TNT Sports
David Beckham's MLS dream under threat as local property owners play hardball
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Published 06/11/2015 at 12:51 GMT
The proposed new stadium for David Beckham's new Miami Beckham United MLS team could fall through, according to a well-placed source.
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The Miami Herald has run an interview with the team's lead negotiator, Tim Leiweke, who claims that the agreement is in danger of falling apart.
Leiweke claims that a group of local landowners are making such unreasonable demands that it will "probably blow up" the deal.
"Negotiations to purchase six private parcels on the proposed stadium footprint have stalled as land owners haggle for unreasonable prices," the paper reports, based on the interview.
There is another plan in place - a fourth potential site after previous attempts to build grounds at PortMiami and next to the Miami Heat's AmericanAirlines Arena fell through.
Leiweke blames Miami Beckham United themselves for the team's problems.
"This has not been the smartest negotiation I've been a part of," he told the paper.
“[The six landowners] know what we’re doing and unfortunately they’ve let that create an absolutely unrealistic conversation.
"They can absolutely blow this deal up, and they probably will blow this deal up.
“We’re willing to overpay. We just don’t want to be the stupidest guys on the face of the earth.”
Leiweke also suggested that Beckham's hopes of setting up a team in Miami might have to be scrapped completely.
"I am worried. It’s been a long time since this has been discussed and we’ve been unable to come to them with a viable plan that works,” he said.
"If at the end of the day, whether it be the politics or the greed of the situation we’re facing makes this unable to happen ... then I’ll let the [MLS] commissioner decide.
"But I don’t like those odds and it makes me very nervous about MLS in Miami.”
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