PortMiami Soccer Stadium Design Unveiled

A group led by retired soccer star David Beckham unveiled renderings of the new PortMiami soccer stadium that will be built along the Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida.  The open-air soccer stadium will provide views of the downtown skyline and bayfront and strives to emulate some of the great European soccer stadiums that have been built over the past decade. Once finished, the stadium will be home to the new Major League Soccer expansion team that David Beckham recently purchased.

Miami based architectural firm Arquitectonica and Kansas City’s 360 Architecture collaborated during the design process to create the stadium plans. The architects tried to capitalize on the bay location that looks towards downtown. In addition to designing the stadium and plaza, the architects also would like to transform an unused bridge into linear park that would allow fans attending games at the stadium to walk there from downtown. The footbridge would also attract more people to the stadium plaza’s restaurants and retail establishments when the soccer team is not playing. 

Arquitectonica’s renderings also show four buildings on the western edge of the parcel of land on Dodge Island. These mixed-use facilities are conceptual and used to show what the area could look like once it is fully developed. While Arquitectonica has stated that they do not want to build the four buildings themselves, they would be willing to serve as the site’s master developer. In this case, they would charge the county a fee to create a plan for the property and manage it. Arquitectonica would like to ensure that the area satisfies the requirements set by Miami Mayor Carlos Gimenez, and that the site is not developed without a master plan.  

The current plan is to build the stadium on PortMiami’s Dodge Island. Some businesses that own land adjacent to the stadium site have expressed their concern about the increased traffic the team will bring. PortMiami is the 11^th largest cargo container port in the United States and accounts for 176,000 jobs. Royal Caribbean Cruises does not want the increased traffic to disrupt its port operations or future expansion. Representatives of the soccer team point to studies showing that port operations will not be greatly affected as the majority of the team’s games are played at night. David Beckham’s group has three alternative sites in mind as backup plans, although the site on Dodge Island is a strong favorite.

The team will pay to build the stadium without any county money and will also pay rent for the land. There has not been an agreement yet, though, about who will pay for the stadium’s plaza and pedestrian bridge. The team is trying to reach an agreement with the county where they will pay a percentage of the total cost. While the group says they do have a dollar amount in mind for the stadium cost, they have not yet released their budget.

Renderings of the new stadium can be found here.