David Beckham’s InterMiami CF major league soccer team will play its first two seasons in Fort Lauderdale’s Lockhart Stadium, if city commissioners agree, the soccer legend announced Thursday.
Standing in the stadium, whose field is overgrown with brush and weeds, Beckham and Jorge Mas said they hope to win the Fort Lauderdale deal Tuesday to revive the stadium’s rich sports history.
“You can never replicate having a first season,” Beckham said. “So, this is where it’s going to be.”
Miami Beckham United — a partnership that includes Beckham and Mas — is competing against FXE Futbol to win a 50-year lease for the Lockhart Stadium/Fort Lauderdale Stadium property in northern Fort Lauderdale.
City commissioners are scheduled to discuss the two proposals Tuesday afternoon at their 1:30 p.m. meeting. Any vote would take place that night, at the 6 p.m. meeting. Both take place in City Hall, 100 N. Andrews Ave.
The Beckham-Mas group proposes tearing down Lockhart and replacing it with a stadium their coming Major League Soccer team would practice in. Administrative offices for the team, Inter Miami CF, would be constructed. A youth soccer academy would be operated there. Green space, public sports fields, a dog park, a running trail, playground and public park — as well as a potential restaurant — are part of the Beckham proposal.
FXE Futbol propose shops, restaurants, a Topgolf attraction, sports fields, a jogging pathway and a renovated soccer stadium with a new soccer professional team.
The empty acreage, north of Commercial Boulevard and west of Interstate 95, attracted thousands of sports fans over the years, to baseball, soccer and football games.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Brittany Wallman can be reached at bwallman@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4541. Find her on Twitter @BrittanyWallman.