The Panthers got their public money for stadium upgrades by promising to stay for at least 15 years.
The city of Miami wants something the Dolphins can’t deliver on their own.
According to the Miami Herald, Mayor Carlos Gimenez is suggesting that he wants a promise of a Super Bowl before public money is committed to Sun Life Stadium.
“I don’t want to be eligible for anything,” Gimenez said. “I’d like to see the results and actually land something.”
The mayor and the Dolphins announced a plan to let voters decide whether to use hotel tax funds, a vote which could happen before the owners meeting in May when 2016 and 2017 Super Bowls are awarded.
It’s a cart-before-the-horse idea by Gimenez, as the league uses Super Bowls as the carrot for new stadiums or upgrades. And while Miami has legitimate competition for those Super Bowls (San Francisco and Houston), it’s hard to imagine South Florida ever falling out of the rotation for the game.
While voters in Miami are still sore about buying the Marlins a new stadium only to see a competitive team gutted, the Dolphins say their polling indicates the measure for a hotel tax increase would pass.