Recently, there has often been more empty seats than fans at Hurricanes games. (Twitter.com/Tim Reynolds)Miami's home football attendance has been ... well, awful since the Hurricanes moved from the since-demolished Orange Bowl to the way-too-big Sun Life Stadium. Soccer superstar David Beckham is struggling to get the city to approve a new stadium for an expansion MLS team that has already been approved by the league. Sounds like a marriage to me.
Outgoing Miami president Donna Shalala said three weeks ago that she and Beckham's ownership group had initiated discussions about potentially teaming up for a joint stadium venture. According to the Miami Herald, the two sides were scheduled to formally meet on Friday with Beckham's group also set to meet Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez in the early evening.
What will come from the discussions remains to be seen but the road to getting a stadium built in Miami will not be an easy one.
For starters, the Hurricanes have 17 years remaining on their lease with Sun Life Stadium (capacity: 65,326), the home of the Miami Dolphins. The landlords are not poised to let their tenants out of such a long contract, though perhaps a deal can be reached if the offer is right.
Even so, the venue is about 25,000 seats too large for the Canes -- it's even a few thousand seats too big for the Dolphins, which are reducing capacity during a two-year renovation -- which as a private school do not have the enrollment of some of Florida's public universities.
Miami is therefore looking for a venue that can hold 40,000 to 44,000 fans, according to the Herald, while the MLS and Beckham's group prefer one that seats approximately 25,000 patrons.
The new stadium -- sites near Marlins Park, Overtown and the Miami International Airport are all being considered -- would also need to have access to public transportation.
Most importantly, it would need approval of the county, which was so burned by the construction of Marlins Park that it refused to outlay the necessary funds to allow the Dolphins to renovate Sun Life Stadium (so owner Stephen Ross did it himself).
Getting Miami-Date to pony up for a college team that already has a stadium solution (albeit not a great one) and an expansion soccer team (others have failed in Miami though this one seems poised for success in a growing MLS) is a difficult ask.
