2016 - 2017 Football Thread - Page 294

On June 07 2017 18:10 Pandemona wrote:
Didn't say we didn't do bad business either

Lukaku isn't even bad business at that price either anyway technically. Due to the goals he scored in England. Pay 60million or whatever for Martial who is now a bench warmer at Yanited and losing his "next henry" title to Mbappe. etcetc

On June 07 2017 22:07 Faruko wrote:
Balotelli is supposedly confirmed going to Dortmund

This is really a Disney fairy tale, 2 or so years ago, nobody wanted him, no club, no chances, comes Nice (free transfer) and put a lot of faith in him and he answers that faith and ggwp.

On June 07 2017 22:41 Pandemona wrote:

24 years of age, scored 68 premier league goals already in 141 appearances. Should only get better. 3 Seasons in a row 20 goals or more, knows the league. Should be destined to break a few records if he stays in the premier league etc.
At least we should see game wining goals/performances from Lukaku for that fee xD

On June 07 2017 18:28 nojok wrote:

Martial is not even the most expensive bench warmer Monaco sold (James), I still expect him to flourish once out of Mourinho's squad. I don't see Lukaku as a big improvement over Costa or Batshuayi anyway.

Tim Leiweke exhaled. Now, the rest of Miami's soccer community is a giant step closer to doing the same.

It was just a few hours after the Miami-Dade County Commission voted 9-4 to approve the sale of a three-acre parcel of land to Miami Beckham United, the David Beckham-led group trying to bring an MLS franchise to South Florida. The parcel was the final piece needed to comprise a nine-acre plot of land in Miami's Overtown neighborhood. MBU hopes to build a 25,000-seat soccer stadium at a cost of $175 million that will require no public money. As he discussed the day, it was evident that the stress Leiweke felt - he is an investor in MBU and major driver of the stadium project after all - was still bleeding off.

"[I'm] relieved, pleased, big step forward," said Leiweke via telephone, letting out a big sigh. "We control our own destiny now."

It's the first time MBU have been able to make such a claim. For more than three years -- ever since a much-ballyhooed February 2014 press conference involving MLS commissioner Don Garber, Beckham, and Miami-Dade County mayor Carlos Gimenez -- MBU has attempted to secure an MLS franchise.

Doing so required a journey of twin odysseys. The first was finalizing a stadium site, while the second was firming up the ownership group. Both proved to be much tougher than anyone could have imagined.

Leiweke said this is the 19th such deal he's done.

"This is the toughest one," he said. "That's Miami."

There are myriad reasons why. The environment for stadium building in South Florida was beyond toxic when Beckham arrived on the scene.

The construction of Marlins Park, which houses Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins, saw Miami-Dade County on the hook for $500 million of the total $639 million construction cost for the facility and parking complex. Miami-Dade had to borrow the money in 2009 by selling bonds at a time when credit markets were tied up in knots due to the Great Recession. The total cost to pay back the bonds comes to $2.4 billion over 40 years.

Miami politics are also notoriously difficult to navigate, with the respective governments of Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami often working against each other. To get an idea of just how combative the two entities are, last November, Raquel Regalado -- the daughter of Miami mayor Tomas Regalado -- ran against Gimenez to become mayor of Miami-Dade County. Gimenez was re-elected with 56 percent of the vote.

Some of the wounds were self-inflicted, however. MBU's habit of floating proposals without sufficient community and political buy-in replayed itself multiple times. An attempt to build a stadium in Port of Miami was voted down by Miami-Dade County when local business interests objected.

Beckham's group turned its focus on a site at Museum Park on Biscayne Bay. But when it offered to pay just $500,000 a year in rent, the city walked away, insisting that rent in excess of $12 million was more appropriate.

Beckham's group then set its gaze on a site adjacent to Marlins Park. The site was problematic on two fronts. The Marlins' lease gave them a huge amount of sway over dates as well as what companies could be considered for naming rights. The other problem was that six parcels needed to be acquired from private property owners. Once word got out that MBU was interested in the site, all leverage was lost.

By then, Beckham had turned to his old friend Leiweke to help get the deal done. It was Leiweke, then CEO of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, who engineered Beckham's move from Real Madrid to the LA Galaxy back in 2007.