comparatively limited support (including one of the only two MLS teams to truly fail), it has plenty of sports stadiums that could be rented or refurbished for a lot cheaper than $220 million, and a serious case of stadium fatigue after Marlins Park. This is Beckham's fourth attempt to build a stadium in urban Miami (the first three did ask for millions in taxpayer money), which isn't a good sign. Maybe he and MLS really see some potential that no one else does, or maybe they've just painted themselves into a corner on opening up in Miami, but compared to other successful MLS expansions in the last few years, this one is really very strange.

It could fail - and might. But I reckon Beckham is banking on soccer's growth in popularity in recent years as well as the local hispanic population and whatever value his name adds to the project.

I'm sure he's also taken the relative success of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers into account (they average over 5000 per game).

You never know what will happen and this could be a major flop - but the market for soccer in South Florida (and in the USA in general) has grown since the days of the Miami Fusion.

For its size and reputation as a major metro, the Miami area has been a pretty weak sports market. That's not a knock on them, it's because there's a million things to do on any given day, and the region attracts residents from the world over. But it's been an especially weak market for soccer. On top of the Fusion failing, there have been several others fail or have weak performance. The Ft. Lauderdale Strikers are usually in the bottom of the NASL in attendance (and there's about to be another NASL team in Miami-Dade). I think the Strikers attendance was up this year, but it was a year where teams in much smaller markets were far more successful (Sacramento, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and San Antonio, in particular).

I highly suspect that the deal Beckham and MLS have with each other is a much bigger driving force in the decision than the suitability of Miami (especially downtown Miami) as a location for soccer. Beckham can get his own MLS team for cheap, but only if he puts it in a soccer-specific stadium in urban Miami. And MLS's best hope of getting into Miami is Beckham. That said, if they can finally get it off the ground, I expect they'll be ok, but I don't know that whatever success they have will cover the costs of starting up.

[Adam White]

You also know it's not Khan considering that they're dumping a whole lot of their own money into an unproven project that no one really seems to want.

The Miami area has had a number of pro soccer teams that have given comparatively limited support (including one of the only two MLS teams to truly fail), it has plenty of sports stadiums that could be rented or refurbished for a lot cheaper than $220 million, and a serious case of stadium fatigue after Marlins Park. This is Beckham's fourth attempt to build a stadium in urban Miami (the first three did ask for millions in taxpayer money), which isn't a good sign. Maybe he and MLS really see some potential that no one else does, or maybe they've just painted themselves into a corner on opening up in Miami, but compared to other successful MLS expansions in the last few years, this one is really very strange.

It could fail - and might. But I reckon Beckham is banking on soccer's growth in popularity in recent years as well as the local hispanic population and whatever value his name adds to the project.

I'm sure he's also taken the relative success of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers into account (they average over 5000 per game).

You never know what will happen and this could be a major flop - but the market for soccer in South Florida (and in the USA in general) has grown since the days of the Miami Fusion.

For its size and reputation as a major metro, the Miami area has been a pretty weak sports market. That's not a knock on them, it's because there's a million things to do on any given day, and the region attracts residents from the world over. But it's been an especially weak market for soccer. On top of the Fusion failing, there have been several others fail or have weak performance. The Ft. Lauderdale Strikers are usually in the bottom of the NASL in attendance (and there's about to be another NASL team in Miami-Dade). I think the Strikers attendance was up this year, but it was a year where teams in much smaller markets were far more successful (Sacramento, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and San Antonio, in particular).

I highly suspect that the deal Beckham and MLS have with each other is a much bigger driving force in the decision than the suitability of Miami (especially downtown Miami) as a location for soccer. Beckham can get his own MLS team for cheap, but only if he puts it in a soccer-specific stadium in urban Miami. And MLS's best hope of getting into Miami is Beckham. That said, if they can finally get it off the ground, I expect they'll be ok, but I don't know that whatever success they have will cover the costs of starting up.

I think it's a gamble - and he's gambling on the potential Miami has - or should have - more than on its track record. I hope he does well. It would be great to see the MLS do well.

[tufsu1]

The Miami area has had a number of pro soccer teams that have given comparatively limited support (including one of the only two MLS teams to truly fail),

to be fair, the south Florida soccer market 20 years ago was pretty much in south and central Miami....and the team played at Lockhart Stadium (a serious dump) in northwest Ft. Lauderdale

[RattlerGator]

The problem is the location. People get this crazy idea that when Latin Americans get to the States they bring their attendance habits with them.

They don't.

Instead, they logically adopt American habits and merge them into their pre-exisiting expectations. South Florida people are *not* going to walk from those distant parking locations over to that stadium. They just aren't going to do it; too scared (like so many in Jax freaked out about multiple locations in and around downtown) and, in addition, too acculturated to American expectations.

But good luck to them. I've talked with Mike Holloway, national championship winning head track coach at UF, and a premier MLS soccer stadium could also double as a premier track facility in Florida (we have none; Percy Beard Track/Pressly Stadium is good and so is the track at UNF but certainly not of the caliber of Hayward Field in Oregon or, especially, Franklin Field in Philadelphia). If anyone has ever watched the Penn Relays, you know a premier track stadium in Miami could make for some really special track and field moments with American track fans mixed in with all of those crazy Jamaicans & other West Indians cheering on their countrymen.

I had hoped the Jaguars Flex Field might have a premier track around it with seating for 8 to 10,000 folks (high school football games could have been held there, etc.); truly would have been very interesting but I doubt that it happens like that.

Anyway, as expressed earlier, good luck to Beckham. He's going to need it.