MLS
Las Vegas may replace Miami for David Beckham's new MLS club
The commercial arm of the MLS has organised a friendly between Mexico and Iceland in Las Vegas on 8 February. This could be linked to the Beckham project viability.
The MLS project that David Beckham undertook in Miami continues to struggle to find a firm conclusion. For this reason it is possible that a new venue could be chosen: Las Vegas.
East coast, west coast
According to what as.com has learned, the friendly international between Mexico and Iceland on 8 February 2017 (organised by SUM, the marketing arm of the MLS) could have an influence over potential changes to the plans of the MBU Group (Miami Beckham United).
On 31 October, 1,000 days had passed since the official announcement made by the MLS, Beckham and the mayor of Miami-Dade, Carlos Giménez. Since then, little information has been forthcoming. Three sites had been rejected by the local government, incomplete land purchases had been made, and a general lack of investment, to name some of the issues. The reality is that, due to such little progress, a change of city at this time is totally feasible. Much of the decision to do so, however, depends on the success of the friendly at the Sam Boyd Stadium.
The lure of the bright lights
The boom over recent decades in Las Vegas has been noted and has made the western City of Sin a tempting location for sporting brands. The Vegas Golden Knights will be joining NHL's ice hockey league from 2017.
At the moment, Beckam's 'project' has been assigned place number 24 in the league and will join along with LAFC, the new Los Angeles club. However, Don Garber, Commissioner of Major League Soccer, made it clear last week that there is a "deadline on the Miami deal," although he wasn't prepared to share what date that was adding, "It's an agreement we have with David." He went on to say that they all needed to "resolve the Miami situation so we can go forward with our expansion plans." The league currently has 22 teams but 28 are targeted.
This week, MBU spokesman, Tadd Schwartz said, "Our partners are 100 percent committed to Miami, and we will continue working with Commissioner Garber and the league as we finalize the launch of our world-class soccer club. We’re making progress, and we appreciate the strong support of our fans as our launch draws closer.”
Joining the MLS dots
Beckham knows Las Vegas well and was in the city for the presentation of the Raiders new NFL plan. Currently the American football side are based in Oakland but have grand design on a flash new home in Vegas. At that time, David spoke and stated:
“To bring a great organization like the Raiders to Las Vegas is amazing, but it’s bigger than that. It’s a bigger idea, it’s about the MLS coming here, it’s about bringing the biggest European teams here like Manchester United.”
