Miami Dolphin owner to fund $300mn renovation plans for Sun Life Stadium

The Miami Dolphins in June this year spelt out plans to modernise their home Sun Life Stadium. It was announced that owner Stephen Ross will foot the entire bill for the $300 million renovation plans, with an agreement with Miami-Dade County that it pay the team every time Sun Life hosts a major event.

The Miami-Dade County Commission approved the plan for bonus payments to the Miami Dolphins for hosting marquee events in exchange for Ross being financially responsible for the renovation of the stadium without county assistance.

The agreement that the Dolphins finally struck with the county went through several iterations, including a proposal to waive the stadium’s annual property tax payments.

The current agreement would give the team money for hosting events such as the Super Bowl ($4 million), the College Football Championship Game ($3 million) or a World Cup soccer final ($4 million), according to the Florida Sun-Sentinel. Smaller events, like an international soccer match, could give the team a payout as small as $750,000.

According to plans laid out last year, the renovation work would include a new canopy over the seating areas, moving 3,600 seats closer to the field, adding high definition lighting, new scoreboards in each corner of the stadium, upgraded seats, and improved amenities and food services.

The stadium has been making a push to host another Super Bowl. However, the NFL made it clear that Sun Life would not host the big game again until it updated necessities such as lighting and seat covers. Miami has hosted 10 Super Bowls, tied for the most with New Orleans, but lost out on bids for the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Super Bowls.

The overhaul is expected to be completed in 2016. As part of the deal, the team agreed not to move out of Miami-Dade County for the next 30 years.

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