The proposed Miami Dolphins stadium renovation agreement was released late last night, giving Miami-Dade county commissioners 16 whole hours to read it before today’s noon meeting where they’re expected to vote on it. Which means it’s time to for some quick reactions, some culled from the Miami Herald’s reporting (and subsequent blog entry), some my own observations:
- Most of the $191 million in private costs would be paid off by a $150 million loan from the NFL — which, since it would largely be repaid with money the Dolphins would otherwise have to give to the league as revenue sharing, is really more of a grant than a loan.
- There are a bunch of penalty clauses: $20 million if Dolphins owner Stephen Ross sells the team in the next five years, and up to $100 million (according to a fiendishly complex formula that would take more than 16 hours to chart all by itself) if the stadium doesn’t host enough Super Bowls, college bowl games, and other big events over the next 30 years. (Though it’s worth noting that this latter penalty wouldn’t be paid until the year 2044.) Plus, Ross will provide $4.8 million to prepare to hold a referendum on the plan, money he won’t get back even if the state nixes the referendum idea.
- If there’s excess hotel tax money raised in any year, it would get put into a reserve fund. If there’s a shortfall in another year, the reserve fund would be tapped to make up the difference. If there’s still not enough money, the Dolphins would be on the hook for it — so at least Miami wouldn’t be looking at a Minnesota-style debacle.
- The document sure mentions “economic development” a lot, for a project that would actually reduce attendance at Dolphins games (though presumably get those fans to pay more for the fewer seats that remain).
There are probably other tidbits in there, but it’s a busy morning and the document isn’t searchable, so that’s all for now. If any FoS readers want to make this into a team scavenger hunt, though, by all means have at it.
The penalty for not holding enough marquee events looked like it was designed to be nearly impossible to miss. Assuming Miami gets two Super Bowls every decade (not unreasonable considering it had 3 in the 70s, 1 in the 80s, 2 in the 90s, and 2 so far in the 2000s), then they get the 100 Tier 1 points they need from those six Super Bowls alone ((4 x 15) + (2 x 20)).
I do find it kind of funny that both the this agreement and the one for Atlanta make reference to hosting World Cup matches. World Cup is scheduled out until 2022. And it’s become pretty clear that without any meaningful reform from FIFA, World Cups will continue to go to nations that have, oh, a creative financing arm.
That’s one awkward collection of differently formatted pdfs.
On pg 19/(25 in the pdf) there is a personal guaranty of the ownership being worth $1 billion and backing the debt. Terms of that are on page 60.
Just touching on a little corner of this monstrosity, the college bowl games are automatic, as the Orange Bowl game is played here and the national championship rotates among the major bowls.
What is the penalty if they ask for MORE renovation money in the next 30 years?
“…and the national championship rotates among the major bowls.”
The plan for the new four-team playoff system is supposed to be announced later this month. Front-runner for the first final game is Jerry Jones Stadium, so the rotation apparently ain’t gonna be what it used to be.
“…giving Miami-Dade county commissioners 16 whole hours to read it before today’s noon meeting where they’re expected to vote on it…”
Yet another manifestation of the banana republic mentality overtaking the USA.
Nothing wrong with a banana republic, as long as us NFL owners get all the bananas!