Envision, if you will, a stadium in Miami that actually manages to represent the luxury that the city has to offer. If you were to do so, you might imagine attending a sporting event in which the vibrant environment is contrasted with a view of the calm waters of Biscayne Bay and nighttime events accentuate the glittering Brickell skyline.

This is also the vision that David Beckham’s group, Beckham Brand Limited, has for their potential Major League Soccer franchise in Miami.

As many local soccer enthusiasts may have heard, the group has been scouting locations for a 25,000-seat stadium for quite some time, with Arquitectonica as the rumored choice to design and plan the project. Though the group has surveyed around 30 potential sites, one has generated enough interest to inspire talks with Miami-Dade County.

Port-Miami

PortMiami has been interested for quite some time in creating a better connection with the mainland

According to the Mayor’s office, Beckham’s group has asked them to consider allowing the stadium to be built in the southwest corner of PortMiami in Dodge Island. PortMiami has been interested for quite some time in creating a better connection with the mainland. A soccer stadium may fit perfectly with their 25-year master plan for the southwest corner that would include a hotel, retail and office space.

25 acres would be available for the group to lease and build on, but the location raises some questions. For one, the port is only accessible through Port Boulevard and the Port Tunnel that is scheduled to open next year. Adding the event traffic to roads already clogged with cruise ship travelers on weekends may add up to a local nightmare. Similarly, the issue of parking would cause a major stir, though the idea to build an underground garage like that of the American Airlines Arena has been discussed.

Either way, the discussion between Beckham’s group and the county has just begun and any plan would eventually require approval from the Miami-Dade County commission. As a matter of fact, MLS has yet to formally announce an expansion franchise for the city of Miami.

However, a professional soccer stadium built with private money could be a boon to the local economy and provide a large opportunity for retail in the underutilized PortMiami area.