When Dolphins owner Stephen Ross called out Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford for failing to send the Sun Life Stadium renovation bill to the House floor for a full vote, Ross suggested that Weatherford may have been furthering his personal political interests.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, those supporting the proposed upgrades to Sun Life Stadium believe that Weatherford’s sole motivation indeed was personal politics. The suspicion, we’re told, is that Weatherford has statewide political aspirations, which will compel him to court voters in Miami-Dade County, and Hispanic voters generally. To that end, stadium supporters believe that former Eagles owner Norman Braman (pictured), who has bitterly opposed the efforts to obtain public funding for upgrades to the venue, likely has promised to help deliver those key pieces of the electorate.
Regardless of the precise reasons for Weatherford’s decision to let the bill die, a special legislative session or any other effort to authorize a public vote on the proposed upgrades is not anticipated until next year, at the earliest.
It means that NFL owners most likely will award Super Bowl L to San Francisco, and Super Bowl LI to Houston. Thus, the Super Bowl won’t return to South Florida before 2018 -- unless the Dolphins find another way to finance the upgrades or the NFL decides to return the Super Bowl to Miami without them.