It should happen. Success sports teams in Miami have played downtown and not in the suburbs. Since the Miami Dolphins and the Miami Hurricanes have moved away from downtown the winning has stopped. Same goes for the Florida Panthers. The most successful team in that market has been the Miami Heat. They have 3 NBA Championships and are looking for a fourth.

(05-01-2014 11:17 PM)Marge Schott Wrote:  Relegating yourself to a home stadium of 40,000 is admitting that that you're no longer a nationally prominent program. It absolutely is a big deal when your stadium is significantly closer in size to Wake and Duke, among other nobody programs, than it is the top teams in your conference.

EDIT: On the radio this morning I heard a commercial paid for by the Miami Seaport Alliance, comprised of many of those I mentioned in another comment, voicing their opposition to the stadium. They even mentioned the Marlins' Stadium debacle, which is why the Dolphins' Stadiums public funding portion was denied in spectacular fashion.

Ok, in regards to the first issue on why Miami would settle for a stadium that's comparable to Duke and Wake in size, the reason Miami would "settle" for 40k is because they only have a certain about of season ticket holders. I believe I read that UM officials wanted to make sure season ticket holders, alumni, and suite/box ticket holders would be accommodated in inclusion to gameday ticket purchasers.

As far as stadium opposition, Beckham originally wanted this stadium to be 75k, but I would imagine that due to the lack of space and having to deal with Miami officials for approval, the new plan seats around 20-25k will the ability to grow to 40k. This was the comprise/reality of building anything of a large magnitude given the fact that the Marlins stadium rubbed most people in the city of Miami the wrong way. This is the main reason why future sporting projects in Miami will now require investors to foot their own bill.

Miami (the school) is only a spectator in all of this. I'm not sure if Miami is expected to contribute financially in the Beckham project, but they do have some insight to the project. This is in contrast to the Marlins stadium where city officials felt that Miami should just go ahead a play in the Dolphins stadium since it's already made for football.

In reality, beggars cannot be choosers. Miami's only choice is to be optimistic about a stadium that can meet its current needs as a private university.

I think this would be a big win for Miami.


It would be better to play in a full 40K seat stadium than have 15K in a 75K seat stadium.


I think better location and a better supply/demand ratio would actually increase Miamis attendance (because they are flat out lying on their numbers now).


I would rather them have a REAL 40K show up than a pretend 50K average.

I think it will be a better atmosphere as well.


I wish the ACC had 10 schools with 75K plus, but they don't.....but for Miami, this is a best case scenario IMHO.

Some new developments. Seems like the Port location is done but another downtown location is being suggested by Miami's Mayor (and Miami's ex-Mayor, who supported the Marlins Park fleecing, is against it - what a screwed up city), and other stuff.

http://worldsoccertalk.com/2014/05/08/da...s-stadium/
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/07/41...would.html
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/08/v-...ign=buffer

In fifteen or twenty years, I don't think anyone is going to be laughing at 40k seat stadiums, and more teams will wish they had them. I think it's crazy that any school is thinking about expanding their stadium. I think 40-60k is going to be the sweet spot. I think there will only be a handful of teams drawing 65+ in 20 years.

Just my opinion. It's a tv game now, and nobody's going to put that genie back in the bottle.

I think you're being a bit extreme. Will Duke and Wake drop to a 15,000-seater and BC to a 25,000-seater? That's pretty awful. The thing about Miami moving to a 40,000-seat stadium is that you can't claim to be a national power AND play in a 40,000-seat stadium. There's nothing, in and of itself, wrong with 40,000 seats if that's what works for you. But like I've said, it's an admission of lost relevance.

(05-08-2014 05:56 PM)Marge Schott Wrote:  I think you're being a bit extreme. Will Duke and Wake drop to a 15,000-seater and BC to a 25,000-seater? That's pretty awful. The thing about Miami moving to a 40,000-seat stadium is that you can't claim to be a national power AND play in a 40,000-seat stadium. There's nothing, in and of itself, wrong with 40,000 seats if that's what works for you. But like I've said, it's an admission of lost relevance.

Championships aren't won in the stands.

...and Miami has never had good fan support to begin with.

If Miami gets to the point where it is busting at the seems, I'm sure they'll find a way to add capacity.

(05-08-2014 05:56 PM)Marge Schott Wrote:  40,000 seats is an admission of lost relevance.

(05-08-2014 06:11 PM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(05-08-2014 05:56 PM)Marge Schott Wrote:  I think you're being a bit extreme. Will Duke and Wake drop to a 15,000-seater and BC to a 25,000-seater? That's pretty awful. The thing about Miami moving to a 40,000-seat stadium is that you can't claim to be a national power AND play in a 40,000-seat stadium. There's nothing, in and of itself, wrong with 40,000 seats if that's what works for you. But like I've said, it's an admission of lost relevance.

Championships aren't won in the stands.

...and Miami has never had good fan support to begin with.

If Miami gets to the point where it is busting at the seems, I'm sure they'll find a way to add capacity.

What year was the last national title won by a team with a home stadium of less than 50k capacity?

(05-08-2014 06:28 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(05-08-2014 06:11 PM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(05-08-2014 05:56 PM)Marge Schott Wrote:  I think you're being a bit extreme. Will Duke and Wake drop to a 15,000-seater and BC to a 25,000-seater? That's pretty awful. The thing about Miami moving to a 40,000-seat stadium is that you can't claim to be a national power AND play in a 40,000-seat stadium. There's nothing, in and of itself, wrong with 40,000 seats if that's what works for you. But like I've said, it's an admission of lost relevance.

Championships aren't won in the stands.

...and Miami has never had good fan support to begin with.

If Miami gets to the point where it is busting at the seems, I'm sure they'll find a way to add capacity.

What year was the last national title won by a team with a home stadium of less than 50k capacity?

What does that logical fallacy matter? Miami won its last national championship averaging 47,162...and that average is skewed by the Washington game (which the university was handing out free tickets for). Half of their home games averaged under 40K for a team that was ranked #1 most of the season.

Miami can win a national championship just as easily playing in a 40K seat stadium as it could in a dilapidated, half-filled Orange Bowl.

(05-08-2014 06:50 PM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(05-08-2014 06:28 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(05-08-2014 06:11 PM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(05-08-2014 05:56 PM)Marge Schott Wrote:  I think you're being a bit extreme. Will Duke and Wake drop to a 15,000-seater and BC to a 25,000-seater? That's pretty awful. The thing about Miami moving to a 40,000-seat stadium is that you can't claim to be a national power AND play in a 40,000-seat stadium. There's nothing, in and of itself, wrong with 40,000 seats if that's what works for you. But like I've said, it's an admission of lost relevance.

Championships aren't won in the stands.

...and Miami has never had good fan support to begin with.

If Miami gets to the point where it is busting at the seems, I'm sure they'll find a way to add capacity.

What year was the last national title won by a team with a home stadium of less than 50k capacity?

What does that logical fallacy matter? Miami won its last national championship averaging 47,162...and that average is skewed by the Washington game (which the university was handing out free tickets for). Half of their home games averaged under 40K for a team that was ranked #1 most of the season.

Miami can win a national championship just as easily playing in a 40K seat stadium as it could in a dilapidated, half-filled Orange Bowl.

Agreed, if the 40,000 seats include a generous number of club seats and private suites. The Miami area has an overabundance of ticket inventory for big time sports, a situation that Beckham's MLS team will only make worse. The casual middle income fan has a lot of options. However, there is enough money in the area so that the U should be able to generate significantly higher than average premium ticket sales. This is the business model that Stanford, TCU, and several others have pursued.