MIAMI — In its final act before inaugurating its new home, Inter Miami left it late.
Nu Stadium, Major League Soccer’s newest venue, opened Saturday night with Inter Miami welcoming Austin FC as its first opponent. Scenes outside and inside the stadium were festive, with owners Jorge and Jose Mas and David Beckham treating supporters to a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the hours before first kick, and then entertaining La Familia in the official supporters’ section as teams warmed up. But the event didn’t come without some late drama.
The Miami Herald reported Friday that Inter Miami was still in need of a temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO) that would’ve allowed the club to open its doors to fill its capacity of 26,700 seats. The TCO allows any new or renovated building to be used before final inspections and construction are complete, which is the case for Nu Stadium. Around and in parts of the stadium, it’s clear that it is not a finished product, with some of the lower bowels and the surrounding areas of the in-progress Miami Freedom Park tantamount to a construction site.
“The City is working diligently with the representatives of Nu Stadium to issue the TCO by April 4th’s inaugural game,” City of Miami spokeswoman Helena Poleo told The Herald on Thursday before confirming Friday that it had still not been secured. If the club didn’t get it, the match would still have been able to “proceed under a limited event permit, which is limited to that day, with specific hours, restrictions, and additional precautions,” Poleo told The Herald.
David Beckham takes a selfie with an Inter Miami fan at the club’s Nu Stadium opening (Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
But speaking to reporters at Nu Stadium on Saturday, MLS commissioner Don Garber said the club secured the necessary approval to go ahead without restrictions, indicating it “went down to the wire,” without elaborating on what it entailed.
When asked if he thought Inter Miami should have postponed the opening match until the stadium was further along, Garber said he didn’t see the merit in doing so.
“No. I mean, it’s a reasonable question,” Garber said. “But, you know, I opened up — I’ve lost track of how many stadiums have opened. I think it’s 25. Rarely have they gone, you know, to the point where you have years to work through all the aspects of getting a building open. They have an event certificate. Obviously the league is well aware of that, it went down to the wire, but they were confident that they were going to get that over the finish line.”
Todo listo ✨ pic.twitter.com/2VcNbj3aDm
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) April 4, 2026
Pushed further on whether there were any restrictions on the event for the night, Garber said there were not. He went on to praise the venue, saying he was impressed by the scope and size of the project, especially how it compares to other stadiums during an MLS stadium boom that is set to expand, with new venues on the way in New York City and Chicago in the next two years.
“It’s absolutely spectacular,” Garber said. “It feels to me like a building that could rival any sports facility anywhere in the world, not just soccer stadiums, but any sports building.”