Gimenez on MLS: 'It's Up to The City of Miami'
Carlos Gimenez, the mayor of Miami-Dade county, updated us with the latest on the MLS-to-Miami project.
"Well it's up to the city of Miami," Carlos Gimenez said on the Joe Rose Show. "The city of Miami owns most of the land that they're looking at and so right now they're dealing with the city in terms of what it could be, does it need to go to referendum, does it not need to go to referendum, is there gonna be a rent payment, etc. Eventually it comes back to the county in one way or the other but the initial phase of this is actually over at the city of Miami."
As for parking at the potential MLS stadium that would sit next to Marlins Park, there would be "an arrangement with the Marlins."
"The Marlins get a lot of the revenue... there is I believe in the city portion of that deal, the Marlins give the city I think enough money to cover the cost of issuing the bonds and then after that the Marlins make the extra money. So the city gets what it needs to cover the bonds and after that the Marlins end up with the lion's share of the revenue."
What about the feasibility of the Canes and MLS franchise partnering up on a new stadium? Gimenez wonders whether it's worth the effort, considering the University has a lengthy lease with Stephen Ross at Sun Life Stadium.
"I think it's up to UM," Gimenez said. "I believe that MLS is willing to do it. I think right now maybe UM is kind of hesitating about it."
"I want to see MLS here in Miami-Dade county and I want to obviously see David Beckham bring his team here to Miami. That's the number-one goal. That should be the number-one goal of everyone in this community.
