Beckham looks to score private owners for stadium site

David Beckham is quietly back in the hunt for an elusive goal – a stadium site for his proposed Major League Soccer team.

But this time, he’s going private after officials blocked several public sites, according to a published report.

Beckham’s real estate adviser and lead negotiator told the Miami Herald that that the former Manchester United striker has made “very meaningful strides” with private property owners in the last couple of months.

“While nothing in this complex equation can be taken for granted, I am optimistic that there will be several positive announcements in the first quarter of the next year,” John Altschuler wrote in an email to the paper.

County Commissioner Juan C. Zapata said he hopes to convince Beckham to place his team temporarily at the West Miami-Dade campus of Florida International University to build support for a new stadium.

“It makes it easier to sell a known product. And it doesn’t look good for us to not be proactive,” Zapata told the Herald. “Until we figure out a stadium plan, I think we’ve got to get a team on the field.” [Miami Herald] — William J. Gorta