As you may have heard, soccer Greatest Of All Time Lionel Messi is joining MLS team Inter Miami next month because reasons, which should get a lot more people interested in watching MLS and particularly Inter Miami games. Inter Miami, as you may also recall, is co-owned by construction baron Jorge Mas and former GOAT David Beckham and currently plays in a temporary 18,000-seat stadium in Fort Lauderdale, while a permanent stadium on the Melreese Golf Course site in Miami still hasn’t begun construction after years of turmoil, and the owners are eager to cash in on the Messi mania that has tickets for his debut getting resold for more than $14,000. And here the hilarity begins:
On Monday, Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas told reporters he’d already contracted to add 3,000 seats to the stadium to meet the Messi-mania demand.
On Wednesday, Fort Lauderdale threatened to issue a stop-work order, claiming workers were installing new seats without a permit. A terse note from City Hall was sent at 4:42 p.m. to Inter Miami lobbyist Stephanie Toothaker telling her the city was in the process of red-tagging the stadium.
“Just so we are clear, continuing to work once a stop-work order has been issued can be an arrestable offense,” Assistant City Attorney Rhonda Hasan wrote. “We are requiring that Inter Miami follow the laws of the state and the city.”
A team lobbyist/spokesperson sent a text to the South Florida Sun Sentinel saying that no construction is underway, so hold your handcuffs. A local news station spotted “a crane lifting metal pieces” at the site yesterday, which does sound like construction, though it’s always possible Lofty was just visiting to try to build his confidence.
The backstory here is that Beckham and Mas want their fans to keep being able to park on a city-owned lot near the stadium, while the city of Fort Lauderdale wants to get paid what it says are three-years-overdue permit fees for demolishing the old stadium that sat on the site. The team owners have also promised to build a park on the site, something they’ve also been stalling on for years, most recently complaining that it’s the city’s fault for changing the park design to add a pickleball court.
The two sides are currently in mediation over the dispute, which it’s probably fair to say isn’t going well. For now, it’s just more LOLBeckham, which is nearly as entertaining as watching Messi play, so glass half-full?
I might quibble a bit with the GOAT assertion for Beckham — he was more like a gritty, workmanlike player who achieved a level of celebrity that few athletes in the world had attained up to that point — but anyway.
The very existence of Inter Miami feels like the microcosm of the way things operate in Florida, and specifically in South Florida: a neverending series of grandiose plans and promises, with risks and blow-up potentials that almost always outweigh any potential benefits, that either get delivered much differently (or shoddier) than initially proposed, or turn into outright scams.
(Although, the “risks and blow-up potentials” when it comes to Messi could easily extend to all of MLS, as well)
I would agree with you re: Beckham, actually. But GOAT is less a quantitative distinction than a state of vibes, so I claim poetic license.
I will defer to one of the game’s true greats (albeit for a tragically short period of time) on this one….
https://www.irishpost.com/sport/19-iconic-george-best-memorable-quotes-155063
“He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn’t score many goals. Apart from that he’s all right.”
And I definitely recommend reading the remainder of the 19 great quotes as they certainly qualify.
Truly, one of the greats
George Best: Greatest NASL Goal Ever
Meanwhile there’s Vaportecture related to the stadium in Miami.
And maybe construction will begin soon!
https://www.thenextmiami.com/miami-freedom-park-sitework-could-begin-in-the-next-two-weeks/
By the time they complete the stadium Messi will be retired.
Also, I don’t know about those two owners. Fighting over paying chintzy demolition costs is a big red flag…..
… and an even bigger red flag is that a supposed developer is doing work without a permit in place.
You are just creating future problems for yourself when developing is your business and you try that. Maybe there’s a reasonable explanation for it, but given what the statement from the city planning dept was regarding this it’s hard to imagine that explanation being believable…
About the Mas family. They are beloved in the community. But they are not without controversy.
The father was a central figure in politics, and he’s the one who amassed the fortune.
In my opinion. …
In Miami, it wouldn’t be surprising if they proceeded without permits … but of course they would schmooze to make it okay.
Fort Lauderdale is a slightly different beast, and that clout doesn’t fly and they are not as beloved. So the odd bit of fighting is interesting.
You can read more about the family here:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/devinseanmartin/2023/06/07/who-is-jorge-mas-the-billionaire-owner-behind-lionel-messis-new-team/amp/
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/the-truth-at-last-jorge-mas-canosa-sponsored-terrorism-6560559
Obviously money will be made, and MLS might get a few more eyeballs on their Apple+ service, but it is kinda weird the Messi will likely play his entire MLS career at a temporary stadium that’s about as nice as a mid tier Texas high school facility
Bummer, but that’s where his mansion is.
I do see a huge ticket price increase next year. Why let the scalpers have it all?