Miami's Professional Soccer
Finally Professional Soccer in Miami
Miami, January 29, 2018.
“In this city, a city built on dreams, my dream came true,” said earlier today a bearded David Beckham at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
It all started overlooking beautiful Biscayne Bay four years ago at the newly inaugurated PAMM. Perhaps that was the highest point in a roller-coaster ride. Beckham and partners confronted one failure after another. In effect, just a few months ago, Marcelo Claure, Sprint’s CEO and partner, met Beckham in New York to end the dream.
But they just couldn’t do it, Claure recalled. Instead, they had an epiphany. They needed a partner with deep connections to Miami, which was found in the Mass brothers. And just like that, given that this is the Magic City, Major Soccer in Miami became a reality.
The announcement was made in a well-choreographed act of reality without specifics. No team name; nothing about the stadium other than, noted Beckham, how important it was for him to have it downtown Miami. And kick-off? Maybe 2020.
What the public and the media saw was a video showing the likes of Will Smith, Neymar, Alejandro Sans, Alonzo Mourning and sexy Jennifer Lopez welcoming MLS to Miami. (Over drinks at the home of Ms. Lopez and Mark Anthony, Beckham first articulated his vision for Miami Professional futbol.) As Beckham reminisced, the weather, the beautiful people, the diversity, oh, he wanted soccer in Miami.
SE: But it seemed the city really didn’t want you around, why did you insist?
"I don’t like to lose. And it was a lesson for my kids, for my son Brooklyn here present, that nothing is easy. You need to persevere and work hard. When I was a teenager, just starting my professional career in soccer, a manager told me I wouldn't make it to the national team, that I was too skinny, but I played over one hundred games for the national team, and played for great teams like Real Madrid… Today is a lesson for my family: You persevere and you win.”
Enthusiasm is contagious, so, futbol welcome to Miami!
Raúl Guerrero is the Director of the Downtown Arts + Science Salon (DASS) For more information on DASS February events, and DASS Translation Bureau: DASSMIAMI.COM
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