Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article included details of an initial agreement between AFA and the Village. It also included an NBC6 estimate on how much the association will make based on that proposal. The agreement is still in the works. We’ve updated the article.
Another public-private soccer complex deal is in the works for South Florida, this time in the small community of North Bay Village. The idea may bring World Cup champion Argentinian soccer players to train ahead of Miami hosting part of the 2026 World Cup. The project has one major hurdle ahead – getting Miami-Dade County Public Schools to agree.
On Tuesday night, the North Bay Village Commission will vote whether to extend a negotiating deadline to get all the parties on board with the deal.
In the fall of 2022, a group of residents led by a former mayoral candidate questioned the project and raised ethical concerns about the current mayor’s all-expenses paid trip to London to negotiate the deal.
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The Argentine Football Association (AFA), the governing body over the recent World Cup champions, wants to build and manage a soccer complex on the east side of North Bay Village on land owned by the Village and Miami-Dade Public Schools behind Treasure Island Elementary School. The public entities would still own the land but lease it to the association for 30 years.
Before residents of North Bay Village elected him as mayor in 2018, Brent Latham worked for Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and one of its divisions, the Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). He’s now one of the major supporters of the project along with Commissioner Goran Cuk.
When the mayor looks at the village utility facility, parking lot, and garbage trucks on the proposed land, he thinks it can be put to better use.
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“You can see this building is not in good shape. In fact, the top floor is condemned,” Latham told NBC 6 while pointing to the utility building.
The Village received an unsolicited bid for a public-private partnership with the AFA to build a soccer complex, recreation center, village offices, police station, dog park, and other facilities. Later, the Village requested other proposals but didn’t receive any. According to the accepted proposal, AFA would offer programming for young students and community members along with using the facility to train their professional athletes.
Latham supports the project to “make sure the school infrastructure is improved for the kids and that there’s a benefit to the community.”
“Unfortunately the fields are not in great condition. The draining is bad. The infrastructure is not good. Our field is uneven. Our children and our residents deserve much better,” Commissioner Cuk said in an interview with NBC 6.
The Village told NBC6 it’s still negotiating details of the agreement.
“We have the best national team in the world,” Latham said. “This is the federation that’s coming into partner with North Bay Village, potentially the school system, saying we want to provide facilities for you and we’re also going to provide programming and instruction for your kids.”
Not everyone in the Village is on board with the plan. Ernesto Gil, who has lived in North Bay Village for 15 years, tells NBC 6 his community does not need a soccer complex.
“The city needs only a park. Other problems, this will generate more traffic problems, more parking problems,” Gil said.
Gil also expressed concerns about the Association throwing its financial power around the small village of 8,000 people.
“The big problem. The big problem is money,” Gil said.
Flight to London
In June, the Argentine Football Association paid to fly Mayor Latham to London to negotiate the deal. The trip included a ticket to watch Argentina vs. Italy in the Cup of Champions at Wembley Stadium. The trip was first reported by the Florida Bulldog.
The Mayor reported the gift to the Village’s clerk on September 2, valuing the trip, hotel, and match at $2,700, according to a form obtained by NBC 6 through a public record request.
In late October, Latham’s opponent in the 2018 race for mayor, Laura Cattabriga filed a complaint with the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust over the London trip and Latham not reading a stern letter from the Miami-Dade County Public Schools facilities chief into the public record. The complaint filed by Cattabriga claimed the mayor “exploited his official position” with the trip among other things. Gil and other residents signed on to the complaint.
However, the Ethics Commission general counsel determined the complaint was “not legally sufficient” and a final order on January 6 dismissed the complaint. The ethics commission noted the majority of the Village commissioners approved the trip and gave the mayor the power to go and negotiate on behalf of the Village legally.
Towards the end of a May 2022 commission meeting, Latham brought the trip up. Two of the commissioners were not present during the late-night discussion. With his vote and the votes of Commissioners Wilmoth and Streitfeld, the trip was approved. In another meeting, one of the commissioners who had a health issue and could not attend the previous meeting, Vice Mayor Richard Chervony, told the commission he would have raised concerns over the trip.
In the final order dismissing the complaint, Chair of the Commission on Ethics Judith Bernier wrote, “there can be no exploitation when the majority of the Commission agreed and supported the Respondent’s trip at a public meeting.”
“You don’t get a deal done or an investment done without meeting with people,” Latham told NBC 6. “In this case, my choice was, do I pay to go to this meeting or do I let another organization pay for it? We voted as a commission. We did it to the letter ethically and I have the report saying that it was exactly to the letter. And we did it that way. I thought that was the better option.”
Getting the Schools on Board
The Village already has a tentative agreement with the Argentine Football Association but Miami-Dade County Public Schools is not yet part of the agreement. It is possible to continue the agreement without the school land but a full-sized soccer field can only fit in the land behind Treasure Island Elementary.
In September, the Miami-Dade Public Schools facilities chief expressed concern in a letter about how the Village was negotiating without full support from the school board. He also expressed concern about a joint agreement with a for-profit organization.
In November, the school board voted unanimously for superintendent Jose Dotres to “explore a possible collaboration.” A spokesperson for Miami-Dade County Public Schools tells NBC 6 there have been no further discussions since that vote.
That’s why the commission for North Bay Village Tuesday night will vote on whether to give the parties six more months to get the school district at the negotiating table. The Village and the AFA agreement dissolves January 31 without the school board agreement or an extension.
A representative for the Argentine Football Association has not yet returned a request for comment and answers to questions from NBC 6.
This all comes after Miami commissioners approved a major soccer and land deal after almost a decade of intense negotiations and public feedback. The city of Miami will lease more than 70 acres to build a Major League Soccer stadium, commercial offices, and a large residential development called Miami Freedom Park.
