Supreme Court turns down soccer stadium case

The Florida Supreme Court has declined to wade into a legal dispute about a Miami-Dade County decision to sell land to soccer star David Beckham and his business partners for a soccer stadium.

Justices on Thursday issued an order saying they will not take up an appeal by Bruce Matheson, an owner of property near the disputed land. As is common, the Supreme Court did not detail its reasons for declining to hear the case.

Matheson went to the Supreme Court last year after the 3rd District Court of Appeal rejected his challenge to the sale. The dispute stemmed from a county decision in 2017 to sell 2.79 acres of land to Miami Properties, LLC, which was controlled by Beckham and his partners, for $9.015 million.

Miami Properties already owned adjacent land but needed the 2.79 acres, the appeals-court ruling said. Matheson contended that the county should have gone through a competitive bidding process for the 2.79 acres.