Miami's Future Soccer Team Headed To Court In Fort Lauderdale

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL -- A Broward County judge was expected to hear arguments Wednesday from a rival bidder to soccer legend David Beckham and businessman Jorge Mas over the site of the former Lockhart Stadium which is the planned temporary home of Miami's new Major League Soccer team.

Beckham and Mas plan to tear down the stadium and build a new one on the site, which has fallen into disrepair but once served as the home of the now defunct Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

Attorney David Winker accused Beckham and Mas of attempting to begin demolition of the historic Lockhart Stadium one day before Wednesday's court hearing in which a judge will consider a motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent it.

"I have been practicing law for 25 years in South Florida and what I witnessed today was a new low," said Winker, who is representing FXE Futbol. The city of Fort Lauderdale did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Desperate to gain advantage in a case they are clearly losing, Jorge Mas and his attorneys along with city of Fort Lauderdale City Attorney Alain Boileau concocted a plan to begin demolition of historic Lockhart Stadium today, the day before our hearing," Winker said ahead of Wednesday's hearing. "This was done in an attempt to render FXE Futbol's competing bid to renovate historic Lockhart Stadium moot."

Winker said neither the court or the media were alerted that work would commence. "But given their track record, I had an employee monitoring the site who alerted me to what they were doing around noon today and I headed straight to court," said Winker.

"Their defense was that they were only 'removing the lights in anticipation of demolition.' This is clearly not true as evidenced by the many pictures on social media," insisted Winker.

Fort Lauderdale Commissioners in March unanimously gave their support to Beckham and Mas, who plan to construct a temporary home for Miami's new Major League Soccer team at the site of the former Lockhart Stadium and then use it for a future team that will be the equivalent of a minor league club.

Depending on how the court rules, Club Miami Internacional de Futbol hopes to play its first two seasons on the site starting in 2020.

Miami voters approved a referendum last November that allows the group led by Mas and Beckham to place their proposed Freedom Park soccer complex in Miami on the site of the city-owned Melreese Country Club, not far from Miami International Airport.

The new stadium will most likely not be ready until 2021 though Miami's new Major League Soccer team is set to take the pitch for the first time a year earlier.

Watch legendary soccer player David Beckham's vision for Lockhart Stadium along with businessman Jorge Mas below:

Wednesday's hearing was scheduled for 5 p.m. before Judge Raag Singhal at the Broward County Courthouse.