Say what you will about Miami Dolphins owner Steven Ross and his many gaffes, but do not question his desire or commitment to making the Dolphins better in any way that he can. Whether it’s buying empty seats at home games so that fans can watch the games on tv or whether it’s shelling out $400 million of his on money to improve fan experience at the stadium, he is certainly doing what he can to improve the Dolphins from a cosmetic standpoint.
The Dolphins recently began phase one of their two part renovation plan. The new changes that will be made before the 2015 season opener will be the changing of every seat in the stadium. The orange seats will be replaced with new aqua seats. Also the field level seating will be moved inwards of close to 24 feet, all designed to create a more intimate experience that has been missing since the days of the old Orange Bowl. Also stadium capacity will lower from the 76,018 to 65,326.
However, the biggest and most exciting changes will made after the 2015 season. Those include a canopy that will cover 91 percent of fans from the sweltering south Florida sun and also will ramp up the stadium noise. In addition to the roof canopy, four new giant high def video boards in the four corners of the stadium.
You can probably count on one hand the number of owners in professional sports willing to spend this kind of their own personal money on a project of this magnitude. Team President, Tom Garfinkel said of Ross “He’s changed landscapes, now he’s changing ours in South Florida.”
All of these changes, in addition to creating a more intimate fan experience have been geared to assure that Sun Life Stadium will again be hosting Super Bowls and NCAA Football championship games. Ross said “We want this to be a global entertainment destination.”
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