Take the biggest soccer celebrity of modern times, have him buy a lucrative Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise for a discounted $20 million, and bring the world’s favorite game to the cosmopolitan melting pot of Miami.
What could go wrong? Well, as it happens, little has gone right since David Beckham unveiled his franchise dream for Miami United in a blaze of glory back in February 2014.
Beckham- the Man with the Midas Touch nicknamed ‘Goldenballs’ by his former Spice Girl wife, Victoria – thought he had found the right stadium location at the fourth time of asking in Overtown, a deprived run-down area, northwest of Downtown Miami.
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With MLS in the process of expansion, the 41-year-old British star pledged to bring soccer to Miami by 2018 and said he would create a “people’s football club”. But that promise is in doubt given that all the land for the stadium has yet to be purchased.
The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and LA Galaxy star is no stranger to the political process – he played a leading part in successfully lobbying for London to host the 2012 Olympics. But the complexities of Miami real estate continue to dog Miami Beckham United (MBU) whose backers include American Idol creator Simon Fuller and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure.
MBU purchased the Overtown location for $9 million last March. But it turns out it’s much harder for Beckham to buy support for the scheme in a deprived area that is divided over gentrification and where many residents place housing and quality of life above crowning David Beckham’s position as an emperor of soccer.
The Overtown deal marked the first time that Beckham has shaken hands on a real estate deal after previous favored locations in Port Miami, Biscayne Bay and Marlins Park fell through . Yet there are still myriad difficulties to be overcome before the 25,000 seat arena stadium in Overtown is signed, sealed and delivered.
Miami is @MLS #ready A world class city deserves a world class team! #MLSMiami #Beckham #Overtownstadium pic.twitter.com/fPy2mpj0UK
— MLS in MIAMI (@Miami_MLS) May 29, 2016
Perhaps the protracted stadium purchasing process doesn’t help.
The stadium sale falls in two parts – a 4.2 acre parking lot was bought by MBU in March but the deal to buy the adjacent three acres of county land – used as a truck depot – has yet to go through.
MBU is currently locked in talks with Miami-Dade county officials over the extensive provision of “community benefits”- the recruitment policies, employee compensation and local regeneration initiatives that need to happen for Miami United to have their stadium.
When Heat Street visited the site in Overtown, we found rising community unrest at Beckham’s plans. MBU might be for the people, but it is far from being supported by all of Overtown’s residents.
“Fine, build the stadium. Rape the futures of the marginalized African-American communities in the United States…It’s racism.”
Overtown, ravaged by drugs and crime over the years, is far from convinced that David Beckham will benefit the community.
“This is a black community which we have been trying to revive,” says Berlinda Faye Dixon, the board chair of Community Action Group Smash the Slumlords, which seeks to help the residents of one of South Florida’s most dilapidated areas.
Close to tears, Dixon told Heat Street: “We have been trying to keep what little we have and now a stadium is coming in with no planned parking.” (MBU has no plans to build a garage next to the stadium with the only public transport option being a local train station that is located in an undesirable neighborhood.)
Referring to housing projects in Overtown, Dixon added: “Why aren’t new houses being built so slum areas can be demolished? They have been trying forever to get something sorted. There will be a fight for the county land.
“How many people will it take to run the stadium? Ten people on full benefits? Part-timers will come in. [Given] people in this area can’t afford to attend the matches, that land would serve so much better for home ownership.”
Indeed, Dixon is keener that the needs of released local prisoners take precedence over superstar soccer players: “We have a huge problem with residents who have been incarcerated.
“All the brothers involved in the cocaine wars from the Miami Vice days came from Overtown. They all went to prison but now they are coming home and need places to live.”
Aside from parking and prisoners, real estate is also a concern to the Overtown community. “What will happen if they build the stadium and all of the property values go up and the owners then sell?” asked Adrian Madriz, Smash the Slumlord’s executive director.
He added: “This whole area will be full of luxury condos and casinos. The heritage, culture which has existed for hundred years counts for nothing. It will be gone.
“There is a right way to do equitable development in which everyone is a participant in the design of the future of this community. And, there is a wrong way to do it, where capital comes in and displaces people.
“For the people who want to protect against that, this isn’t looking good. For those who don’t care- fine, go build the stadium. Rape the futures of the marginalized and disenfranchised African-American communities in the United States. You have only done it several times before.”
Madriz added: “It’s racism. It’s not like people are burning torches and wearing white sheets but why were other communities worth saving and this one isn’t?”
Yet Heat Street also spoke with an MBU representative. He pointed out that violence and poverty in Overtown is hardly new and that re-generation has failed to happen for decades. Why should the district not welcome a privately financed project that will create youth academies, improve infrastructure projects and revive local business?
“Whenever something like this is mooted, there will always be opposition in one way or another,” the MBU source told Heat Street. “You simply cannot please everyone. Yet the mayor has been very supportive as have many residents we have met. David probably didn’t expect it to take this long but everyone involved remains confident of it happening sooner rather than later.”
Can we please, please, PLEASE end the talk of Miami getting a stadium?
Not on campus. Not at Tropical Park. Not w/Beckham. Not happening.
— StateOfTheU.com (@TheStateOfTheU) February 10, 2014
Even though memories still linger over the local taxpayer footing the bill for the Miami Marlins baseball arena which became a $250 million white elephant, MBU expects to resolve the deadlock soon over the community benefits issue.
If the stadium purchase happens, it would be acquired under Florida’s economic-development laws which gives governments the go-ahead to avoid bidding procedures if the buyer promises to hit hiring and spending targets.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber’s attitude seems to have hardened: “If we don’t have the right stadium, we’re not going to Miami,” he said in September 2014.
As for Beckham, he is resolutely sticking to the line he expressed eighteen months ago: “Miami will happen.” But it is telling that the Miami enterprise received a minimal mention in a recent GQ cover feature exalting Brand Beckham.
In Beckham’s mind the battle is already won. “The great thing about owning a club is the fact that when I was twelve, thirteen years old, I used to sit around with my mates and say, ‘Imagine if we owned a club one day'”, he said earlier this month.
“All of a sudden I’m in a position now where I own a team and we’re putting a club and a team together which is kind of amazing.”
He cited Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as his ideal players for Miami United with reports suggesting that Roberto Carlos, his Brazilian former Real Madrid teammate, will be the team’s first manager.
Despite Beckham’s confidence, who knows at this point when the first ball will be kicked bringing his protracted battle to a successful conclusion?
Yet even if a resolution to the purchase of the county land is swiftly found, the overriding feeling in Overtown remains one of mistrust and needlessness.
As Berlinda Faye Dixon of Smash the Slumlords concludes: “It’s a hot mess.”
has david beckham saved US soccer yet?!
— idc (@mercishukri) December 1, 2015
