David Beckham may be one step closer to building a Major League Soccer stadium in Miami, as the Beckham Group and the City of Miami reportedly reached an agreement Friday to build the stadium at the preferred site next to Marlins Park, formerly the Orange Bowl.
There still needs to be written confirmation by the city manager, after which the city manager would start negotiations.
A formal announcement is expected in the coming days.
Beckham's business partner Marcelo Claure, who is the CEO of Sprint, held a video conference with Mayor Tomas Regalado and his staff on Friday to discuss the stadium.
"I thought that we have done 10 groundbreakings from the stadium and we never had a stadium, but today is real, today is the real thing. We have the commitment," Mayor Regalado said.
The soccer star was not present at the meeting.
After the meeting wrapped, Claure tweeted:
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Great meeting with @Tomas_Regalado we have presented him our intentions to bring Futbol and a New soccer stadium in the former Orange Bowl. — MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) July 17, 2015
In a statement issued Friday afternoon, a Miami Beckham United spokesperson wrote: "Today's meeting with Mayor Regalado was another positive step toward bringing a world class soccer club to Miami. We're still in the early planning stages and several viable options still exist, but our preferred stadium location is the former Orange Bowl site. David, Marcelo and Simon are thrilled by the initial outpouring of support we've received from our fans and we're excited about sharing our plans with the City, County and community soon."
Beckham, his investment group, and MLS Commissioner Don Garber met with University of Miami President Donna Shalala for three hours last month, looking at options for a joint stadium for a Miami MLS team and Hurricanes football. On the same day, the group met with Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
Beckham's group is reportedly still in talks with the University of Miami regarding possible games. The proposed stadium would likely be too small for college football games.
Originally, Beckham placed two bids for a downtown waterfront location, but those attempts have failed. A stadium next to Marlins Park was considered to be the preferred choice by Beckham’s group and the university.
Southern Legion, a fan group who supports the Miami MLS project, rallied outside City Hall during Friday's meeting.
"I think the investors are going to be aware of what brings people out to games in Miami. It's not like other cities. Everything is a spectacle here," Kenneth Russo said.
"It just means that we are going to proceed and this is going to happen in Miami," Mitchell Torres added.
The planned stadium is expected to seat 25,000 fans and is projected to cost $200 million. The funds are not planned to come from public monies.
The stadium is slated to be built on the west side of Marlins Park on city-owned parking lots, right near the intersection of 7th Street and Northwest 17th Avenue.
