Beckham, Fort Lauderdale can revitalize Lockhart Stadium

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Fort Lauderdale’s city leaders decided to develop the land adjacent to Fort Lauderdale’s Executive Airport with a pair of sports facilities. Lockhart Stadium opened in 1959, while the adjacent baseball stadium, Fort Lauderdale Stadium, was completed in 1962.

Both facilities have had a long history of hosting sporting events of all kinds. From 1962 to 1995, Fort Lauderdale Stadium served as the spring training home of the New York Yankees, attracting visitors and extensive media coverage to the city. The Baltimore Orioles called it their spring training base from 1996 to 2009.

Lockhart Stadium has hosted high school football and soccer games, international soccer matches, the University of Miami’s spring football scrimmage, and a wide variety of other events. From 1977 to 1983, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers soccer club brought international notoriety to our community, when many of the era’s top international stars played for the Strikers.

Gordon Banks, George Best, Nene Cubillas, Elias Figueroa, Gerd Mueller and Jan van Beveren joined local favorites Ray Hudson, Arnie Mausser and Branko Segota in high-profile battles with Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia, Johan Cruyff and many other worldrenowned players during the heyday of the North American Soccer League.

Sadly, both facilities are currently in a severe state of disrepair, vacant and obsolete. In recent years, efforts to revitalize the property with water park projects have not materialized.

The city of Fort Lauderdale recently received a proposal from the David Beckham-led Major League Soccer [MLS] franchise, Inter Miami, to activate a revival and renovation of the entire property, making it the permanent training site for its professional MLS, USL and Academy Teams. Their comprehensive approach includes a new Lockhart Stadium, soccer training fields, green space for the community and other amenities.

Inter Miami’s Fort Lauderdale-based United Soccer League [USL] affiliated team would call the new Lockhart Stadium home. The site would also serve as the home base for the MLS team’s training sessions and staff and contain their youth development academy, attracting South Florida’s top youth soccer talent.

Major League Soccer has made tremendous strides in recent years, and is far more successful and stable than any of its predecessors in this country. Inter Miami has a robust ownership group with strong local ties and unquestioned credibility. Their desire to establish a permanent presence in the Fort Lauderdale area and have their MLS team train here would provide tangible benefits to our community. A vast majority their players, coaches and staff would undoubtedly wish to reside in close proximity to their training base. All weekly media interviews with players and staff would take place at the Lockhart site.

Inter Miami’s facilities would also serve as training grounds for visiting national teams, international club teams and other MLS clubs looking for a fair-weather training base during their late winter preseason, with games and tournaments being part of that programming.

Inter Miami is also committed to ensuring that the Lockhart property will be available for use by the entire community. High school football and soccer games, the University of Miami’s spring football scrimmage and other local events and activities will be actively pursued by their facility management team.

Unlike competing bids for the property, Inter Miami’s proposal is not a development deal with chain stores, restaurants and retail shops. This public-private partnership will provide a community asset dedicated to sports and the public, providing desperately-needed playing fields and significant open green space.

City leaders must determine the best use for this property. Based on history and functionality, it shouldn’t be a commercial development. It shouldn’t be for airport use. It should be for sports, recreation, and community events, as city leaders determined back in the 1950s and 60s.

By revitalizing the Lockhart site in partnership with David Beckham’s Inter Miami group, the city of Fort Lauderdale will ensure that first class facilities that serve residents and attract visitors yearround will be in place for many decades to come in a sustainable, responsible way.

Tim Robbie has a lengthy track record of sports management experience with the Miami Dolphins and Fort Lauderdale Strikers. He was inducted into the Broward County Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. He is a longtime Broward County resident and currently resides in Fort Lauderdale.

By Tim Robbie