Beckham club close to lift-off

– Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber said this week he expected to be celebrating soon with David Beckham (above) on his ownership of a new club in Miami pending the resolution of a “couple of issues”.

Beckham’s bid to win approval for a Miami franchise was taken up by the league’s board of governors ahead of Wednesday’s AllStar game, but has yet to get the final nod.

“We’ve got a couple of issues we needed to work out. We’ve got some time to do that. Our board said, ‘hey, we’re ready to go if you can resolve those issues’,” Garber said in an interview on Fox Sports during the broadcast of the MLS All-Stars v Real Madrid match.

“Take your time to do that and we hope to be in Miami in several weeks time to be able to celebrate with David and his partners.’”

Garber declined to elaborate on the remaining issues but said everything was falling into place for Beckham to win approval, mentioning the plans for a new stadium and the financial backing with partner Todd Boehly, a part-owner of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers.

Miami Beckham United, the team’s working title, would become the MLS’s 24th team following next season’s launch of Los Angeles FC.

The privately-funded $300 million project has been three-anda-half years years in the making since Beckham, one of the most globally recognised players, first announced his plans to bring a team to Miami.

Two months ago, his group acquired the final parcel of land to build a football-specific 25 000seat stadium in the Overtown neighbourhood of Miami.

MLS has long desired to expand into Miami. –