Dolphin Stadium Improvement Funding Off the Table for Now

The Miami Dolphins are not pursuing funding to renovate Dolphin Stadium. The team owners have decided that with the myriad of economic problems facing Miami Dade County, that this would not be a good time to seek $200 million in tax-backed funds. It is about time they came to this conclusion.

It looks like we have heard the end of the Rodney Barreto pitch for money for the Stadium. The UEL didn't know there was actually a bill set to be filed in Tallahassee that would have set the Miami-Dade hotel taxes "tourist tax" cap 1% higher. We would like to know which legislators were preparing this bill.

The UEL is pleased that this issue is off the table. The priorities of the County and State of Florida should be on more pressing issues.

More of the Dolphin Stadium Funding

This letter appeared in the Miami Herald, it was written by Marty Margulies. The Urban Environment League has worked with Marty on issues over the years and we thought this letter worth a reprint:

Another stadium 'giveaway' looms
On the heels of the greatest giveaway in the history of baseball -- the Marlins stadium -- it's no wonder that the NFL is lining up to get its slice of the pie for another taxpayer giveaway.

The NFL and the Miami Dolphins ownership are trying to cash in on the hype of the Super Bowl by asking the citizens of Miami-Dade County to fund a roof and 3,000 additional seats for Dolphin Stadium, now Sun Life Stadium.

The roof is a cover-up, both literally and figuratively, for the real reason. It's not about a game that might or might not be given to South Florida every four or five years; it's that 3,000 more revenue-producing seats will be pure profit for the Dolphins and actually work against the taxpayers.

Fans may not even be able to view the games on television because if the seats are not sold out, the games will be blacked out.

Despite joblessness, home foreclosures, Jackson Memorial Hospital losing $14 million per month and severe government budget problems, you can bet that the Miami-Dade County Commission will not put this to a vote, and may even foolishly vote for this even with the constituency of the third-world conditions in the communities of Overtown, Liberty City, Little Haiti and Little Havana.

This would be -- plain and simple -- another giveaway to a private owner who is very capable of funding the improvements to his stadium.

MARTIN MARGULIES, Key Biscayne

Should Tourist Taxes be raised for the Dolphin Stadium Upgrades?

The Miami Herald reports that Ron Book, a lobbyist for the Dolphins wants to raise the tourist tax to pay for renovations to Land Shark stadium, he says are needed to continue to attract the Super Bowl:

Aiming to raise public dollars to improve their privately-owned stadium, the Miami Dolphins and team backers have hatched a plan: get state legislators to lift the ceiling on Miami-Dade's hotel tax and then ask county commissioners to increase the rate of the so-called bed tax.

Backers of the plan, which has been presented to state legislators in recent weeks, say the move would generate millions of dollars for renovations on the Dolphins' Sun Life Stadium -- along with upgrades of the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Miami Herald: Glenn Garvin against public financing of Dolphin's Stadium.

In a stinging editorial, Glenn Garvin made a case against public financing of the Dolphin's Land Shark Stadium. He said that giving public money to the stadium is welfare for rich people -- the stadium owners:

The conga line for a stadium handout starts with the Estefans, but includes their equally glamorous Dolphins co-owners.

Garvin said about the $460 million income from the Super Bowl:

Without a roof and more luxuriant seats for the pale, tender butts of corporate aristocrats, Ross says, the NFL will stop bringing the Super Bowl to South Florida. And pffft! -- just like that! -- we lose the $460 million that comes with the game.

The problem with that argument is that it's -- how do I put this politely? -- a monstrously bald-faced lie. The economic impact of big one-shot events like Super Bowls is easy to track through sales-tax receipts, and literally dozens of studies have shown that they bring in far, far less than the Dolphins and their local-government toadies are claiming.

(Of course, the Dolphins have a study from a lobbyist company to back up their estimate. Funny how they won't let anybody see it.)

Garvin quotes economist, Philip Porter, from the University of South Florida: ``When we subsidize stadiums, we're giving money to the wealthiest class of people among us.''

The Miami Herald Asks: Will Super Bowl be economic windfall, or hot air?

In a story posted Sunday 1/17, The Miami Herald stated:

"...economists who study sports put the Super Bowl's net economic value at less than $100 million. And they accuse the NFL of dramatically inflating the Super Bowl's spending power for moments like this, when teams want governments to fund stadium expenses." The paper quotes Victor Matheson, a Holy Cross economics professor who co-authored a 2006 study titled Padding Required: Assessing the Economic Impact of the Super Bowl. The Herald said:

His research shows that the Super Bowl's economic punch likely tops out at around $90 million, though it can dip lower for large tourist destinations like Miami that already enjoy busy winters. His research found that in 1999, South Florida's economy gained $36 million from hosting the Super Bowl.

"Not that you'd turn down $30 or $40 or $50 million for one of these events,'' he added, "but don't tell me it's $400 million.''

Using a formula based on tax and income data, Craig Depken, an economist at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, estimated that the Super Bowl added about $58 million to Broward and Miami-Dade's economies in 2007.

"It's not nothing. It's not zero,'' he said. "But it's not nearly what the NFL says it is.''

Michael Putney asks why should we pay for upgrades to Dolphin Stadium.

In an Op Ed piece today, Michael Putney asks why taxpayers should foot the bill for upgrades to the football stadium. He also answers the question with an excellent list of why we shouldn't:

We've just committed $490 million to a baseball stadium. The public schools have recently taken a multimillion-dollar hit because state tax revenues have dropped again. Jackson Memorial is so broke it can't pay for dialysis treatments for the poor. One in 10 home mortgages is in foreclosure. Unemployment is at a 30-year high. And in this environment taxpayers are supposed to fork over $250 million to bring a football stadium up to NFL standards?

I don't think so.