Major League Soccer has denied a Yahoo Sports report from Thursday that claimed David Beckham would shift his expansion efforts away from Miami to Chivas USA, which is currently owned by the league.
According to the Yahoo report, which cites an unnamed source, a group of Asian investors approached the former LA Galaxy star with an alternate plan to partner with him instead to acquire his old club's SuperClasico rivals.
But league officials told MLSsoccer.com on Friday there is no truth to that report.
"There is currently no discussion with David Beckham regarding potential ownership of Chivas USA," said an MLS spokesperson.
Beckham exercised his option this past February to become an owner of an expansion team and elected to do so in South Florida. His partners include his business partner Simon Fuller and Bolivian businessman Marcelo Claure.
The Yahoo report came in the wake of another setback earlier this week in Beckham's efforts to secure a stadium site in Miami. City officials declined his group's proposal to acquire land near downtown Miami to build a privately funded, 25,000-seat stadium.
"Miami is our preferred choice and we are working hard to give the people of the city what they want and deserve," a spokesman for the Beckham group told The Miami Herald in a statement, "however, we have always said that there are other cities that would welcome an MLS club owned by David and his partners."
MLS acquired Chivas USA from Jorge Vergara and Angelica Fuentes in February and is currently looking for local ownership in Los Angeles to take over the franchise. Even at the time of the transaction, MLS Commissioner Don Garber declared there was "enormous interest" from potential owners, but Beckham is not involved in any of those discussions at this point.
"I don't know where [the Yahoo] came from," MLS president Mark Abbott told The Miami Herald on Friday. "There's no discussion about that right now. The league is not engaged in this conversation with them about Chivas."
