As anyone who has ever been at Joe Robbie/Pro Player/Dolphin/Dolphins/Landshark Stadium knows, the area around it is a dead zone. Not exactly in the Verizon kind of way, as I get better service there than at my house, but there is NOTHING around it. Sure, there is a really unsafe neighborhood close to it, as well as a WalMart, a wore down hotel like a mile away, as well as a Horse Racetrack a mile away as well. But that isn't going to drive people into the area. Steve Ross is a great business man as he has shown so far. He has publicly said that he wants the Fins Gameday to be a mixture of winning football and entertainment. Makes perfect sense. What he will do, we do not know yet. What I do know though is that the stadium was just upgraded, so we won't be constructing a new one any time soon. But what he should do, is make the area around Dolphins Stadium the place to be on gameday, and around the year as well since we only have 8 Home Regular Season Games. Many sports franchises have made the areas around the stadium the place to be year-round, and have revived those previously dead areas. What I propose is a combination of a small mall(as Aventura Mall is sort of close and there's no way it could compete with it), a movie theater, a Miami Dolphins Museum, many restaurants obvously, with many of them being Sports Bars, and hotels so visiting fans(not opposing) could stay there. I think it could increase attendance, increase revenue(which could be spent on players), and attract more big events, like SuperBowls and concerts. as well as increase our own gameday experiences. It also means that people like you and me would be able to go to games on a more regular basis as you could just leave the wife/mom/sister/gf at the mall and go to the game with your friends. What do you guys think? dolfan94 is online now Add to dolfan94's Reputation Report Post Edit/Delete Message
Huzienga's been trying to do this for years but had limited support. I would love have a "Dolphin Town" adjacent to the stadium, and it would help bring jobs to the depressed economy that is Northwest Dade/Southwestern Broward, not to mention fix that place up a little.
Maybe the owners put the stadium out in the middle of nowhere for a reason? Where else are you going to park your car????? I am sure they must charge a minimum of $20 to park there, so as long as they having the parking fees locked up why build anthing else around there. I have never been to Landshark Stadium but when they show pictures of it from the blimp it looks like it is out in the Everglades. Kind of a strange place to put a stadium. Whenever they get around to building a new one...I am guessing around 2035?, they should build it so the fans are close to the field, like at the Orange Bowl....and build a sliding roof, maybe have air conditioned chairs with those outdoor misters on every row....there is a lot of things they could do to get 75,000 people in the seats every weekend and make it a better experience.
It's not in the middle of the Everglades, but its still in the middle of nowhere. The reason the stadium was built there was probably because it was cheaper, there was plenty of space, and it wasn't unreachable to anyone in South Florida. Makes sense. But there's plenty of land to build some things. And you could close it on gameday to people with a parking pass, or people who pay $25 for parking, then they get a cash parking pass, where they could park in the stadium later. It doesent have to be RIGHT NEXT TO THE STADIUM. There's plenty of room for like 1 or 2 more stadiums. That's how big the place is.
Ive been there a few times and I don't think there really is much they can do to revive the area. Just down the road from the stadium are a lot of houses and there is a main road that runs along side the stadium. The new renovations they have done to the stadium are really nice from what I've seen but I just don't think there is enough room to make it an all year round place. Maybe we could see something develop when the Marlins leave.
That is really ridiculous. That "really unsafe neighborhood" is more accurately described as lower middle class. What would Ross do? "Hey, those of you who are less well off, would you kindly move as your homes make some of our guests uncomfortable?"
Joe Robbie built the stadium with his own money in the boondocks. The stadium, and it's owners have no responsibility in what sort of neighborhood built up around it.
Ross is a real estate guy at heart though, it would not surprise me if home owners were bought out in order to make room for new developments. Ross tried to do that when he owned a piece of the Islanders.
I realize he's a real estate guy, but they've actually got to agree to be bought out. Even as absolutely feckless and shady as the Miami-Dade government has proven themselves to be in regards to the Marlins, I doubt they've got the political capital to survive whatever ****storm would invariably arise from an eminent domain seizure. What's the point? I go to the football games because I want to see live football games. I've got no interest in a gentrified Margaritaville stripmall/eyesore.
There is a lot of room to build a nice complex, whether you destroy houses or not. Some people have no idea how isolated the place actually is. Im not talking about something huge. A hotel or two, a few stores, a few restaurants, and a Dolphins Museum.
It's economically unfeasible. Where you gonna get the construction money? Nobody's lending and consumer spending is down. Where are the demographics showing a solid base of customers (meaning the cash flow)? Where are the customers going to come from on the 345 days when there isn't a game after the Marlins move to the new stadium? Remember when the Robbies proposed something like this ands it went nowhere? It's a much worse idea today, as nice as it would be.
plus the more time spent in dolphintown is less time spent at the stadium.they just spent a gob of money making the actual stadium the place to be during game days and when it's not game day.
DAMMIT! He should have gone with UltimateFlora Zoysia! Stuff like this really pisses me off. http://www.environmentalturf.com/grasses_ultimate.html
Its tough when you have a stadium in the middle of a neighborhood. Take Foxborough for example; Great atmosphere with Bars and the like. However, its out in the middle of nowhere. So much so that the train that takes you to the games is only used 8 times a year for the Pats home games. The neighborhood atomosphere has always been prevalent for Miami football games. Anyone who's ever been to the Orange Bowl knows this. I think they could add a few things, but it'd be pretty difficult to do what some of the other franchises have.
You cant polish a turd and quite a bit of that area is considered "turdish" plus our economy is in a bad way right now.Just ask Robert Craft how Patriot Place is doing these days(can you say giant white elephant)the cost was more than 350 million or more than Gillette stadium. We have an advantage with our tourism plus If I were the owner of the stadium I would have had a new one built downtown Miami with a huge mall,food,on site safe enclosed parking connected to Bayside,plus docking for the boaters and yachts, a concert park so our new owners could entertain right on the water front.I would have built the stadium with a retractable roof to allow ac when needed or open her up when not needed.Plus enough luxury boxes to enable$$$$$ but we continue to paint that turd that offers nothing but $40 parking on someones lawn...and the ability to roast all day long...no...there were much better alternatives but someone dropped the ball
The area around the stadium is irrelevant. The Redskins' stadium isn't in the best area, yet its always packed. The experience inside the Stadium is what matters.
And in 10 years, EVERY NFL stadium will be packed every Sunday. The problem is that there are 8 home games for each team. There's a lot of other days where they could be bringing in revenue. How about holding a watch party every game in one of the indoor arenas(AAA or Bank Atlantic?) and charging for it?
One of the main reasons we lost our minor league team in Columbus, GA was because it was said to be in a bad area. It was at the very South tip of Columbus and you did have to drive through a really rough area to get there. But inside the stadium was great and those of us that did go had a great time. People just started running their collective mouths and attendance got worse and worse. Now, we have no team. I hope all those that complained are happy with themselves. I'd go to the Dolphin stadium, if there were any way possible. Just to get to see them play would be wonderful. The Dome in Atlanta is not considered a good part of Atlanta either, but there's a lot of that in Atlanta.
Good posts guys. I think it should be something Ross and Co. should do. Change the environment around the stadium and people would be there all the time and not just for the games!!
