Early history Major League Soccer announced a
South Florida team in 1998 as one of its first two expansions, along with the
Chicago Fire. Miami businessman Ken Horowitz served as owner, the first new investor to join Major League Soccer since its founding in 1995. The Fusion debuted in the
1998 MLS season, playing in the renovated
Lockhart Stadium, considered a forerunner to the league's later
soccer-specific stadiums. The Fusion started their inaugural season strong. Led by star
midfielder Carter Stephens, the Fusion drew 20,450 to their first game at Lockhart Stadium against
D.C. United, showing off the possibilities of a more intimate venue designed especially for soccer. However, interest waned through the year along with the team's middling performance on the field. The Fusion replaced head coach Carlos "Cacho" Cordoba with
Ivo Wortmann after game 19, and the team managed a playoff spot, losing to D.C. By the end of the year their average attendance had dropped to 10,284. The league's poor financial condition forced MLS to stop the bleeding. During the winter break between the 2000 and 2001 seasons, reports began circulating that MLS was considering trimming the league from 12 teams back to 10 teams. The team considered several measures to improve attendance and popularity, including changing their name to the South Florida Fusion to advertise to a wider geographical area. Rumors began circulating that the league might pull the plug on the Fusion, even though the Fusion had a low-cost stadium lease, and an improved performance in 2001 with increased fan attendance. MLS announced in January 2002 that it had decided to contract the two Florida franchises, the Fusion and the
Tampa Bay Mutiny. Both teams were withdrawn from the league, ceased operations and folded. Major League Soccer's contraction reduced the league from 12 to 10 teams. The league had chosen to fold the Miami Fusion, in part because the Fusion's ownership reportedly lacked financial resources, had been trying to run the Fusion on a bare-minimum budget, and had asked the league to pay some of the club's expenses. Miami ownership had reportedly experienced $15 million in operating losses since Miami joined the league. The Fusion's owner, Ken Horowitz, described several difficulties with operating an MLS soccer franchise in South Florida. The club folded in 2018. MLS returned to the South Florida area in 2018, when
Inter Miami CF was announced. On January 29, 2018, the Miami Beckham United group, four years after the ownership's original announcement of pursuing a team, was awarded the twenty-fifth MLS franchise and launched in the 2020 season, playing on the site of Lockhart Stadium at the new
Chase Stadium from 2020 to 2025 until
Nu Stadium was built within Miami city limits in 2026. Former Fusion coach
Ray Hudson would go on to work as a color commentator for Inter Miami, while former Fusion player
Chris Henderson is the club's current Sporting Director. ==Stadium==