David Beckham’s path to bringing an MLS franchise to Miami has been a rocky one thronged with hurdles, but the Miami Beckham United Group has remained persistent with the current goal being to launch their team in the 2019 season, with a “major announcement” coming in the next few months, per the Daily Mail:
Initial talk after the club's launch was that they could play their inaugural campaign as early as 2017 and, while there is the option of playing in a temporary stadium in 2018 despite their off-field issues, Sportsmail understands Beckham and partners Simon Fuller and Marcelo Claure are keen to avoid that at all costs and launch the club a year later in their own, purpose-built arena.
While it has taken Beckham longer than he expected to get to this point, there is a feeling major progress has been made this year, to the point where the group expect to make a major announcement regarding the club's status by the end of 2016.
The report also names Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wes Edens as a potential investor and that the group remains “all-in” for a stadium in Overtown.
'We have the right site, the right ownership group, and a loyal base of fans counting down the days until our first match,' Claure, the CEO of telecommunications giant Sprint, said in a statement issued earlier this year.
'We're all-in on Overtown, and we couldn't be more excited about moving forward with plans to deliver the most responsible stadium in Miami history.'
Once they lock down a major investor and finish negotiations with the county over the stadium site, it should equate to smoother sailing. For now, it appears things are on track for 2019 but with the way things have played out so far, it’d be foolish to bank on anything.