While Miami Beckham United co-Owner Jorge Mas heads up talks with the city to "build a stadium on a city golf course near Miami International Airport, the group faces a June 8 deadline to make a $901,500 down payment on three acres of county land on a different stadium site in Overtown," according to Douglas Hanks of the MIAMI HERALD. David Beckham's lawyers are "pressing Miami-Dade to waive the deadline" since the '17 land deal is the "subject of a lawsuit." The lawsuit by wealthy activist and local land owner Bruce Matheson "challenging the pending sale did not prevent the Beckham group from making the first payment required under the agreement when it delivered Miami-Dade a $450,000 check on Sept. 8." But that deadline arrived before Mas and his brother, Jose, "joined the soccer bid as Beckham's first local partners and promptly began raising private doubts about the wisdom of building a stadium on the Overtown site." Those doubts "took center stage in January when Beckham joined the Mas brothers and MLS Commissioner Don Garber for a ceremony downtown to celebrate the league's formally awarding Miami an expansion franchise." Overtown was "never mentioned during the event." Weeks later, Jorge Mas "aired his first public doubts about the site." Officially, the Overtown site "remains the Beckham group's choice for a stadium." The partners have already paid about $19M for "six acres of privately owned land next to the county parcel" (MIAMI HERALD, 6/3).
ONE STEP CLOSER: In Columbus, Andrew Erickson noted a group of city departments in Austin on Friday released a 34-page memorandum detailing the 24-acre McKalla Place site, which concludes that it is a "suitable site" for an MLS stadium. Hours later, Precourt Sports Ventures, which owns the Crew, "released its own 189-page proposal for the McKalla Place stadium site, including possible lease terms of $1 per year, setting up a busy June with major implications in the team’s relocation efforts." The proposal "includes the recommendation for an initial 20-year lease term with the city at $1 per year rent with the team receiving all general and parking revenues." It also "suggests a team option for up to three additional 20-year lease terms." The plan includes a schedule for a $200M, "PSV-funded stadium to be completed in time" for the '21 MLS season (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 6/2).
