Inter Miami CF will play their first home game of their inaugural 2020 season in just under two weeks – but it won’t be in the city they are named for, but instead inside of a stadium in Fort Lauderdale originally intended to be the site of their training program and teams.
According to the commissioner of the league they play in, fans shouldn’t get used to that.
Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber told the Miami Herald on Sunday that plans remain in place for the team to eventually play their games at a permanent home on the current site of the Melreese Country Club near Miami International Airport.
“They’re going to play [in Fort Lauderdale] as long as they have to, but they are not going to stay in Fort Lauderdale,” Garber said before the team’s inaugural game against Los Angeles FC. “There will come a time where we’re going to have to push the envelope and get that deal finalized.”
The proposed stadium inside Miami’s Freedom Park has been the source of battles between politicians and leaders in both the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County – with a potential opening in the 2022 season still up in the air.
“The training environment is state of the art, absolutely awe-inspiring,” Garber said when describing the facility located at the former site of Lockhart Stadium and Fort Lauderdale Stadium. “They need to move out of there, get their academy programs and USL teams playing there and they need to get downtown.”
Inter Miami will play their first game in South Florida on March 14th when they host the Los Angeles Galaxy – one of the former teams that current Inter Miami owner David Beckham played for during his legendary soccer career.
