MIAMI — David Beckham and his partners have spent years exploring several sites, haggling with politicians, and campaigning during a referendum that saw voters authorize the city of Miami to negotiate a 99-year no-bid lease for a commercial and soccer stadium complex on the city’s only publicly owned golf course. The following is a timeline of those efforts:
— May 2013 — Upon Beckham’s retirement from the Los Angeles Galaxy, rumors swirl about where he would try to launch a new Major League Soccer franchise. The league had agreed to let him buy a club for a discounted price. Miami is immediately in the rumor mill.
— June 2013 — The buzz grows louder when Beckham visits stadiums in Miami-Dade. He spends time with Marcelo Claure, the Bolivian billionaire businessman who tried to bring MLS back to Miami in 2009.
