MIAMI: David Beckham's Major League Soccer expansion club isn't expected to debut until at least 2020, but it could soon have a name, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday.
The newspaper's online search of the United States Patent and Trademark office found a company calling itself Miami Freedom LLC applied on May 17, 2018 to trademark four names: Miami Freedom Football Club, Miami Freedom United, Miami Freedom FC and Miami Freedom.
The goods and services the trademark application lists include "soccer exhibitions live in a stadium" along with posters, decals, trading cards, stickers and media guides relating to a "professional soccer team" and a wide range of apparel.
There were also patent applications on May 18, 2018 for variations of "Miami Futbol Club" and "Miami Mundial Futbol Club." Those listings included the same items as the Miami Freedom listing.
English football superstar Beckham was officially awarded an MLS franchise in Miami in January, the glitzy announcement capping a tortuous near decade-long journey studded with false dawns and setbacks.
The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and England Star was granted a cut-price $25 million option to buy his own MLS franchise under terms of the deal that brought him to the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007.
In 2014 he announced plans to launch a team in Miami, but he struggled to find a suitable stadium site.
The Beckham group, bolstered by the addition of local tycoons Jorge and Jose Mas, has now secured land on which to build a privately developed 25,000-seat stadium in the heart of the city.