Miami-Dade County commissioners yesterday “eliminated from contention the publicly owned PortMiami location” David Beckham’s investment group had “initially set its sights on” for an MLS expansion team’s stadium, according to Patricia Mazzei of the MIAMI HERALD. For now, the planned MLS club “will have no fallback plan, with commissioners voting 11-1 against a port stadium.” The decision, which “came during a discussion of future port development, was unscheduled but clearly orchestrated behind the scenes by the Miami Seaport Alliance, an organization led by Royal Caribbean Cruises in opposition to a soccer stadium” next to the cruise company’s waterfront HQ. No one from Beckham’s core group was present -- an absence that underscored how he has been “outmaneuvered at times in the game of local politics.” There "seemed to be more support for the water basin, known as the Florida East Coast Railway slip, that Beckham’s group is now targeting.” But that site is “fraught with complications, since it is owned by the city of Miami and would involve a land swap with the county” (MIAMI HERALD, 5/21).
