Dolphins CEO: Team’s future in Miami ‘bleak’

[madinmaryland]

Miami Dolphins CEO Mike Dee said his team will not pay for any renovations to 26-year-old Sun Life Stadium after the Florida Legislature ended its session without passing a funding plan that would help the team remodel the stadium.

Dee also said the prospects of the team staying in South Florida are not good at this time.

The Dolphins have been trying to lure the Super Bowl back to the area but that seems unlikely without the $400 million in renovations the team seeks. Miami was expected to vie with Houston for Super Bowl L in 2016 and Super Bowl LI in 2017. San Francisco’s new stadium, expected to open in 2014, is also on the list of potential sites.

“We cannot do this without a private-public partnership,” Dee told WFOR-TV in Miami, via ESPN.com. “At this time we have no intention of investing more.”

Dee admitted, “We clearly have our work cut out for us,” and said having a stadium that’s competitive is comparable to having a good quarterback on the team. Adding, you can win without one, but it would be difficult.

Read more at: http://tracking.si.com/2013/05/06/dolphins-ceo-teams-future-in-miami-bleak/?eref=sihp

Hmm. They could always bring Tebow to South Florida to fill the stands!!

[Auggie]

1. Another owner holding a city/area hostage

I've never been to Sun Life Stadium, so I'm guessing the $400 million is needed to build luxury suites so Dee and the owners can make more money.

"Having a stadium that’s competitive is comparable to having a good quarterback on the team." What bullshit.

[hughee99]

3. A - FUCKING - MEN!!!

If the team isn't willing to go get the one, why should the fans (and non-fans) have to pay for the other. Fans don't show up to cheer for stadium that's "competitive".

I don't live anywhere near Miami, so I don't have any skin in the game, but the people there JUST got fucked by a Marlins owner that built a new stadium with public money and spent a lot of money on players FOR ONLY 1 SEASON. Hell, he was dumping payroll before the season even ended. As if putting Pee-Wee's playhouse in center field wasn't bad enough, he was pissing on the fans before the paint even dried on the place.

I think Dolphins ownership needs to get it's shit together and make the team competitive before asking the city for money to make the stadium "competitive".

[dballance]

2. Bend Over and Grab Your Ankles Taxpayers of Miami. Here it Comes.

So yet another sports team will hold yet another city hostage to get taxpayer dollars to subsidize their private enterprise. If anyone has links to studies and reports that prove out the promises of jobs and millions of dollars flowing into a city because a sport team's venue got renovated or a new one built I'd like to see them.

Jobs at stadiums are not well-paying jobs. They're minimum wage, seasonal jobs. Concession stands, wait staff in the boxes, parking attendants, security, etc. So great, once every decade or so you get the Superbowl and the spending goes wild for a week. A single week. Not every weekend the team is in town. No, for every other week the team is in town the current stadium is probably already drawing in the dollars that the hotels, restaurants and other business count on from having the sports team in town. The incremental business that may or may not come from an improved stadium probably isn't going to be enough to do diddly for covering the public debt incurred.

[marmar]

4. Another pro sports drama queen, demanding more taxpayer money for a stadium.......

...... the vast majority of them will never see the inside of.