March 03, 2010
Dolphins drop stadium reno tax ... for now
The Miami Dolphins are setting aside their push for a hotel tax hike to fund $250 million in stadium renovations, saying they'll now move ahead with a bid for the 2014 Super Bowl without renovation plans in place. Which contradicts somewhat Dolphins lobbyist Ron Book's earlier pronouncement that "we have to have something to show the owners, to show what we are doing to keep the stadium in a position that they find acceptable" for a Super Bowl bid to work, but that's just the sort of thing that lobbyists say, right?
Notwithstanding today's Miami Herald headline ("Miami Dolphins drop push to raise taxes for stadium upgrades"), the team is very much not dropping its push for a hotel tax hike or some other kind of public stadium subsidy, just putting it off for a few months:
The team backed off a plan to support state legislation that would have allowed Miami-Dade County to increase hotel bed taxes to raise dollars for stadium improvements. But the team and host committee officials are examing other funding options.
"We're not dropping either the idea of stadium improvements or the concept of pursuing public funding," [Dolphins CEO Mike] Dee said. "What we're doing is slowing down the process to match the ongoing discussion with the community."
Dee estimated renovation plans could be unveiled later this year.
Presumably Dee is banking on the economy having perked up by then, but he probably shouldn't count on it.
February 02, 2010
Dolphins roof demand hits resistance
Bloomberg has a long story today about resistance to the Miami Dolphins' demands for a taxpayer-funded roof on their stadium, which they say is needed so it can host future Super Bowls without risking somebody getting rained on. Along with lots of quotes from local elected officials noting that Miami is flat broke and already on the hook for a new Florida Marlins stadium, there's this keeper of a quote from one sports economist:
The Super Bowl is worth $30 million to $90 million, said Victor Matheson, a sports economist at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
"You could host a Super Bowl every year for the next 20 and be lucky to recoup your costs," said Matheson, co-author of a 2004 paper on the event's economic impact.
"A great majority of our community was outraged at the Marlins Stadium deal," added David Karsh, a spokesperson for Miami city commissioner David Sarnoff. "You would have to anticipate similar sentiment if yet more public funds are steered toward benefiting wealthy team owners." Karsh cleverly forgot to mention that it was his boss who, after opposing the Marlins project, ultimately cast the deciding vote that allowed it to move ahead.
January 28, 2010
Dolphins float new hotel tax for stadium reno subsidies
The owners of the Miami Dolphins have come up with a plan to get that $250 million for stadium improvements that they don't want to pay for: Increased hotel taxes. This would require action by the state legislature, since state law caps tourist taxes at 6%, and Miami-Dade County is already up against the cap.
County approval would also be required, though, and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez has already come out against the hotel-tax plan, or any taxpayer spending at all: "I would not be supportive of any public funding for the renovation of the Dolphins' stadium," he told the Miami Herald. "Now is not the time." Add in that a raised hotel tax would be a target for dozens of sports and arts groups if the state approved it — "Do you know how many people are going to jump on that bandwagon?" one former hotel association executive told the Herald — and you can probably file this one under "trial balloon" for now.
Of course, even trial balloons have their uses, and this one did provide the Dolphins a chance to get the alleged urgency of stadium renovations into the newspaper — the 2014 Super Bowl isn't going to host itself, you know! "The clock is ticking to show we have some movement,'' Dolphins lobbyist Ron Book told the Herald. "Certainly we have to have something to show the owners, to show what we are doing to keep the stadium in a position that they find acceptable." Or else people just might have to find another reason to visit Miami in February.
January 19, 2010
Dolphins stadium gets yet another new name
The building formerly known as Dolphin Stadium has signed a new five-year naming rights deal under which it will be redubbed "Sun Life Stadium." That means when viewers tune in for the Super Bowl next month, they'll hear repeated references to ... a newspaper chain? A fruit drink? Whoever had "Canadian insurance company" in the pool, you're a winner!
The Miami Herald says that this will be the building's seventh name in 23 years, but a bunch of those were minor changes (Pro Player Park to Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium to Dolphin Stadium), making this the first major naming rights resale for the place since Pro Player went bankrupt. The interesting bit here, though, is that Sun Life coughed up a relatively high $7.5 million a year for naming rights, showing that a used stadium name may actually be worth something after all — at least, if it means guaranteed screen time during a Super Bowl.
January 07, 2010
Dolphins release plans for "umbrella" they say they don't need
The Miami Dolphins have revealed what they want to spend their $250 million in stadium renovation money on: Giant umbrella!
Okay, to be fair, team execs actually said they have no idea how much the umbrella (what normal humans usually call a "roof" or an "overhang") would cost:
"This is not a plan that has been priced out," Dolphins CEO Mike Dee told a South Florida Super Bowl Host subcommittee appointed to review the proposal. "We're not at a point where we've figured out financing or figured out how to make it work. But we want to leave no stone unturned to see how we can work it out."
Dee also said, according to the Miami Herald, that "the Dolphins do not need the stadium improvements for regular season games, and that it was up to local Super Bowl organizers to decide if the renovations are worth pursuing." Translation: We just drew the pictures of the superumbrella, don't expect us to actually help pay for it.
January 06, 2010
Dolphins to seek $250m for stadium upgrades
Other shoe: dropped.
Only months after Miami-Dade commissioners agreed to borrow $490 million for a new Florida Marlins baseball stadium, local leaders and the Miami Dolphins are contemplating a push to seek public money to help fund $250 million in renovations to the football venue.
If you've read economist Phil Porter's work before, you'll know that the only way Miami makes back $250 million landing additional Super Bowls (which is the goal of the renovations — apparently at the last one held there, some fans got wet when it rained) is if Peyton Manning leaves his wallet lying around. If there's a silver lining here, it's that the money might be taken from convention center hotel funding, which is a similarly terrible idea.
And hey, speaking of Porter, here he is in the Miami Herald story on the Dolphins' demands:
Philip Porter, an economics professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, said a Super Bowl amounts to a fiscal blip for large economies. That's particularly true for popular winter tourism destinations like South Florida, which can count on packed hotels in February even without a Super Bowl.
"If you wanted economic impact, you'd do a lot better taking the money you would spend on a stadium and drop it out of a helicopter," he said.
That's a good point, and — hey, waitaminnit. Helicopter? Allen Sanderson, call your trademark attorney!
December 08, 2009
NFL stadium-grubbing notes from all over
I don't know if it's something in the water or the holiday spirit or what, but the last couple of days has seen a rash of attempts to drum up support for NFL stadium deals on pretty flimsy pretexts:
- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated his henchman's statement from a couple of months ago, insisting that Dolphin Stadium need upgrades if it's going to host more Super Bowls after this year. No word on who would pay for any renovations — which could reportedly include a partial roof to protect fans from rain and/or moving seats closer to the field — but the South Florida Sun-Sentinel did report ominously that South Florida Super Bowl Host Committee Chairman Rodney "said it will be up to the community, which is bidding for the 2014 Super Bowl, to determine the importance of hosting the NFL's championship game."
- The Los Angeles Times reports that the NFL's decision over the weekend to try to eliminate some revenue-sharing payments to low-revenue teams could be "the jab that knocks them to the canvas in the next two or three seasons" and prompts them to relocate to, say, Los Angeles. Given that this will at most amount to a few million dollars a year per team and will likely be overturned in the next collective bargaining agreement, if not sooner than that by a union challenge, this seems a bit of an overstatement.
- A survey of 550 Minnesota residents found that they were more likely to say it was important to keep the Vikings in town when the team was winning, as it is now. Though the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported this as "When Vikings win, drumbeat for new stadium beats faster," it doesn't look like the poll actually asked whether respondents wanted a new stadium; and, in fact, a higher percentage of residents said this year that the Metrodome is an acceptable home for the Vikings than in past seasons when the team was losing.
In other NFL stadium news, the Santa Clara city council is expected to vote tonight to set a 49ers stadium vote for next June. Starting tomorrow: Six months of new pretexts!
UPDATE: But first, the owners of Great America, whose parking lot the 49ers stadium would be built in, are suing the city to void the deal! The fun never stops!
October 09, 2009
Here comes the next stadium wave
Blame it on Cowboys Stadium, or blame it on Ed Roski, but there certainly seems to be a rush of teams looking to get back on the new-stadium line these days, despite having old stadiums that aren't even of legal drinking age.
The latest is Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who yesterday reiterated that he wants a new home to replace the 17-year-old Georgia Dome, ideally as soon as the dome's bonds are paid off, which could be as soon as 2015. "The Falcons are falling behind other teams in the NFL in terms of the experience for our fans," Blank told reporters, in what has to be an allusion to the Cowboys' new building. The Falcons owner was previously reported to be scouting sites around Atlanta for a new building; he says it would be paid for by a mix of public and private funds, which doesn't actually explain anything, but sounds good in the papers.
Also upping the ante: NFL VP Frank Supovitz, who the day before told the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce that the Miami Dolphins' 25-year-old Land Shark Stadium — don't worry, only a couple more months of this before we can go back to calling it Dolphins Stadium — may not be modern enough to host more Super Bowls after this season. "You have to look at what the other cities are offering in terms of comfort," said Supovitz, noting that in Miami fans and players are actually exposed to the weather. "I'm not going to have anyone rained on in North Texas. They're not going to get rained on in Indianapolis." Dolphins CEO Mike Dee said the team is "working with the NFL to see what should be done," which is certainly a nice way of casting the league as Bad Cop should the team demand a new or vastly renovated stadium.
Then there's Milwaukee, where the Bradley Center just turned 21 years old last week, and Ulice Payne, the chair of the arena's board of directors, declared Tuesday that the buildinghas only eight years left before it turns into a pumpkin. (Among Payne's complaints: Its scoreboard is 14 years old, and it has ceramic tiles, which are so 1990s.) Bucks owner Herb Kohl hasn't commented yet, but he's previously proclaimed his desire for a new, younger facility. As for Payne, he first got involved in sports as a member of Miller Park's board, which he then parlayed into a turn as CEO of the Brewers — so it's always possible he's just angling for a job in basketball this time.
May 08, 2009
The official announcement isn't until this afternoon, but the Miami Dolphins provided a sneak peek at their new stadium name yesterday. You may all now commence snickering.
May 02, 2009
Dolphins to play in "Land Shark Stadium"?
In what's already being called the worst corporate stadium name in history, the Miami Dolphins are expected to announce next Friday that Dolphin Stadium — formerly Joe Robbie Stadium, later Pro Player Stadium — will be renamed Land Shark Stadium, after a beer brand co-owned by Jimmy Buffett.
While the new name will no doubt provide lots of fodder for jokes — don't sharks and dolphins attack each other? shouldn't this stadium really be in Chevy Chase, Maryland? — the interesting bit here will be how far it means the market for used stadium names has fallen when a niche beer brand can afford to buy the name of an NFL stadium. Nobody's saying just yet how much Land Shark would be paying for the naming rights, which could be only a one-year deal; Buffett could end up setting up a Margaritaville theme park at the stadium or buying part of the Dolphins as well, which would further complicate the financing.