The gap between Miami Super Bowls had much to do with the fact that the NFL wanted the Dolphins to update their stadium — a request team owner Stephen Ross obliged by dumping more than $500 million into renovations that have gradually transformed Hard Rock Stadium into one of the nicest venues in the nation.
Miami shouldn't have to wait another ten years for its next Super Bowl. In fact, Miami should host the game every year. Here are the most compelling reasons the big game should never be played anywhere else ever again.
The weather. Miami is the undisputed weather champion. Come early February, you can count on it being absolutely beautiful in South Florida. While other cities are battling frigid temperatures, in Miami we're complaining that our pools aren't warm enough yet.Fair and seasonable weather much of this week in South Florida. A front approaches on Super Bowl Eve with a good chance of rain on Saturday. Sunday will be sunny and cool! pic.twitter.com/9woCBzRd8i
— John Morales (@JohnMoralesNBC6) January 28, 2020
The NFL needs good weather for its Super Bowl events the entire week, not just on game day. Miami can almost always fulfill that need.
The Super Bowl should happen in a vacation destination. For the players, the championship game is a celebration of reaching the pinnacle of their careers. The Super Bowl is when they fly in Aunt Liz and Uncle Tim for an impromptu family reunion. Why not pick a place where most people would love to vacation?
Why should the greatest moment of anyone's professional career happen in Detroit? Miami is much more celebratory. There are a million reasons why Miami is a more exciting end-of-the-season prize than Atlanta or Minneapolis.
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is just down the street from Hard Rock Stadium. Normally, having a casino near the Super Bowl stadium wouldn't be the biggest deal, but Hard Rock Hollywood is no longer just any casino. The property's new guitar-shaped hotel is a 35-story beacon you can't miss from just about anywhere in South Florida. It's an attraction, meeting center, and entertainment mecca all in one.
If fans or media members are looking to experience Miami, Hard Rock Hollywood is a good option. It's truly the northernmost part of the Super Bowl experience.
Miami has added more than 10,000 hotel rooms in the metro area since its last Super Bowl. According to WalletHub, Miami has spent the past decade adding hotel rooms at an incredible pace. As of 2015, Miami had more than 50,000 hotel rooms, many of which were packed year-round, so the addition of 10,000 rooms in the metro area means it's capable of easily handling the number of visitors who come for a worldwide event like the Super Bowl.
Because the NFL says so, that's why. Listen, if Miami can't host every Super Bowl, the city should at least share the games with hosting arch-nemesisNew Orleans. The Magic City will soon host for the 11th time, and come 2024, New Orleans will have hosted the same number of Super Bowls. There's a reason for this: The NFL likes both places, and the cities are better than all others at meeting the NFL's criteria.
Newer stadiums that are continually upgraded, warm weather, and the ability to handle the traffic that comes with a Super Bowl — those are the reasons the NFL continues choosing Miami and New Orleans for its biggest game. In the end, what the NFL wants is all that matters.
Miami attracts more fans than any other host city. According to a study done by WalletHub, Miami sees more out-of-town visitors than any other host city. That, of course, means more money in everyone's pockets, including the NFL's.
Miami is expected to see 150,000 out-of-towners walking around this week. By comparison, Atlanta had 100,000; Minnesota had 120,000; and Houston had 140,000. All in all, Miami is expected to see 620,000 people take part in pre-Super Bowl festivities, more than any other host city.
Miami gets more attention and more visitors than any other host city. It's literally science.
More celebrities come to Super Bowls hosted in Miami. Star power and the Super Bowl go together, but when it comes to choosing a location that celebrities and entertainers want to visit in early February, Miami is at the top of the list. Good luck getting major stars to sit outside an arena in Minneapolis in February to talk about the game, much less take time out of their busy schedules to travel there.
Miami is the perfect Super Bowl destination because stars want to be here. Getting Jennifer Lopez and Shakira to do the halftime show in Miami is a given, as is having Pitbull, Rick Ross, and pretty much anyone else the NFL wants to help market the game. Half of these stars already have homes here, so it's not asking too much for them to drop by.
People already know and love Miami. The Magic City is a place many people have visited before. Familiarity with the area — things to do, how to get there, where to go — leads fans to travel to a marquee destination like the 305. When it comes to a location like Atlanta or Houston, fewer people have a reason to travel there and likely wouldn't know the first place to start when landing in town.
The Miami Dolphins will never make it to another Super Bowl, so there's no need to worry about an unfair advantage. No team has ever played in a Super Bowl in its home stadium. It would be almost unfair if one did.
The Miami Dolphins haven't been to a Super Bowl since 1984 and haven't won one since 1973. There are few safer stadiums to choose if anyone is worried about giving the home team an advantage. In New Orleans, the Saints are a Super Bowl threat nearly every year. The Dolphins are not.
Advantage: Miami. Sort of, we guess.
