Don Garber recalls the earliest days of David Beckham’s plans to bring Major League Soccer to Miami, a journey that began more than a dozen years ago.
There were twists and turns, and eventually, Lionel Messi joined the club.
But Miami was never truly home — until now.
“We believed in Miami,” Beckham said. “And Miami believed in us.”
Inter Miami finally played a game in its namesake city on Saturday night, hosting Austin FC after more than six years of calling Fort Lauderdale its home. Garber, the MLS Commissioner, attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony of Miami Freedom Park, a complex still under construction that required temporary approvals from city officials just for Saturday’s match.
Beckham picked Miami in 2013, the league made it official in 2014 when he formally exercised his option for an expansion franchise, and now, there is a true home.
“We made a commitment to him that he would have an option on the team, and he exercised that in Miami,” Garber said. “And it was a journey. And that journey, in many ways, didn’t end when Leo Messi joined the club. The journey really came to its conclusion today with the opening of this building.”
The team says the stadium holds 26,700 seats. A public golf course near Miami International Airport was removed to make room for the stadium, and construction equipment—from cranes to hard hats—is still scattered around the site. The lack of finished aesthetics didn’t stop some fans from spending more than $1,000 on resale markets for the best seats on Saturday, Inter Miami’s first “home” match since winning last season’s MLS Cup championship.