PUBLIC TIRED OF FINANCING STADIUMS

Anger in Wake of Marlins’ Stadium Deal Threatens Dolphins’ Renovation Plan

Ken Belson
March 25, 2013

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The Miami Dolphins are proposing to Miami-Dade County for $200 Million in public taxes to Renovate the 26 year old Sun Life Stadium. After they just funded 3/4 of the Miami Marlins new 
$643 million dollar stadium with the counties tax money. They are looking for other ways to compensate for the tax money the Dolphins would be receiving by raising other taxes. When eligible voters were asked in a survey 73% opposed the funding for the renovations by raising the hotel tax by 1% and giving the Dolphins $90 million in tax cuts over 30 years. This is terrible timing for the Dolphins who are asking for a lot from a city who basically just bought a new Major League Baseball stadium. Miami has hosted 10 super bowls in the past and may not be likely to host one in the near future with the advancement of other franchise's new stadiums around the league. 

It is estimated that $9 billion in public tax money have been used to fund new stadiums and in all 69 teams play in new facilities all across the nations from collegiate to professional. The collegiate teams have in the recent decade have been trying to play essentially "keeping up with the jones'" to update and build new facilities to boost recruiting efforts and attract players to the university. The Dolphins say the renovations will create 4,000 new jobs for the area and also attract new businesses, boosting the economy. but how much boost can they really add when they just built the new marlins stadium to do the same thing. The average cost to the public to fund new stadiums is approximately $327 million, $327 million that could be spent on the city in a much more efficient way. Although if Miami were to land another super bowl bid it may turn out to be more of a return on investment than with the Marlins.