HOMESTEAD, Florida, USA — Manu Ginobili once lost an NBA Finals in Miami, but the following season he was part of the team that beat Miami for the title. And, as an Argentinian, he fully understands the multicultural flavor of the area and what sports mean in the region.
So now, the biggest basketball star is investing in Miami’s potential.
Ginobili, the former San Antonio Spurs star, is part of a group planning to build what is called the Sports Performance Hub, and what his team calls a “next-generation sports, educational and community development project.” It will include a planned 10,000-seat stadium for Miami FC, which plays in the United Soccer League, along with sports training facilities, a basketball facility, a boarding school, a hotel, academic buildings and more, all on a single campus.
Opening is scheduled for March, with plans to open in 2028.
“You don’t have to be blind to see the growth that Miami has experienced in the last 20 years,” said Ginobili, whose Spurs beat the Heat in the 2014 Finals after losing to Miami the previous season. “I remember when I started going to Miami in 2002, when I came to the NBA, and what it has become is incredible. And it has become not only a center for Latin America, but a world center.”
There are several partners working alongside Ginobili on the $280 million, privately financed project. Among them: Riccardo Silva, who is co-owner of Miami FC, and former soccer players Juan Sebastián Verón and Darío Sala. In recent weeks, the group announced the appointment of veteran sports executive Nick Sakiewicz as its CEO.
“If you look at the background of each member of the management team, the professional athletes, shareholders, co-founders, they all give something back to the children, to the community in many areas like community clinics, camps, charity events,” Sala said. “That’s the essence of what SPH is.”
The idea is simple: Connect the best of sports training with the best of academia and make everything somehow intertwined. Being close to Miami, a melting pot city and global gateway, will also have obvious benefits, as SPH plans to have students from all over the world.
Silva has long-standing ties to Miami, and his Miami FC team has called Florida International University’s stadium home since 2016. Real estate growth is a constant in South Florida, and Silva said he sees the benefit of going 35 miles south of downtown Miami toward Homestead, where, he said, there is much more room for development.
Homestead is at the southern end of Miami-Dade County and is home to, among other things, the Homestead-Miami Speedway, which currently hosts NASCAR, and events such as the Homestead Championship Rodeo.
Local officials have praised the idea, with Mayor Steve Losner saying late last year that the facility could “be an incredible asset, while providing long-term benefits to our local economy.”
Documents presented to city officials also show plans for tennis and pickleball courts, walking trails, playgrounds in the first phase of construction, followed by the addition of training facilities, athlete development programs, performance technology centers and more.
“I think this academy will be both a big advantage for Miami and Miami will be a big advantage for the academy, so it’s mutual,” Silva said. “As Manu said, it is a center not only for all of America, but for the entire world.”
___
AP Sports: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
