Miami Beckham United group secures land for stadium

Yesterday afternoon, Miami Beckham United partner Marcelo Claure announced to the soccer world that the group had closed on its stadium site. The chief executive officer of Sprint boasted a massive grin while David Beckham looked on, quietly content to achieve a major mark of progress in his quest for a Major League Soccer club in Miami.

Big News: We've closed on our #Miami stadium site. Excited to bring a world-class @MLS club to our fans pic.twitter.com/ocEtgMeaWs

— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) March 24, 2016

According to a Miami Herald article, the Beckham group has secured private land in Overtown, which has been the targeted site since the Marlins Park location fell through last fall. Located a mere two miles from downtown, the Overtown location is planned to house a 25,000 seat facility on nine acres of land.

The six acres secured by the group were privately owned parcels. The remaining three to complete their nine acres remain government owned and the Beckham group will now pursue an agreement to purchase them from the county. Once secured, the nine acres will need to be rezoned from their prior uses.

Provided by Miami Beckham United and Miami-Dade County to the Miami Herald.

Regarding the deal to secure the land, Marcelo Claure said,

"We have the right site, the right ownership group, and a loyal base of fans counting down the days until our first match. We’re all-in on Overtown, and we couldn’t be more excited about moving forward with plans to deliver the most responsible stadium in Miami history."

This next move from the Miami group is a wonderful step to bring real rivalries to the southeastern United States. Without Miami, the only true geographic competitor to Atlanta is Orlando. It sure will be nice to have a pocket of teams in this region of the country. While not as densely packed Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, perhaps the southeastern United States can become the next wave of rivals in MLS.