Report: Dolphins stadium deal looks dead

This isn't over by any means. Still a lot of ways the Dolphins can get funding.

 

Now that the referendum is a dead issue for this year, I think the solution to this issue is really quite simple.

Let the people who actually attend games help pay for the renovations to the stadium. This would include me, since I buy 4 season tickets to both Dolphin and Hurricane games.

Ross should just add a twenty five dollars surcharge for each Dolphin game and the Hurricanes should add a ten dollar surcharge for each home game. Assuming the Dolphins average 55,000 fans and the Hurricanes average 40,000 for each game played in the stadium, this would easily pay for the renovations over the next thirty years.

The Dolphins play eight regular season games and two preseason games at Sun Life stadium. A twenty five dollar surcharge on each ticket with an average crowd of only 55,000 for each of these games would bring in an additional $1,375,000 per game and $13,750.000 per season.

The ten dollar surcharge by the Hurricanes, even if they only play five games a year in the stadium would average $400,000 a game with a 40,000 average fan attendance. This would add another $2,000,000 a year to the renovation plan.

So even with an estimate which assumes relatively small crowds, the Dolphins could still receive 15,750,000 a year to put toward these stadium renovations. Over a 30 year period, this would give the Dolphins $472,500,000 to use toward stadium renovations.

Instead of the taxpayers, many of whom have no interest in either the Dolphins or the Hurricane football teams, being forced to pay for renovations on a stadium they will probably never enter, let those of us who actually use the stadium by going to the games, pay for all these renovations, along with the money Ross has agreed to put up for the renovation project.

Since I purchase 4 season tickets to both the Dolphins and the Hurricane games, I figure that the additional cost to me would be $1,200 a year. I am already spending over $5,000 a year on tickets and parking, so what would an additional $1,200 really matter? I go to the games and it should be me and the other fans who actually go to the stadium who should be paying for these renovations. Not the average tax payer or the tourists who have no interest in football at all. The tourist will only have to pay if they decide to actually attend a game at the stadium.

As far as any other events held at the stadium, Ross could always have a stadium renovation surcharge added to each ticket purchased for these events also.

 

Apparently Ross is claiming the house speaker lied and that he promised Ross a vote.

Republican on Republican crime. Feel the schadenfreude

 

More Ross: Doesn't understand why Weatherford "disenfranchised" the voters. This is rich. Truly hilarious stuff

 

Wow a politician lied. I've never heard that before. LOL

 

What I find hilarious is that Ross is one of the biggest Republican backers in the nation and he couldn't even get the Republican, "Speaker of the House", in Florida to tell him the truth. I guess Weatherford can forget about getting that large campaign contribution from Ross, the next time he runs for office.

 

For real ... as we all know the only time they lie is when they are talking

 

This is literally the worst time for someone to become anti-business and against government working with business. This is one of those times where a hard line against someone being rich by virtue only of them being rich is just ridiculous and knee-jerk dogmatic. It's a sweet *** deal for both sides. Maybe more so the city.

 

Now you're just being needlessly aggressive. Stringer Bell is probably one of the biggest D's on this forum. From the first page you've just been ignoring arguments and saying "Well he should pay for it" or "Something something Republicans".

 

The LA area has had plenty of opportunities over the years to build a stadium and entice a franchise to move there. Obviously the taxpayers of LA have no desire to spend more tax dollars on an NFL franchise. There is a reason the Rams and Raiders left LA and moved to smaller markets. I don't see the LA area being a threat as a place the Dolphins would relocate to. If they were a legitimate player in enticing an NFL who wanted to relocate, the Jags, Bucs, Vikings, or even the Raiders would have already moved to LA.

LA just comes up each time there is a threat of a team relocating because it is a large market with no NFL franchise. Obviously the majority of the voters in LA are content with having no NFL franchise or else they would have built a stadium and secured a team before now. I am not saying the Dolphins will never move, but if they do, I don't see it being to LA.

 

Wow, just wow.

http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news...allink_textlink_apr2013_pbpstubtomypbp_launch

 

Perhaps since you live in the Bahamas, they can raise the hotel taxes in the Bahamas and you all can send that extra money to Ross, so he can renovate the stadium. He can always give a 10% discount to anyone from the Bahamas on tickets, parking, and concessions when they attend a game in Miami. This sounds like a sweet *** deal to me.

 

It should be noted that the Jacksonville Jags were requesting money from the state also and they were denied approval, just like the Dolphins. So it obviously wasn't just the politicians up north trying to stick it to South Florida. In fact the Daytona Speedway was denied tax funds to upgrade.

Why Palm beach got the money and these other areas didn't, I really don't know. All I know is that the Dolphins weren't the only sports franchise or business passed over by the state house.

 

The tax is first of all a tax on tourists to Florida. If they raised a bed tax here, tourists would pay it. Did you lean back and chuckle to yourself about how awesome this non-sequitur argument would be? It doesn't note the fact that money will be repaid to the city, or that the city is essentially guaranteed, over the life of the deal, much more money than it put in.

 

Ross said it, not me.

And yes I find it hilarious that Ross gave millions to Republican candidates and that a Republican almost singlehandedly screwed him. I am not making a political statement at all and it would be equally funny if it were two Democrats

 

That's who I'm blaming at this point, legislature that doesn't understand the big picture for their biggest city.

 

hopefully this gets done one way or another. it is sad that this did not even get a ****ing vote.

 

I find it refreshing that politicians weren't bought out by campaign donations. You're taking an actual positive and spinning it into a negative.

 

The very same thing, it had to pass the tax through the legislature 1st before it could go to the electorate. There wasn't that much to hold that back in 2002 because the tax wasn't being raised for one item, like this one is. That included all tourist based facilities. This is why there is opposition to this because its a private business that is the ONLY beneficiary. The other tax was created to help all tourist based public facilities, which the writers of that legislation asked "sports stadiums" be included. The only reason we need this new tax is because that one is already tapped out, and can't help fund this one. Hell, many are worried that if we have a bad turndown in the economy again, that one will not be able to fulfill its obligations and then they may have to turn to the general tax funds to help make it full.

 

What a joke. An absolute joke. If im Ross.. I start looking for mu quickest exit from town.

 

It was, but you guys are failing to see the point. The Marlins deal was not "the Marlins deal". That tax was voted and won by (from what I remember) 2/3 of the vote, and it was to help "promote and help" tourist based facilites, which the writers of that legislation asked that "publicly funded stadiums" be included. That tax has helped rebuild public facilities like the Arsht Center and the renovation of the Miami Beach Convention Center.

The Marlins didn't need to go to the legislature to ask for permission to use these funds, since the majority of the funding came from the government and that facility, which the Marlins use, is still owned by the County & City, not the Marlins.

Sun Life is a completely different animal. Its a privately owned & operated business and it shares none of its revenues with the public at all.

With the other tax being maxed out because of all the things it funds, then a new source of revenue needed to be found. Voila ! You have the Dolphins in Tallahassee asking for the state to change the law to allow a new bed tax to be collected by the local government.

 

No not tin foil hat stuff but real life. Deadspin pretty much showed that the Marlins cooked their books and lied about losing money. They made as much as $ 50 million dollars the last year in Sun Life. If you choose to not believe it, then so be it.

 

and the county WISELY refused to pay hundreds of millions of $$$ for a 26 year old facility. That stadium is Ross' Folly, and thankfully not ours.

 

Why does everyone just blindly think the Dolphins would move out of South Florida ? DOH ! What about Broward County ? They are available to pay for a new stadium.

 

I'm confused how Miami turned down a deal which was killed at the Tallahassee stage?

 

Why not look to Broward County to help next time ? They might even entertain building a brand new stadium.

Better yet, just pay for it yourself Ross.

 

PGA and I-95? Unless they don't mean that literally, that would be a traffic nightmare,and I don't think there is room. But if there Is, I could walk to the games....

 

So your saying you believe deadspin just walked in and got a look at the Marlins books while no one was looking. Sounds pretty tin foil to me.

 

If Ross is smart, no BS, he should start a campaign to gather investors, to build the OB2...start a mother fu$$in revolution..It could be done, and could be very profitable..there's already an incredible concept design and vision in place that two programs could capitolize on.

 

Jeff Passan had a story about it severl years ago.....

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-marlinsfinancials082410

 

The Big Winner in this, The San Francisco 49ers

 

Even when raising the bed tax helps everybody involved, the tea party and the GOP just can't bring themselves to raise a tax. No wonder the economy is stagnant, possible new jobs are being tossed away without a care in the world.

 

Looks like we start bidding on SB 53 which we likely still won't get.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

They were getting #50 anyways....we never stood a chance of getting it. We had two SB's within 4 or 5 years, I'm sure that Phoenix, Houston and Tampa get one before we do, even with renovations

 

Thank you for the read.

This country needs a revolution. This is coming from someone who's grandparents had to flee their sovereign soil soaked in blood of atrocities committed via an idea rich in theory and devastating in practice. My great grandfather's farm was taken, his large estate given to influential members of the party. But my grandmother's father never defrauded any one of any class. Quite the opposite, my grandmother tells stories about her mother scolding her father from coming home short on produce after dispersing most of it to friends and those less fortunate while on his way back home. But I can see how a Castro can be constructed. I read a story like that and I suddenly don't cringe at the thought of baptizing a man with his own blood or purging greed by way of a firing squad. And coming from someone who knows, who's been mentored by the wisest of the wise on the futility of such actions, who's family knows first hand that the world needs evolution instead of revolution, I find it a frightening thing.

How much is enough? The world as we know it- our great nation- ceased to be great some time ago. And those in a position to right wrongs no longer bear the character of our founding fathers. And the world, yours and mine, no matter the chemical element of spoon in your mouth, is a very frightening thing.

 

I'm not making it a negative. I just find it funny.

 

These things are normally done through public private partnerships. But here we have somewhat strange dynamic due to J Robbie acquiring the stadium. Ross has complete ownership of the asset, and financially it probably does not make sense for him to give up any of that for some improvement help from the county. So the deal with the county has to be structured in a way where Ross still keeps the asset but gets assistance. That is why he agreed to pay for the renovations--he is basically getting a favorable loan from the County. This is unlike new deals. (Marlins Park is owned by County.) So to the extent that the bill will not result in public ownership, the legislature is not pressed to vote on it urgently--it's a minor issue. Even though it seems weird that something minor like this would not get done, that's how it usually works. major issues receive major time and urgency. Minor issues are pushed to back burner.

 

Although this deal would be completely structured different from Marlins stadium, Loria has left such a bad taste in people's mouths in Miami, I think we would have lost the vote anyway. Like the old saying "screw me once, shame on you, screw me twice, shame on me". Doesn't really apply since Ross is willing to pay over half the remodel costs, but I think people in Miami are enraged with Marlins stadium and what has failed to happen, they will no way pass the referendum if we did get the vote.

Personally I believe this should be put off a year, bring a winning team to Sunlife Stadium, Dolphins, not the U! And let public anger die down over Marlins Stadium, spend the next 12 months on a smart marketing/vote campaign and THEN get it put up for a vote. JMVHO

 

well hopefully the people of Miami and the Fla legislature like the nam "Los Angeles Dolphins"

 

That's fine, but home games will still be played at Sun Life. Ross owns the Stadium. The stadium is in Miami. So if LA wants to invest in the Dolphins more power to them, but they will be investing in a stadium in Miami.