Royal Caribbean has 'deep reservations' over David Beckham's football stadium

David Beckham’s plans to build a football stadium in Miami have been opposed by cruise company Royal Caribbean. The football star wants to build a stadium for his new Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise in the U.S. city and his preferred site is near PortMiami, one of the world’s busiest harbours. But the proposed 12-acre site is close to Royal Caribbean's headquarters. In a blog on its website, Royal Caribbean said it had ‘deep reservations’ to the plans and revealed that it had tabled an objection. The company said it was concerned about traffic but it also has its own plans to develop the site that Beckham and his investors have pinpointed. The cruise company’s headquarters overlaps with the blueprint for the proposed stadium on the waterfront. Royal Caribbean said its existing car park, daycare centre and employee gym would have to move to make way for a stadium that could contain between 25,000 and 40,000 seats. But the blog said the port’s southwest corner was too shallow to accommodate cruise or cargo ships. Royal Caribbean vice president and chief communications officer Rob Zeiger said: ‘We have deep reservations about using this port as a location for a stadium.’ Mr Johnson told the Miami Herald: ‘What we were doing was to literally start to garner interest globally. ‘We were upfront. We said there was a recent interest expressed by David Beckham about a soccer stadium, and that would be addressed in the next six months.’ The former England captain has big plans for his MLS franchise and is looking into other potential sites for the planned stadium. The 38-year-old said he wanted to recruit some of ‘the best players’ and plans to build a world-class stadium to host his franchise. He called his latest venture ‘a dream’ and said: ‘We're planning to bring a team that will be a global team. I want to create a team that we can start from scratch and I am going to work hard for this city to make this team very successful. It is an exciting time.' The final planning decision rests with Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez and 12 commissioners.