The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Other then wins (there are loosing teams that fill stadiums)what will fill up the stadium?I live in Atlanta and have the NFL ticket were the games televised and or  sold out? Are the games sold out?

Mike Dee said last week they are going to start tarping off part of the upper deck and change the "official" stadium capacity in Miami. Meaning less tickets need to be sold. Meaning less blackouts. They also want to add seats to the lower bowl closer to the field. The distance between Row 1 and the sideline is also the largest gap in the entire NFL.

But the upper deck in Miami is the biggest in the NFL by a wide margin. It is killing them "blackout" wise. Now if the team ever got good Ross and Dee would rip the tarp off themselves with their teeth to make a few bucks and put those seats for sale. But right now its killing them and the stadium will be "smaller" in the coming years.

Just like the Jaguars do to their stadium.  Just great.

tarping off the upper deck is not going to help them sell tickets.  Its just going to price out a portion of fans who like sitting in the upper deck. 

I've been saying for years that they did a piss-poor job designing the stadium with 20 yards of empty space on each sideline.  Joe Robbie wanted that stadium for soccer, baseball, and football, and the soccer field needs the extra grass side-to-side.  If we can abandon that nonsense, and add some seats NEAR the field (which will be super duper expensive), then it will help the game experience. 

However, the upper deck and lower bowl are different worlds.  You have to pay $100 minimum to even sniff the lowers.  So, tarping off the upper deck is in in effect "forcing" people to upgrade to lower bowl.  Most people would likely rather just stay home than double their ticket price.

^^^ If the seats are empty anyway, who is it forcing to move? I could see your displeasure if the stadium was full at the time. In actuality, all this is doing is giving you guys in the blackout zone an easier chance to see the games on TV.

I've complained about this for years.

In hindsight, I think that Wayne's idea of bringing soccer here was a real killer.  The stadium is very impersonal.  You feel way away from the action, rather than a part of it.  I don't know how they can bring seats closer to the field without dropping the field depth.  And then, what does that do to the upper deck?

The way Mike Dee made it sound was he was going to add seats down lower. But they want to convert it to a "football only" stadium. I mean soccer and stuff too, but remove all the baseball aspects to it to make it more like a regular football stadium.

Also the canopy/roof thing isn't dead and may be coming still.

I think the soccer part of it is what's making it so big.  Unless the seats can fold-in, like they did with baseball...  A soccer field is a lot wider than a baseball field.

This is my question too. You can't add seats on the field as there isn't height to do it. You would have to put them behind each other. They put those sideline seats in a few years ago and they suck. Other than watching the backs of the players and getting full service wait staff, they do not offer much in the way of "game experience".

I've sat in the field club before.  You literally can't see the game.  ...at all.  You're forced to watch on the big screen.  At least in the endzone, you can see the backs on the players in the action.  On the field club, you can only see the backs of the players on the sideline.

I think it would require a major stadium renovation to make it better.  Like reducing the angle of the seats. and making the wall 6 feet high around the field instead of 10 feet high.  It can be done, but will be expensive.

Dee said they would be doing extensive work on the stadium now that the Marlins are out. Super 50 is up for grabs. The NFL wants it in LA since that is where it all started and its going to be the NFL's shinning moment event up until this point in time. But having the new stadium built and ready by then in LA is really pushing it. A this point almost impossible.

So the next logical choices are New Orleans and Miami since they have hosted so many super bowls. New Orleans has next years, but that wouldn't stop the NFL from giving them Super Bowl 50. And while the NFL wants to return to Miami, without fixing up the stadium and possibly adding that canopy it ain't happening. So, they feel to get Super Bowl 50 and get back in the rotation the work needs to be done.

Dee went on and on about how they are going to do construction work on the stadium and improve it. He said Miami's upper deck is the largest in the NFL by about 8,000 seats. Next closest is Washington. Which is why they want to tarp part of it off. And the sideline seats distance to the field is the largest gap in the NFL as well. He feels if they need to fix those two issues and possibly add the canopy to get the stadium where it needs to be in general let alone Super Bowl ready.

The stadium turns 25 this year and in this day of age is pretty much outdated. But since its paid for in full they aren't tearing it down and the renovations on it are a cheaper and more logical way to go. Plus with the new Marlins stadium no way in hell are they getting public funding for a new stadium anytime soon.

There really is nothing to be done other than winning.


Someone said that winning trumps everything in Miami (or Florida in general)


So as long as Miami sucks, the stadium will be empty.  It's pretty simple.

If Miami signs a "healthy" Peyton Manning I guarantee you the tarp idea goes out the window. That stadium will be sold out for a couple years easy

That's a big if.

Isn't this true for many places?  Its really sad - the Dolphins have always had the strongest fan base in Florida.  However, since the Heat have become good, many people have jumped off the Dolphins' bandwagon and on to the Heat.


As for tarping off the upper deck - I think that extra 8000 upper deck seats is the EXACT reason why they keep saying they are below league average on ticket prices.  Go ahead, tarp off a chunk of the cheap seats and proceed to tell me how your average ticket price isn't about to skyrocket and expose the overpriced nature of your ticket plans.

I've never been to a game in Miami,but just a thought (and sort of taking a que from baseball little bit) Why not turn the upper area those cheap seats into a party area.Not with stadium seats really,but like the round tables and bar stools,more of a patio area.Put a pool area up there,make it like an NFL experience type area.
I think this would also create a more"The Home of the Miami Dolphins" feeling to the stadium.

I think the downside,is it lowers the seating capacity numbers,and might hurt the superbowl type events.I think it could play well for the Dolphins games though...

Exactly

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/dolphins/miami-dolphins-want-to-make-sun-life-stadium-2146961.html

Dolphins want to reconfigure the stadium to make it like the orange bowl. Instead of having fans 80ft from the sideline get them 18 ft away. And add potentially 3,500 lower bowl seats in-between the 20 yard lines.

Goodell talked about Miami today at his State of the League address. Said the Dolphins need to raise their game (in stadium standards) to get back in the super bowl rotation

Nice idea for the stadium configuration. More seats that I can't afford.

And The Mastermind is at it again...