The ground where Orange Bowl once stood, before being demolished in 2008, will serve as home base for David Beckham’s new MLS team.
The British ex soccer player is in the middle of final negotiations with the Major League Soccer of America, according to Don Garber, commissioner of the league. “We are as confident as we have ever been that we can move this forward, […] He has been trying very hard to get a stadium built. There has been a lot more progress lately than in the last 12 to 15 months. We have to finalize a whole bunch of deals with the city and the landowners but the site has been selected,” said Garber. Beckham received the rights to own a MLS team as part of his deal with the League when he signed to be part of the LA Galaxy in 2007.
Beckham is working on this deal with the Mayor of Miami, Tomas Regalado, and with his business partner, Sprint CEO, Marcelo Claure. The stadium location is set to be adjacent to the Marlins Stadium.
In terms of players, the Daily Star reported that Beckham has an eye on Wayne Rooney, who currently plays for the Manchester United, to be his frontman. Although Don Garber wouldn’t discuss the issue much further, given Rooney’s contract with the Manchester team, he did mention his friendship with the Glazer family which would facilitate the transition.
Beckham, who is now 40 years old and retired from soccer in 2013, is said to make an announcement about the construction of the stadium towards the end of the year.