The NFL won’t promise a Super Bowl to a city that is building a new stadium or renovating an existing one. The Dolphins have found a way around that obstacle.
The Dolphins will accept public funds for a renovation of Sun Life Stadium only if Miami secures the right to host Super Bowl L or Super Bowl LI.
“We have great confidence that South Florida will be awarded a Super Bowl on May 22,” Dolphins CEO Mike Dee told reporters, via the Miami Herald.
Dee said that a majority of the league’s owners support awarding either game to South Florida when the owners reconvene in two months.
Though acknowledging that the move constitutes a “risk,” Dee believes it’s not a huge gamble. “I don’t think it’s a Hail Mary,” Dee said.
If either game comes to the region, the “core” activities will be conducted in downtown Miami. For Super Bowl XLIV, the media center and other key events were located in Ft. Lauderdale.
The gesture to tie the funding of the renovations to getting a Super Bowl won’t hurt the effort to finagle public funds. Still, voters eventually will have to approve the measure at the ballot box.
