David Beckham stood there alongside Major League Soccer Don Garber as the usual routine was observed. Garber had been through this enough times as the commissioner of a league that had nearly doubled in size in the space of just 10 years, but few expansion franchise announcements had come with as many unanswered questions as this.
It was confirmed that Beckham had exercised the option to purchase a team written into his MLS contract as a player and that he, along with fellow investors Simon Fuller and Marcelo Claure, had decided to root their club in Miami. What followed was the most drawn out expansion drama in the league’s history.