MIAMI GARDENS?
It would be a whale of a party.
There is a good chance it won't happen.
The committee seeking to bring Super Bowl L or LI to South Florida revealed the details of a progressive hosting proposal submitted Wednesday to the NFL. It features an expansive waterfront village in Miami with a variety of entertainment and interactive venues. It includes a zipline ride across Bayfront harbor and a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier with a full-size football field on the flight deck.
What it doesn't contain is a modernized Sun Life Stadium for the main event that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has made clear is needed for South Florida to remain viable in competing for Super Bowls.
With the Miami Dolphins' bid for public funding for stadium improvements dying a week ago in the Florida Legislature, the bid proposal included the stadium as is.
That is considered a significant drawback in vying for the 50th Super Bowl against the San Francisco Bay area with a $1.2 billion stadium set to open next year in Santa Clara, Calif.
"It's kind of the elephant in the room, isn't it?" Rodney Barreto, chairman of the South Florida bid committee said Thursday.
Indicative, perhaps, of diminished chances due to the aging stadium, Barreto several times referred to features that "would have been" included as he presented details of the $21 million hosting plan at a news conference.
"It will be, right? Not would have been. It will be," corrected fellow committee member Nicki Grossman.
The 32 NFL owners will vote May 21 in Boston to award the 2016 game to South Florida or San Francisco. The city not chosen will be considered against Houston for Super Bowl LI in 2017.
Dolphins CEO Mike Dee reiterated Thursday that there currently is no Plan B for stadium improvements.
"Clearly it would have helped us if we were able to include a modernized Sun Life Stadium in the bid, given the competition," said Dee, also a member of the bid committee. "But this is an extraordinary bid in every aspect."
Among the notable components:
Super Bowl Park would stretch from the Intercontinental Hotel north to beyond Bicentennial Park. The northbound lane of Biscayne Boulevard would be closed to vehicular traffic and serve as a passenger walkway. Football shaped interactive exhibits would be scattered along the walkway depicting the history of each Super Bowl.
An aircraft carrier would be anchored in the canal between AmericanAirlines Arena and the park and have a football field for celebrity games.
A group of floating nightclubs on barges would be stationed in the bay. The Hail Mary zipline would carry fans across the water at Bayfront Marina in translucent footballs. There is a virtual village of interactive exhibits, boardwalk for fashion shows and several entertainment stages in the plan.
There would be a temporary station next to Bayside Marketplace for passengers arriving and departing from Palm Beach and Broward counties on the All Board Florida railway expected to begin operation by the end of 2015.
Will this downtown festival atmosphere and the other virtues of South Florida in February outweigh the shortcomings of 26-year-old Sun Life Stadium?
Or would it undermine efforts to get funding for stadium improvements if NFL owners awarded a Super Bowl immediately after the Dolphins were rebuffed by the state in an attempt to obtain tourist tax and sales tax money to make Sun Life Stadium competitive with newer facilities?
"That would be speculative," Dee said. "In my mind it wouldn't have any impact on the long-term future of the stadium. It's still going to be 30 years old and would need to be addressed at some point. So I wouldn't portray it that way."
The inability to secure funding has raised questions about the Dolphins' future at Sun Life in addition to clouding hopes for hosting future Super Bowls and college football championships there. The deal the Dolphins struck with Miami-Dade County would have ensured the Dolphins remained there for at least 30 years.
"The future of this facility is uncertain at this point," Dee said. "There is no Plan B that includes another venue. We have to address our future with the venue. You have to weigh all long-term options."
The Dolphins' stadium funding bill failed when Florida House Speaker Willl Weatherford refused to bring the up on the final day of the Legislative session. Dee on Thursday repleated his contention that assurances had been given that the bill would be heard. Weatherford has said there was no such commitment.
"I stand firmly behind what we've said since Friday, which is we had assurances that our bill would be heard. There's no misunderstanding, from our point of view," Dee said.
Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-dolphins-super-bowl-0510-20130508,0,812729.story?track=rss
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