(Update: Beckham’s Inter Miami won the MLS Cup with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday. Lionel Messi assisted twice.)
Among major U.S. sports owners, David Beckham’s origin story stands apart: The English soccer star’s initial MLS player contract included an option to launch an expansion team, in any city outside New York, for $25 million. That option turned into Inter Miami, now worth $1.19 billion and led by Lionel Messi, which plays in the MLS Cup final against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday afternoon.
That startup success story often skims over the franchise’s original struggles to launch, including its years-long quest for a suitable new stadium. In an interview with Sportico earlier this week, Beckham added a previously unreported detail about his early efforts to get the team off the ground.
At one point before Inter Miami was fully formed, Beckham said, the league offered to buy the expansion option back from him for $50 million. That offer, which Beckham said was communicated via phone call with MLS commissioner Don Garber, was ultimately turned down.
A representative for MLS declined to comment.
Inter Miami is now the second-most valuable team in MLS, according to Sportico’s numbers. As such, Beckham’s $25 million option is widely considered one of the savviest sports deals in modern times. But that didn’t always appear to be the case.
When Beckham signed his initial contract in 2007, Toronto entered the league after paying a $10 million expansion fee. By his 2013 retirement, that had jumped to about $40 million (CF Montreal). In 2018, when the Miami expansion was formally announced, expansion fees had jumped to $110 million (LAFC). The club made its MLS debut in 2020, alongside a new Nashville franchise that paid $150 million.
Inter Miami’s revenue, $190 million in 2024, is the highest in the league, up from 13th in 2021. Most of that growth is attributable to Messi. The Argentinian star signed with Inter Miami in 2023 on a $150 million contract, the largest in MLS history on a per-year basis. Messi has more than 500 million Instagram followers and has helped expose the league to new audiences. On the field, he’s scored or assisted on 13 of the team’s 17 playoff goals.
Long before Messi joined the league, Beckham paved the way for a megastar’s Europe-to-MLS transition. Beckham joined MLS as a 31-year-old from Real Madrid in 2007, signing a five-year $250 million contract to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy. MLS bent its salary rules to accommodate Beckham’s signing, launching the “designated player” status used to sign Messi 16 years later.
Beckham’s deal also included that $25 million option for ownership of a future expansion team. To secure the option, Beckham had to play out the entirety of his five-year MLS deal, and the league had to expand to 20 teams, commissioner Don Garber told The Athletic in 2023. He also had to choose a city that wasn’t New York.
“I would tell you the likelihood that that would have happened if you were a betting person would be pretty damn close to zero,” Garber said. “And it happened.”
Beckham exercised the option in February 2014, shortly after he retired, according to The Athletic. The team, however, wasn’t formally announced until January 2018.
In the interim, Beckham explored a number of different possibilities for the location and financing of a new Miami venue for the team. A major turning point was Beckham’s addition of outside partners, most notably brothers Jorge and Jose Mas, who have deep connections in South Florida politics and development.
Beckham’s initial MLS contract cleared a path for Messi’s arrival, in part because of Beckham’s stake in Miami, where the Argentine was comfortable. But it also helped expand the league’s thinking around contractual structures. Messi got his record salary, but he also negotiated a side deal with Apple (MLS’ media partner) and an equity stake in the team to convert after he’s done playing.
As for a pre-priced expansion team, Beckham said he doesn’t think MLS would ever do that again.