David Beckham has secured another investor for his proposed Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise in Miami, according to multiple reports, reports, www.sportspromedia.com/.
The Miami Herald reports that Todd Boehly, an American investment banker and part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, has agreed to co-finance the project as an investor in Miami Beckham United, the Englishman's ownership group.
Boehly, the billionaire chairman of Eldridge Industries, whose assets include the Hollywood Reporter and Billboard magazines, joins the likes of Simon Fuller, Beckham's long-time agent, Oak View Group chief executive Tim Leiweke and Sprint chief executive Marcelo Claure as a financier of the project.
In recent days, MLS commissioner Don Garber, who is being courted by a host of would-be ownership groups in other markets, expressed frustration at the lack of progress in Miami.
"A decision has to be made this year," Garber insisted last week. "David knows this, it's time to move forward or not, and that time is upon us."
According to The Miami Herald, Garber and the MLS board of governors met in Colorado Springs on Tuesday to discuss Beckham's situation and will assess the terms of Boehly's involvement in the coming days, with a vote expected 'in the near future'.
Beckham was given the option of purchasing an MLS franchise for a cut-price fee of US$25 million - far less than their current valuation of US$150 million - as part of his move to Los Angeles Galaxy as a player back in 2007.
