MLS: David Beckham gets much needed boost to launch own football franchise

Former England football team captain David Beckham has got a lifeline in his bid to launch a football team in America, with officials in Miami offering him a temporary home for his planned Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise.

The officials in Miami have said that Beckham's new team can use Florida International University's 20,000-seater stadium while they look for a base of their own.

Beckham has twice seen plans to build a new stadium fall foul of locals, with officials first turning down his plans for a waterfront site in Port Miami, claiming that the former midfielding star's 25,000-seat ground and shopping arcade would cause snarl-ups and cost dock workers' jobs and then residents in Biscayne Bay booting out his bid to build there after environmentalists said it would hit protected wildlife, The Daily Star reported.

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Beckham and his backers - British TV mogul Simon Fuller and Bolivian billionaire Marcelo Claure- turned down an offer of a remote site between two prisons.

But now Miami-Dade County ­Commissioner Juan Zapata said that Beckham can keep his dream alive by using the university stadium. He said that it would be a wonderful thing for their community and would establish a solid fan base while the former Manchester United star searches for a permanent venue.

Beckham's lead negotiator John ­Alschuler said that he was delighted city officials wanted them to stay, adding that they view that as a '­positive step'.