March 15 – David Beckham’s new Major League team Inter Miami will play their first two seasons 30 miles north of the city in a temporary stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
The club will begin its first campaign in 2020 and has long been in the hunt for a short-term home while waiting for its own stadium to be built.
The Florida outfit had considered Marlins Park, home of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins, and Hard Rock Stadium, where the NFL’s Miami Dolphins play, among the options for a temporary home but has now settled on the abandoned Lockhart Stadium, previously home to MLS side Miami Fusion until their liquidation in 2001 and which will now be turned into a new 18,000-capacity ground and training ground.
“I have said from Day 1, which is about six years ago now, that this is all about the academy and the future of the kids,” Beckham said. “This will be the heart and soul of our organization. This is a perfect location. It will give kids and the community a real opportunity to live the dream.”
“We’re going to build a new stadium there,” fellow owner Jorge Mas told reporters referring to Lockhart. “It’s not a refurbishment of Lockhart. It will be a new stadium for a (second-tier) USL team and a soccer-centric academy. We’ll be able to host tournaments and other games there.”
In the long-term, Miami still plans to build a 25,000 seat stadium near Miami International Airport to call its permanent home.
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