Touting the recent success of Florida’s professional and college sports teams, including the excitement of soccer in South Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has awarded $8 million to Miami-Dade County to support roadway infrastructure at Miami Freedom Park.
DeSantis made the announcement at Inter Miami CF’s current soccer stadium in Fort Lauderdale, DeSantis noted that Freedom Park will boost the Miami economy with tourists and spectators, expand business opportunities and create more than 1,800 jobs at the entertainment site near Miami International Airport.
The $8 million comes from the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund, used for workforce and infrastructure projects, “laying the foundation for job creation.” DeSantis said the money is not going to a single team, although Inter Miami CF will play its soccer matches there. The site, if ready, could be used in some capacity for the 2026 World Cup, earmarked for Miami Gardens.
“This is a major, major project in Miami. Not just the stadium, but many other things that will create a great economic engine,” he said.
“As much as I like sports, we don’t give money to build sports stadiums. We just don’t do that … The one thing I think (about this project) is people are gonna want to go to that. How will they get there – especially in South Florida where there’s a lot of traffic?”
“Our role is not necessarily to give money to a team but to create an environment for everyone to be successful, and infrastructure is a big part of that,” he added.
The privately funded Freedom Park project is a 131-acre site on land that had been the Melreese Country Club. It will reportedly include a 750-room hotel, a 58-acre park, and a one-million-square-foot commercial complex with offices, retail stores and entertainment, such as soccer and youth athletic fields for the community, restaurants and a rooftop bar.
The project could become the world’s 10th-most expensive stadium at an estimated $1.3 billion.
DeSantis spoke of the success of pandemic-year sporting events in Florida, including a UFC card, a golf showdown, and an NBA season played in Orlando, as well as the success of college football teams to Super Bowls, NASCAR races, an NHL championship by the Florida Panthers and landing all three state teams in the NFL playoffs.
“You see all this stuff, and it’s just a lot of excitement,” DeSantis said. “But you look at some of the things that has generated excitement in Florida, and what we’ve seen in soccer in South Florida has been incredible, especially after they brought in (Lionel) Messi. … a really, really big deal, and then we’re going to parlay that into the World Cup in 2026.”
Inter Miami will stay at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale through the 2025 season.
DeSantis said Florida had its biggest transportation budget this year in history, and with the $5 to $7 billion being added from the Moving Forward Florida infrastructure initiative, many of the projects will be accelerated.
“Projects that are not even (scheduled) to be started by next decade … now, they’re going to be done by next decade or sooner,” he said. “We’ve moved up that window, 5, 7, 10, 12 years.”
“The soccer games are going to be one thing,” DeSantis said. “There’s going to be other events at the stadium, and then there’s going to be businesses around there. People may not even want to go to a game; maybe just want to go out to dinner. This is going to be an attraction.”