People in Miami may really really hate the idea of giving the Dolphins $200 million in county and state subsidies for stadium renovations, but that’s no reason not to pass a bill to give the Dolphins $200 million in county and state subsidies for stadium renovations, right? That’s sure how it seems: A bill to provide $3 million a year in state sales tax kickbacks has sailed through three committees so far, and just got the endorsement of two Miami business groups. (Which is no surprise, since most business groups would back a bill to give a local business subsidies to run over their own grandmother, but still.)
None of which likely matters much, as any eventual bill will require the Dolphins stadium subsidy to go before voters in a referendum, likely in May. And voters, as noted above, really really hate, etc. NBC Sports’ Mike Florio suggests that to win over this skeptical public, “the Dolphins need to make an extra-big splash in free agency this year. They need to create the kind of excitement that will increase supporters of the effort and motivate them to show up and cast ballots at the appropriate.” Maybe that’ll work if Miamians are only concerned about Dolphins owner Stephen Ross not being the next Jeffrey Loria; otherwise, it seems more likely they’ll complete Florio’s sentence by casting their ballots at something appropriate, alright.
They should have never built that rectangular dump to being with. Miami should tell them to go straight to wherever, because Miami has established itself as a market that no real league would want to lose. That’s why there is no MLS team in Miami and why the Panthers want to leave.
Mike:
When it was built (1988, I believe), Joe Robbie stadium was just fine… and a major improvement on the Dolphins previous home, the Orange Bowl (anyone who’d ever gone there wouldn’t need convincing).
JRS was also built entirely with private funds, fulfilling a promise Robbie made. It is looking a little old, to be sure. It also was built to house baseball (Robbie understood a single purpose stadium might be desirable, but would probably not be self supporting financially), meaning it doesn’t provide the sight lines of modern publicly funded single sport facilities.
If the Dolphins were doing their own renovation and adding a $3 ticket tax on all events to pay for it, I think their renovation would already have happened. Apparently, the present owners don’t believe in Robbie’s commitment to private funding. Who knew?
Public schmublic, give us the stadium cash now, Miami folk!
1-877-STADIUM-CASH-NOW
We’ll win you over, by hook or by crook or by Los Angeles. Buy ‘em, bluff ‘em, and bully ‘em, that’s our game and we know the x’s and o’s better than you do, taxpaying chumps!