FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- David Beckham stepped out of a Cadillac SUV and into the dust of a construction site. It was December 2019. In front of him was the shell of a new 18,000-seat stadium in deepest Broward County, where Inter Miami would play its first two seasons before moving, if everything fell into place, to a $1 billion venue near Miami Airport. Behind him, a training complex and team offices were beginning to emerge.
After nearly seven years of battling to get an MLS expansion franchise on the field somewhere in South Florida, Beckham was eager to implement his vision for a club that would start big and get bigger.