What the David Beckham MLS group hasn’t included in its sales pitch to Miami

The MLS stadium proposal pitched to the Miami-Dade county commissioners by a group of investors led by David Beckham has included a lot of spin, conveniently glossing over several facts.

Douglas Hanks of the Miami Herald reported that the David Beckham MLS group got a major win for its stadium proposal on Wednesday, securing the endorsement of the county commissioner whose district includes the land that the group wants to purchase. That makes the ultimate approval in a full commission vote this Tuesday more likely.

In the final stages of the potential approval process, there are a few key facts that the group’s sales pitch to residents of the area that the stadium could soon inhabit which the group is running interference on.

The spin coming out of the Beckham is best demonstrated by a tweet from one of its paid lobbyists, Florida state representative Jose Felix Diaz.

Depending on context, Diaz’s statements are nothing but on the up and up. He makes public his relationship with the Beckham group, and Hanks reported that was already a known quantity, as Diaz will be the one presenting the pitch to the full commission on Tuesday. The proposal does include 100 percent private financing for the stadium’s construction. Soccer, indeed, is awesome.

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Looking at the proposal as a whole, and not just the part that Diaz has made his comments about, however, reveals some vital information that he conveniently neglected.

It’s true that the proposal doesn’t seek a single cent of taxpayer dollars for the stadium’s construction. That doesn’t mean that the project depends 100 percent on private funding, as Diaz suggests, however. On the contrary, the proposal is counting on procedural and monetary assistance from the state in several other ways.

The first procedural assist that the proposal depends upon is already a done deal. Normally, proposals like this would have to be subjected to a hearing by the full county commission. This proposal has circumvented that step, instead to be voted on by the full board on Tuesday. In retrospect, that’s a minor procedural move which could be explained by the several interactions the Beckham group and the commission have already had on the matter. The circumvention of normal government procedure gets bigger from here, however.

The Beckham group wants to pay the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department a sum of $9 million for the six acres of land that the stadium would occupy. In order to be guaranteed that purchase price, the Beckham group would have to be allowed to take advantage of a Florida economic development law that would give the group the exclusive right to purchase the land. Normally, public land that is undeveloped would go through a bidding process, which could raise the price substantially. The $9 million price is based on an audit of the land done two years ago.

If the proposal is approved and the sale price of $9 million agreed to, the county wouldn’t actually get all of that $9 million. $600,000 would be deducted from that price for environmental clean up costs. The county would also pay the documentary taxes of about $125,000, as is the norm in real estate deals of this kind. That would bring the revenue from the sale down to $8.275 million.

Additionally, the land that the group intends to buy has been designated as as a “brownfield” site by the state, creating an opportunity for the Beckham group to take advantage of other government subsidies. The exact figure of the potential benefit has yet to be determined, but it should somewhat offset the annual property tax the Beckham group would have to pay for the land.

Finally, the Beckham group wouldn’t have to put the full purchase price down on the table at the time of sale. The proposal only requires a $450,000 down payment within 60 days, another $900,000 within nine months, and a further five years to pay the balance. It’s fair to question whether another bidder would get such convenient terms if the land was open to the public for bidding. That’s where having relationships with political figures like Diaz help tremendously, and the facts about Diaz are worth noting as well.

Diaz is running for a state Senate seat, and if his influence is pivotal in getting this proposal approved, it’s possible that the Beckham group could show appreciation by donating to Diaz’s campaign, stumping for him, or perhaps both.

Fans should note that neither Diaz, the county commission nor the Beckham group have done anything illegal. All this information has been made available to the public, and the public still has several chances to weigh in on the proposal at three town hall meetings to take place over the next week.

Residents of the county should take note that Diaz’s statement about the proposal seeking no taxpayer dollars isn’t entirely true, however. The proposal includes getting the wheels greased by government subsidies and procedural favors. There’s nothing wrong with the group seeking those assists, but understanding how these elements work is crucial to understanding the proposal.