I'm thrilled to announce that David Beckham has exercised his option to purchase an MLS
expansion team and so excited that he selected Miami as the market for his new club.
Before we open this up to questions from the press, I have a few questions of my own. First
of all to David, this is a major day for Miami and for Major League Soccer. Why did you choose Miami?
I mean, why not?
I think, obviously all joking aside. For me, I wanted to create a team we can start from
scratch. I know there was a team here ten years ago, and unfortunately they folded,
but I think going forward, I wanted to create a team that can be very personal. Everything
that I've done throughout my career has been very personal to me. The decisions that I've
made are all very personal. This one, it's a big decision, but it's a very personal one.
I want to make it my own team, you know. I have great partners. I have a partner with
Simon Fuller that has been a very good friend. He actually introduced me to my wife, so I
have many things to thank him for. I have another partner in Marcello, who when I first
came to Miami...
When I first came to Miami, him and his wife Jordan and his beautiful family welcomed us
with open arms. I'm very proud to have him as a partner, as well as obviously Simon.
But we're very excited about this project. Miami, as Donna said and the mayor said, is
a vibrant city. It's a city with a lot of passion. I know this city is ready for football,
soccer, and this time around I know that this is going to be successful. I've always said
throughout my career, whether there's challenges or not, to be successful, you have to work
hard. I've worked hard through my whole career, and I'm going to work hard for this city.
I'm going to work hard for this league to make this team, to make this team very successful.
I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time here. I'm looking forward for my family
to be here, my children, my wife. But it's an exciting time.
Much has been made by public officials that no public money will be used to build a stadium
or its surrounding infrastructure. To what extent, do you and your group intend to seek
public money?
Um, that's...
Hello? Hello? Hello?
That's very true, and it's a great question because it's a question that obviously the
people of Miami and of this great city want to know. We don't want public funding. We
will fund the stadium ourselves. It's something...
It's something that we have worked very hard to get to this stage, where we can fund the
stadium ourselves. We want to... Obviously, we've had some great work from the mayor and
Don and obviously the commissioners, and the support that we've hard so far has really
been incredible. We want to create a stadium. We want to create a soccer team, a football
club, that is the people's football club. It's as simple as that. You know, I've worked
for some of the biggest clubs in the world, with some of the greatest players in the world,
and this is a dream. If someone were to turn around to me at 11 years old and said, you
know, you're going to play for Manchester United. you're going to represent England.
You're going to play for Real Madrid, AC Milan, the Galaxy and then become an owner. I probably
wouldn't have believed them, but I've lived the dream. For any children growing up, when
they turn around to me and they say, you know, what can I be? And how can I get to the level
that these other players and professional players like Ronaldo, like Messi, like the
players that are out there can get to. This is what football can do for you. This is what
soccer can do for you. It can give you a great career. It can give you a great life. It can
give you the most exciting passion that any sport can give you, and that's what we're
bringing to Miami.
Thank you.
Tom McCarthy FOX Sports. Don and David, what do you have to do over the next few years
to ensure this club is a success, both in the short term and in the long term?
What can we do? There's a lot of things to do, but like I said, you know, nothing successful
is easy in life. There are going to be bumps along the way. There's going to be difficult
times, but there'll be more fun times and exciting times than difficult times. I've
learned over the years that you have to go through certain tough times to actually come
out at the end and be successful. Obviously, we're going to have a lot of interested people,
and we've had a lot of great peopled that want to be invested in this team and this
club and believe in this project that we're doing. I think that's where we start. I think
when you have the right investors, when you have investors that have passion. I'm not
just talking about the wealth wise, I'm talking about passion for the game. We want investors.
We want partners that are passionate for the game, not just about being successful and
earning money out of this. This is not what we do. We're making a soccer club, a football
club that's going to be loved by many millions of people. I'm not just talking about just
the city of Miami. We plan on bringing a team that's going to be global.
Hi David. Carolina Guzman from Univision, southwest Florida. Can you give me three names
of soccer players you would like to have in your team? I play soccer. Can I be on your team?
Yes, you can be in the team of course.
Do you have a contract?
Three names. I think, as an owner, it would disrespectful... and an ex-player... it would
be disrespectful of me to say what players that I want in the team. I think it's pretty
obvious the players people would love in the team, but we have a list. We have a list of
players, but like I said, I've been very lucky to have had played with some of the best players.
Fortunately, these players are actually sending me messages, calling me up, saying okay Miami
great. When's it happening, and how can we get there? So that's obviously the good thing.
We will decide that obviously in the near future, but we want the best and you're more
than welcome to come. Of course.
Thank you so much.
With this new project, with your wife's fashion career exploding, with your kid at Manchester
United and when you put everything on the table and you see it from the outside, what
do you see?
A busy life. But to be honest, I'm used to that. We have, my wife has a very successful
fashion line. She had a very successful career obviously with the Spice Girls.
Obviously, myself, I've had a very busy and successful career. Our number one priority,
you know, I'm passionate about many things. I'm passionate about my career. I'm passionate
about being an owner. I was passionate about playing soccer over the years. My number one
priority is my children, simple as that.
It always will be, always has been and always will be, but we have many great things going
on at the moment. I'm very committed as always to everything that I am part of, and right
now, this is my number one commitment, obviously other than my children and my family. But
this is something I'm very committed to, so I'm excited about this one.