May 22, 201412 yr On Tuesday, Miami Commissioners rejected the proposal to have a soccer stadium at the Port of Miami. The new plan calls for Beckham's group to pledge $250 Million for a 20,000 seat stadium on Biscayne Bay. I feel 20,000 is a little too small, I would really like to see 30,000-35,000 seats in the new stadium. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/19/us-usa-soccer-beckham-idUSKBN0DZ1Y620140519
May 22, 201412 yr I hate politicians. Just give Beckham the land so he can build something that will create value. All these bureaucrats annoy the shit out of me.
May 23, 201412 yr MLS is lame. I don't see how its going to be successful in a city that couldn't support hockey and barely supports baseball. It supported hockey...
May 23, 201412 yr I bet Becks would be having an easier time if that whole Marlins debacle never happened
May 23, 201412 yr 25% of the panthers fanbase is from MDC. The rest is from broward and west palm. Giving that property, which is incredibly valuable btw, to an ownership group to build an mls area in a state that has lost how many mls teams due to poor turnout? Right. This is a GREAT idea. No one gives a s*** about soccer near the proposed location. People in West Kendall care about it. Why not have them use FIU to prove they can actually draw fans first before handing a private company some of the most valuable real estate in south florida? What would you use that land for?
May 23, 201412 yr It doesn't need to be used for anything now. Its not like its expiring, but giving an incredible asset like waterfront property to an mls ownership group is reckless. Why is it reckless? It's just undeveloped land serving absolutely no economic purpose - and in the hands of the worst caretaker imaginable.
May 23, 201412 yr Because Florida has failed multiple times to support an MLS team. They should play at FIU close to a potential real fan base for 5 years to prove an MLS team works down here. This city responds to successful play. The people backing this project are a group of very smart entrepreneurs that understand how to make money. This isn't Jeffrey Loria. Instead, you want the valuable piece of property in the hands of the government, where it's 100% doomed to never reach its full potential, and subject to being used for whatever the hell those cronies think will benefit their reelection. Beckham isn't running for mayor; he's there to make money. I think I trust him a little more than Carlos Gimenez and his friends. I'm not saying you believe this necessarily, but a lot of people cry because this is the last piece of 'public' waterfront property. What does 'public' even mean? It sure as hell isn't mine or yours. Public means it's up to people most of us don't trust to decide what to do with it. It's the same shit as it being private, except it's marred in red tape and any lack of urgency to create any sort of value from it.
May 23, 201412 yr The point is that if MLS doesn't work there, it'll get sold and they'll move on, allowing someone else to try and make money there. The land will have movement, and something of value will come of it. A museum is just another excuse for these people to name something after themselves and basically just throw away land. That kind of project is exactly what I'm afraid of. It's a cute pet project that nobody really demanded and that no one will really use. That museum could be a ghost town for a million years and nothing would be done about it. Beckham won't wait too long before using that land for something else or putting it in the hands of someone who can. Who cares if they get richer? This isn't a zero sum game. What will the city get? They'll get whatever jobs are created there, and whatever service is provided there. And it will be for a profit - so both the people of the city and the developers win. If you mean what will the city government get: they'll get that tax money they all whore themselves over. That's more than they deserve, since all they did was take the land and hold it, stifling any sort of value that might have been built there sooner.
May 23, 201412 yr 25% of the panthers fanbase is from MDC. The rest is from broward and west palm. Giving that property, which is incredibly valuable btw, to an ownership group to build an mls area in a state that has lost how many mls teams due to poor turnout? Right. This is a GREAT idea. No one gives a s*** about soccer near the proposed location. People in West Kendall care about it. Why not have them use FIU to prove they can actually draw fans first before handing a private company some of the most valuable real estate in south florida? Well yeah that's true. I'm just saying that it the stands were well filled at the Miami Arena for the panthers. It just wasn't their building or ever their plan to be there specifically. They were only there until they had their own home built. The Panthers and Marlins suffer the same plague though. Years of horrid management and ownership driving away a modest showing and turning it into a crap showing.
May 23, 201412 yr You're not the one taking a shot in the dark. Beckham's losses are his own, and all you stand to lose is the opportunity cost of whatever else could go there between now and when Beckham sells it. It's a safe bet that that cost is low, given who owns it now and what they're doing (or not doing) with it. The value of the land is totally irrelevant. No one is using it, and it won't be used for soccer forever if it doesn't turn out to be profitable. See the paragraph above. If a museum would be profitable, then somebody would try to build it there. I know private museums are a thing, and that's perfectly fine. However, no one is attempting to build a private museum there; if they would be, I'd be all for it because it too would fail if the demand wouldn't support it. Beckham believes there's demand for his product, and I feel pretty good that he'll turn it into something of value or sell it off to someone who can, be it with soccer or with something else. That valuable land isn't being used, and I'd much rather let someone who stands to gain or lose economically from this decide what should go there than just keep it in case sometime in the future someone might come along and propose something we may or may not personally want.
May 24, 201412 yr Orlando is definitely a place that could support MLS. They've got their chance now, and they've got the stadium. Support from a reboot in Tampa and South Florida would definitely be mutually beneficial.
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