Beckham spreads soccer cheer, aims for MLS in Miami by 2016

By Fernie Ruano Jr.

Brit soccer God turned America’s favorite underwear salesman, David Beckham, impeccably dressed in charcoal flat and skinny tie, pulled out his best moves for photographers capturing his every step and thousands in attendance, most of them women squealing in unison, during a news conference at the Perez Arts Museum, Wednesday morning.

            "I love a challenge,” Beckham, seated between M.L.S. commissioner Don Garber and Miami Dade County mayor Carlos A. Giménez, told the lively crowd, officially confirming that he will own – alongside still unnamed partners -  and run a M.L.S. franchise in Miami, slated to begin play no earlier than 2017. “This is an exciting time for myself, my family and friends.”

            With dashing looks and magnetic charisma, traits that have made him a global icon beyond your neighborhood soccer pitch, Beckham made quick friends with scantily clad soccer moms playing hooky from work and a sea of youngsters opting for Biscayne Bay instead of the classroom for the day, among those starved for the first M.L.S. franchise in town since 2001, the year the Miami Fusion went dark.

Beckham, each of his words routinely met with loud cheers and thunderous applause by the thousands overlooking Biscayne Bay, comforted the crowd by pointing out a lot has changed over the past decade when the Fusion struggled to drum up interest and routinely competed in an empty Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale. His pitch: Miami has plenty to offer.

            “Miami is a vibrant city, a city with a lot of passion,” Beckham said. “It’s ready for football, for soccer. And I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time here.”

            Beckham said Miami is years removed from the Fusion experiment and is now an international hub that appeals to Europeans and Latin America. They all follow soccer and fill stadiums, using recent international soccer matches at Sun Life Stadium featuring Real Madrid, Chelsea and Brazil, as matches that drew large crowds.

            Amid the endless supply of teal and black promotional scarfs being tossed around and the resident DJ’s fascination with 80’s Eurythmics music, Beckham made sure to signal out Gimenez, long opposed to using public money for privately owned sports facilities, before making it clear he has a line of people at the ready to invest money on the “soccer club”.

            “We don’t want public funding,” said Beckham, exercising an option to purchase a team for $25 million before Dec. 31, 2013, a clause included in the 2007 contract he signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy. . “We will fund the stadium ourselves.”

None of the reporters at the presser, plenty of them as exuberant as the soccer groups in attendance, pressed Beckham on if he would indeed use  his own money, if the “partners” he has lined up bail out.

            Beckham and Garber are intent on finding land in Downtown Miami to accommodate the millions of Europeans and Latin Americans sophisticated soccer fans ready to ditch their means of transportation and head to the stadium on foot.

The lack of parking space in Downtown Miami doesn’t faze Beckham, who said soccer fans love to walk and is hoping the same holds true in Miami.

Garber, stopped several feet away from the makeshift stage after the press conference, said he had personally seen a handful of properties in Downtown Miami that appeal to Beckham and his future partners as potential stadium sites.  

“We want the stadium to be downtown,” said Garber.

               But the heartwarming and pageantry –filled gathering, while bringing momentary hope to soccer aficionados spread out in pockets of South Florida, namely Doral and Weston, left plenty of questions unanswered. There is no deal in place for the still-to-be financed stadium, or to purchase a piece of land to put it on.

            The nameless team has no uniform or color scheme, other than a hint in those teal and black scarfs worn in the crowd and a promise from Beckham that both will be representative of Miami’s “vibrant culture.”  

Beckham and those around him on Wednesday pushed 2016 as a target date for the new franchise, but with no indication of where the team will play, at least until a soccer stadium is built, 2017 might be a more realistic goal to kick things off.

             Beckham had no answer when pressed on if he had contacted any players about the possibility of playing for the team, although he later said he had reached out to several players.  

Nobody bothered asking Beckham if the city’s history of fickle fans and funding stadiums gone badly, such as Marlins Park, would have any impact on his efforts going forward.

Not on this day. This day was about celebrating soccer, with Beckham shaking hands, posing for the lens and giving hope to those ready with open arms to greet the possible return of professional soccer to Miami, including 24-year-old Colombian student Jose Tamargo.

“I always wanted to be part of this,” said Tamargo, surrounded by hundreds of supporters known as Soccer Legion, a support group put together to push the M.L.S. effort in Miami. “I love soccer.”

The Miami team would be the 22^nd in M.L.S. history, with the league slated to add two teams – in New York and Orlando City – in 2015.

“There’s (political) support for getting this done,” said Gimenez, minutes after a protest banner flying over the press conference read, “Beckham, don’t trust Gimenez.”