David Beckham's MLS partner eyes new Miami stadium sites

MIAMI: David Beckham's five-year quest to bring a Major League Soccer expansion team to Miami has barely been completed but one of his new partners is already looking at new stadium sites.

Jorge Mas told the Miami Herald he has met with developers about other stadium sites, saying the nine-acre Overtown tract isn't large enough for his vision of a new high-tech stadium for Miami's MLS team.

"I want to make it the most technologically advanced, futuristic stadium in the country," Mas told the newspaper. "Obviously, you need more than nine acres for that. We've been exploring the surrounding area in terms of: What can we do to put this all together?"

Mas and his brother joined the Beckham group late last year as the first local investors, well after Beckham's group went through multiple stadium sites before finally finding one that worked and sorting out details to obtain league approval.

Sites near the Miami River and baseball park of the Miami Marlins, both failed Beckham desired stadium sites, have been scouted, as has a site in Doral that would require approval from MLS, which agreed only to a stadium site in the Miami city limits.

The story said the Mas brothers have expressed concerns about the Overtown site not being large enough for parking garages, other entertainment and technology options, including an office complex with tech companies.

Mas says another new Backham partner, Japanese magnate Masayoshi Son who runs investment firm Softbank, would put major tech investment funds into a stadium but needs more land than currently in the Overtown deal.

Buying more land adjacent to the stadium site could sustain the plan for a 25,000-seat stadium Beckham's group announced in late 2015.

"If we could do something adjacent to the stadium - or link it to the stadium - that would be ideal," Mas said.

Beckham's group must still complete the purchase of a three-acre lot for $9 million by June to complete purchase of the full stadium site.

Mas clouds an already difficult position for the team, leaving Miami football fans in uncertain territory as to when the team might start MLS play and where and embolden neighborhood opponents of the project, who could still complicate the Beckham group's plans when it comes time to approve zoning changes and street closures to complete the stadium project.