Inter Miami

Introduction

Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami (Miami International Football Club), known as Inter Miami CF or Inter Miami, is an American professional soccer club based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Established in 2018, the club began playing in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS) during the 2020 season. The club garnered international attention prior to its founding because of club president and co-owner David Beckham and again in 2023 when Lionel Messi signed for the club on a free transfer. Following the signing, the club won its first major trophy, the expanded 2023 Leagues Cup, the North American zonal competition for the CONCACAF region.

In November 2012, MLS commissioner Don Garber confirmed the league's renewed interest in placing an expansion franchise in Miami, after the Miami Fusion folded following the 2001 season and an expansion bid led by Miami-based Bolivian telecom entrepreneur Marcelo Claure and FC Barcelona failed in 2009.

When David Beckham, whose business manager Simon Fuller had the idea  of giving him an option to purchase an expansion team at a price of $25 million when he joined the league in 2007, ended his playing career in April 2013, the MLS held discussions with Fuller about several expansion targets, including Miami. That same year, other investors, including Italian financier Alessandro Butini and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross expressed interest in owning a Miami franchise as well.

In March 2020, Inter Miami began to play in Fort Lauderdale. They will continue to do so until their new stadium, temporarily known as Miami Freedom Park, is completed.] The project will include a 25,000-seat stadium that would form part of Freedom Park, a mixed-use complex on the former site of the city-owned Melreese Country Club near the Miami International Airport. Approval for construction of the stadium depended on the outcome of a public referendum held on November 6, 2018, and approval of city officials. The result of the referendum had roughly 60 percent of voters approving the measure to convert the city-owned golf course near the international airport into Inter Miami CF's new stadium.

The development, being built on 131-acre (53 ha) public land, will include 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) of office, retail and commercial space, 750 hotel rooms, 23 acres (9.3 ha) of public soccer fields in addition to the 10.5-acre (4.2 ha) stadium, and the remaining 58 acres (23 ha) will be a public park. The club owners will also make annual installments of $20 million for 30 years for improvements to public parks across the city.

The site follows a lengthy exploration of other locations since Beckham’s purchase of the franchise.  Noted locations that had previously been considered included: Dodge Island at PortMiami (2013), the Downtown Miami waterfront at Museum Park (2014), a site adjacent to MLB's Marlins Park (2015), and a privately owned site in Miami's Overtown (2015–16).

In August 2023 it was announced that the final legal hurdle had been cleared and construction had finally commenced on the stadium, with an anticipated completion date of 2025, which is the final year of Messi’s contract with the club.