© 2024 WLRN
MIAMI | SOUTH FLORIDA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Politifact Rates Beckham Stadium Opposition Group's Claim False

Miami Beckham United

PolitiFact Florida has rated false an ad put out by a group opposing David Beckham's proposed soccer stadium in downtown Miami. The Miami Seaport Alliance claims the stadium would threaten PortMiami jobs.

The group, led by Royal Caribbean Cruises, put out television and radio ads claiming that building a soccer stadium near PortMiami would threaten 207,000 port jobs.

That number comes from a 2012 report, before the stadium was proposed.

Most of those jobs come from exporters and importers, bringing cargo in and out of PortMiami.

“So even if we say, hypothetically, that the stadium gets built at the Port and it’s such a mess that tons of cruise operators and cargo operators flee PortMiami, those jobs don’t vanish," says Amy Sherman, a Miami Herald reporter who wrote the Politifact story.

"They would just essentially relocate into other ports in Florida.”

Sherman says because the jobs are not directly tied to the Port, there is no evidence that building a soccer stadium would impact 207,000 jobs.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez recently proposed a new location for the soccer stadium -- a boat slip in downtown Miami between Museum Park and American Airlines Arena.

Beckham's group has said their first choice for the soccer stadium's location is PortMiami.

To read the full story, go to MiamiHerald.com.

More On This Topic