Royal Caribbean has ‘deep reservations’ over David Beckham’s football stadium

The football star plans to build a 25,000 and 40,000-seat stadium
He called his Major League Soccer franchise venture ‘a dream’
His preferred site is near PortMiami, one of world’s busiest ports
Royal Caribbean’s headquarters overlaps with waterfront site

By
Travelmail Reporter

PUBLISHED:

07:46 EST, 17 March 2014

|

UPDATED:

11:08 EST, 17 March 2014

David Beckham’s plans to build a football stadium in Miami have been opposed by cruise company Royal Caribbean.

The football star wants to build a stadium for his new Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise in the U.S. city and his preferred site is near PortMiami, one of the world’s busiest harbours.

But the proposed 12-acre site is close to Royal Caribbean’s headquarters.

David Beckham at an event in Miami in February – the star plans to build a stadium for his MLS franchise

In a blog on its website, Royal Caribbean said it had ‘deep reservations’ to the plans and revealed that it had tabled an objection.

The company said it was concerned about traffic but it also has its own plans to develop the site that Beckham and his investors have pinpointed.

The cruise company’s headquarters overlaps with the blueprint for the proposed stadium on the waterfront.

Grand designs: A Royal Caribbean cruise ship docked near Miami, where the company has its headquarters

Royal Caribbean said its existing car
park, daycare centre and employee gym would have to move to make way
for a stadium that could contain between 25,000 and 40,000 seats.

But the blog said the port’s southwest corner was too shallow to accommodate cruise or cargo ships.

Royal Caribbean vice president and
chief communications officer Rob Zeiger said: ‘We have deep reservations
about using this port as a location for a stadium.’

New venture: Beckham takes part in a game of footvolley on Sao Conrado beach in Rio de Janeiro last week

Meanwhile, the Miami Herald reported that the port’s director, Bill Johnson, had pitched the site in Asia, revealing possible plans for a 36-acre commercial complex with hotels, apartments and offices to business leaders.

Mr Johnson told the Miami Herald: ‘What we were doing was to literally start to garner interest globally.

‘We were upfront. We said there was a recent interest expressed by David Beckham about a soccer stadium, and that would be addressed in the next six months.’

Prime real estate: PortMiami is one of the world’s busiest ports

The former England captain has big plans for his MLS franchise and is looking into other potential sites for the planned stadium.

The 38-year-old said he wanted to recruit some of ‘the best players’ and plans to build a world-class stadium to host his franchise.

He called his latest venture ‘a dream’
and said: ‘We’re planning to bring a team that will be a global team. I
want to create a team that we can start from scratch and I am going to
work hard for this city to make this team very successful. It is an
exciting time.’

The final planning decision rests with Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez and 12 commissioners.

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Keisha Romero,

Broussard, United States,

19 hours ago

I can’t imagine the problems that would occur if there were matches at the same time as cruise ship embarkation and debarkation. Traffic congestion,parking and hotel availability is insane already much less adding a soccer arena to the same area. I see why they would opposite it. The smoothest running cruise terminal is in Galveston,Texas. We live in South Louisiana and the closest terminal to us is a two hour drive to New Orleans but we would rather drive eight hours to Galveston,Texas. Miami and Tampa are my least favorite terminals.

royal,

uk, United Kingdom,

1 day ago

What’s the Plonker bin and done now.

SoundReasonable,

Asia and London, United Kingdom,

1 day ago

no Kardashian angle on this? they have sports knowledge – Bruce was an Olympian, Lamar was a basketball player, surely an easy tenuous link to be made. Opportunity missed!

SoundReasonable,

Asia and London, United Kingdom,

1 day ago

Love Bex but think he is dreaming about the USA becoming soccer mad, football is just not brash, high scoring or obvious enough for wider american tastes….

Brian,

chicago, United States,

1 day ago

yeah, we don’t all get the sophisticated subtlety of flopping to the ground and convulsing in pain when an opposing player brushes up against your shorts.

LoremIpsum,

Boston, United States,

1 day ago

And yet MLS succeeds in spite of your opinion and US networks are paying record sums for the rights to broadcast the World Cup and EPL games. But hey…why talk about ‘facts’ when you can trade in stereotypes?

StonedNotStupid,

Bottom Left Corner, United States,

1 day ago

They give themselves away, concern for the traffic, but also had an eye of developing the property for their own use. The former is irrelevant, the latter what really matters.

Freds,

Margate, United Kingdom,

1 day ago

Men play rugby, football is for children. Very boring game like watching paint dry. Grown men dress like 10 year old.

Freds,

Margate, United Kingdom,

1 day ago

Who is bekenham?

Andian,

Birmingham, United Kingdom,

1 day ago

Might have a problem trying to promote and establish the game in the US if it was based in the UK.

Siriuslee,

London, United Kingdom,

1 day ago

Andian are you trying to promote yourself ? 🙂

Andian,

Birmingham, United Kingdom,

1 day ago

Might have a problem trying to promote and establish the game in the US if it was based in the UK.

Andian,

Birmingham, United Kingdom,

1 day ago

Might have a problem trying to promote and establish the game in the US if it was based in the UK.

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Royal Caribbean has ‘deep reservations’ over David Beckham’s football stadium

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