I think he would obviously do something about it if he could, and I'm sure he's trying every avenue possible to get the financing. But that's where the problem lies.

 

And given Mr. Loria's latest antics and the general mood against public financing, Ross is on his own on this one

 

Ross doesn't need to do anything to the building in order to make a profit. He's doing quite well right now, as it is.

The only reason he is even talking about moving the seats or doing anything with the stadium is to both continue getting Super Bowls, on which he receives a nice sum, and making more money in the future.

Huizenga made the mistake years ago, putting $250 million into the initial phase of the renovations. Had he taken that $250-300 million pledge to the city/county, he might have actually gotten a new stadium

 

That right there forever killed any public stadium funding passing for a long, long, long, long time coming. Doesn't matter that the Dolphins are the long standing home team and love...it isn't going to happen. Every bit of renovations or new stadium will need to come privately.

 

UM doesn't have that kind of money. It's a small private school with a relativley small donor base. UM is irrelevant in any renovation/new stadium construction.

If it's going to happen, Ross has to do it.

 

If Loria can fleece the taxpayer, then Stephen Ross surely can do it. Ross has made a lot of his real estate development on the backs of NY taxpayers. This is his bread and butter.

I don't think it will happen soon, but within 5-7 years Ross will get them.

 

Loria had some leverage in relocation, and the fact that the MArlins had a abd deal at JRS was both true and well known.

So even though he's a scumbag, con artist grifter, there was a kernel of truth to his need for a enw stadium.

Ross has none of that. JRS is a money maker. He keeps virtually all revenues. The stadium doesn't have a ton of debt as Huizenga paid for most of the renovations up front. It is the site of the Orange Bowl which rakes in huge revenues, it is in the BCS Championship rotation and is part of the new playoff rotation as well.

Al huge moneymakers for Ross. Ross's argument is essentially "some other stadiums are nicer and I want to make even more money than I'm making now"

Now, I can appreciate both of those arguments, but he can take care of both himself.

 

Wow the oldest stadium in the league that has not received major renovations.

 

If they did they could have built an on campus stadium already. That they haven't, and will never be able to, tells you all you need to know.

 

Why is Loria still allowed to have a team? Selig should do something about it. That crook ****ed Miami over, as well as the other sports teams who won't get a dime anytime soon, even though the Dolphins deserve it way more. Heat lucky for them have a newer arena.

 

Ross has plenty of things working in his advantage. The NFL holding Super Bowls in Miami, his political involvement, and his history of getting elected officials to give him what he wants.

In reality Stephen Ross has no need for a new stadium. As you mentioned he makes a lot of money of the one he has. But you don't become a billionaire by being satisfied with what is needed.

 

No chance IMO. This situation was perfect for him because getting a stadium built is something he is uniquely qualified to get done. A major part of the NFL's business model is building real estate on someone else's money. Stephen Ross has been doing that for almost his entire professional career.

 

No way Ross gets the taxpayers to fund stadium renovations anytime soon. I'd be shocked if that happened.

Loria and Samson are Con Men, Ross is not.

 

The Georgia Dome was opened after JRS, but he's wrong anyway because Dolphins Stadium HAS had major renovations. The Metrodome is garbage.

 

Without commenting one way or another on Ross's policitcal persuasion, he failed to back a single winner in the last election and he ahs been completley unsuccessful thus far in getting the local pols to do anything.

Real estate might be his forte, but he is in a abd enviroment now for that kind of funding, and he is not helped by the fact that there is nothing obviously wrong with the stadium as is and that one of his fellow South Florida owners has just scammed the same county Ross is looking for a handout for.

 

Also, Minnesota and SF are getting new stadiums.

Arthur Blank is kvetching about the Georgia Dome too which is also falling on deaf ears in Atlanta.

 

I don't disagree really. The environment in So. Fla. right now prohibits anything happening right now. But once the housing market recovers, and the economy picks up in the area, people will be singing a different tune. All it takes is a few pols to start banging the drum on how many jobs the Super Bowl creates, get prominent businessmen behind it, and then rush it through. Sad, but true.

 

Blank's gonna have a tough time there. The Braves only got a new stadium because of the Olympics. Ted Turner might've been crazy, but he was one shrewd son of a *****.

If Ross wants a renovation, he'll need to do what Wayne did and spend his own money.

 

You may be right, but it's a ways away.

Ross probably never should have bought the etam in the first place. First, he over paid by a good $200 million, and as rich as he is, he had to leverage himself fairly thin to close the deal.

Second, he had to know that it was going to be difficult to squeeze more revenue out of the stadium without more significant upgrades than what Huizenga already did (which in reality, did nothing for the majority of the stadium footprint)

So now Ross is stuck with a lot of debt, with a stadium that throws off really good revenue but not enough to make him as much money as he wants, and maybe needs, but o way toc ahneg that equation without leveraging himself further, selling a huge chunk of the etam, or getting free money from Dade County which Jeff Loria probably just ruined forever.

 

How is this possible? I was under the impression that teams were under contract with Nike for five years to keep their designs and logos? That was the sentiment following the backlash to Seatte's awesome/awful uniforms.

As far as the changes themselves go, I'm cautiously confident after reading that Griese and Marino approve, but I'm still unsure. The word modern always scares me in the NFL. It usually means one of two things: University of Oregon or NASCAR...depending on who you talk to.

And that stadium? Yes, do something. I'm OK with soccer games taking place in our football stadium, but for the past forever, we've been playing football in our soccer stadium.

 

I still don't understand Huizenga's renovation. Have no idea what value it added, revenue wise.

Sure it's nice that the concourses are bigger now and there are places to sit with your hot dog with huge helicopter fans twirling above you, but it didn't make any huge difference to the gameday experience.

I can't speak for what he did with the club level, but even that added no new club seats or suites. Just amenities.

 

Where did you get that impression?

 

On a Seahawks ThePhins equivalent the day of the uniform release. The thread is like 500 pages long and 5 minutes of googling yielded no help, but someone said it. It was probably unsubstantiated; that's why I asked this board, not told.

 

If this is true, the only thing I dont like is the Dolphin being backwards. Thats gonna look silly.

 

Yeah, what's the point of flip flopping the Dolphin?

 

....not outdated, but a classic

 

Qualcomm, last renovated before the last superbowl in San Diego.

We won't even get anymore superbowls until we get a new stadium. The city is a perfect venue. But no stadium.

 

Dolphin facing the other way? Better not. Seriously, it's like the dolphin is looking away from the opponent.

Plus, the backwards stuff is not good feng shui

 

Great, if concussions haven't been bad enough, now we're threatening the livelihood of our mascot. :pity:

 

I agree. They should just go back to the original logo and leave it at that. I understand some fans would be upset with choosing traditional over change, but it wouldn't be nearly as crazy as the potential for fans becoming massively upset for altering/modernizing it too much. In the grand scheme of things there's only so much complaining fans can do about reverting back to the team's original logo, the one that existed when most of us first became fans of Miami, the one that was good enough at the time for us to be Miami fans. My 2 cents.

 

Isn't Ross one of only three NFL team owners that also owns the stadium outright? If so, I am almost positive that a new stadium is out of the question. That is a huge asset for him to own and any new stadium would most likely be property of the city/county.

So renovations it is. Mike Dee seems to know exactly what is needed. Modernize the football experience. Get the fans closer to the action, update facilities and seats, and as much as I hae to say it, put some distractions in the stadium for families. It makes perfect sense to have an aquarium there, in my opinion. I know that sounds sacrilege, but **** like that sells to casual fans who may want to bring their wife and kids and have something of them to do outside of the game.

I also would try to manufacture something similar to the Black Hole in Oakland. Raider games are a lot like Miami games in that no one really ever goes to the games, yet Raider and are considered to be amongst the bet and most loyal fan bases in sports. A large part of that is due to the small group of fans that show up to Raider games, decked out in costumes and sitting together in one end zone.

Perhaps having costume contests at each home game or having a fan of the game with associated prizes (tix to a future game, merchandise, etc.) would help spur some interest in the fans supporting the team at the stadium level.