It seems like the Beckham group could afford to buy into the Dolphins. Steven Ross now owns 95%, Wayne Huizenga 5%. The current value is 1.07 bil. The Dolphins make money and they own the stadium. From a business standpoint why spend 200 mil on a new stadium when you can use that money to buy a piece of the Dolphins. Ross is 75 and may not be around in a decade. As long as Becks group has a piece of the Fins, they could buy a controlling interest when Ross is ready to sell. sunlife stadium is already perfect for soccer.
Buying into Fins would be very costly and wouldn't give Beckham that much control over the Dolphins stadium. Plus it's no where near downtown Miami or any downtown.
Is Marlin's Park downtown? The Dolphins ownership owns the stadium. So if the bought a piece of the Dolphins, they'd own a piece of the stadium. 200 million could buy 25% of the Dolphins with a chance to buy a controlling interest when Steve Ross is ready to give it up.
I'm not sure Beckham or Claure want to invest in the NFL. Plus I doubt his majesty Steve Ross would sell to be honest. OB is ~3 miles from downtown.
I took another look on Google earth. It is farther away from downtown Miami than optimal. The Old Arena lot would be ideal. As for the Dolphins, who wouldn't want a piece of the NFL? They're also doing some major upgrades on the stadium. Right now there are only 15 guaranteed dates on the calendar between the Dolphins and the U. The intent of the upgrades is to draw more events to the stadium. MLS doubles its use. I'm an outsider but it works in Seattle and Beckham has international clout.
I'm no expert and I certainly have no idea what they are thinking or wanting. But CenturyLink is right in downtown, you can walk there (I've done it). There's no way your walking anywhere remotely near downtown Miami to SunLife. And again we have no idea if Ross would sell.
Why would they want a 70k stadium for MLS? Remember Miami has a lot of transplants that dont respect MLS, now im not saying we wont fill the 25k seat stadium, because I believe we have way more MLS fans than 25k, but MLS matches would look cavernous in Sun Life. Plus, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers would be to close to my team, yuck, they disgust me. Wouldn't want to take fans away from that little team. MLS Miami needs to be in the heart of Miami just like the Dolphins and the U should be. Stupid baseball ruined everything. The current location has a lot of potential for walk up crowds, that area may have been known before to house a lot of cubans but I believe the demographic has changed to more central americans, which soccer is big in that region. Now for CCL it would be awesome knowing that there are central american teams that participate we will have a good crowds tuesday and or wednesday game nights. Yea but to go back to your point it may work in seattle but not in Miami.
the current site where becks wants to expand is only a few miles away from downtown. the neighborhood is pretty old and urban as well. its in the middle of city. Sunlife stadium is out there surrounded by suburbia and the The Everglades swamp. theres no comparison. they also want their own stadium, identity and brand. i dont see them having any interest with the dolphins.
It's just a smarter idea, IMO, to build a stadium somewhere near near the Miami/Dade County border with Broward; that is, the location where the Dolphins and the NHL Panthers play. I don't understand (aside from the coolness factor) why Beckham would want to build a stadium on the southern edge of the Greater Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Palm Beach metropolitan area. If he builds in Miami near the Marlins or the Heat play, Beckham probably will have attendance problems down the road - if only because traffic congestion will discourage fans who live in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood or points further north from coming to games.
Whoa, you're gonna get roasted for this comment. You've hit on what I call the "Tip of the Pencil" phenomenon. Our market isn't a single concentrated downtown--nor does there exist large populations to the east or west. It's a pencil. You're right--our market is actually MIA/FTL/WPB...the Fins/Joe Robbie recognized this, and put the stadium on the Lake Lucerne/county line site where it is today, not at the southern tip of the megalopolis. It's one of the reasons they have large support from Palm Beach, Martin and even SW Florida. At the same time, the Panthers (west of FTL) are candidates for relocation, but you can logically argue that many of those that do go, only go a couple times a year if their hometown team from somewhere else is playing. Hence, the relocation rumors. It's just not a pro hockey hotbed. The OB site is a huge gamble. Maybe it'll turn out like the Heat (pulled in 6th highest avg attendance last year). Or maybe like the Marlins. Should be fascinating to watch unfold. A Heat game is more of a destination though, with Bayside next door--early dinner on the bay, walk over to the game after, etc... No such attraction (yet, maybe never) anywhere near the OB site. Before I'm accused of poisoning the well, from an atmospheric standpoint, a packed downtown stadium (AAA Heat) beats a packed stadium in the burbs (Dolphins) anyday. I've marched from Occidental Plaza in downtown Seattle to Century Link and caught the Sounders with 40,000 in attendance -- electric!!! I just have serious doubts about this market -- whether the stadium was anywhere from Homestead to Jupiter. They'll need every advantage possible to pull this off. This may be the trickiest market in the country when it comes to having a go at professional sports franchising...Reading about all the Marlins' stipulations about any new next door stadium should make everyone queasy...this OB site is no slam dunk yet. It's too bad Beckham couldn't get the boat slip site next to the AAA...if he is set on being in Miami, that was the best spot.