Hard Rock Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The stadium is the home field for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL) and the Miami Hurricanes, the University of Miami's NCAA Division I college football team.
The stadium has hosted six Super Bowls (XXIII, XXIX, XXXIII, XLI, XLIV, LIV), the 2010 Pro Bowl,[6] two World Series, four BCS National Championship Games (2001, 2005, 2009, 2013), two CFP National Championships (2021, 2026), one Copa América final (2024), the second round of the 2009 World Baseball Classic, and WrestleMania XXVIII.
In addition, the stadium hosts the Orange Bowl, an annual college football bowl game, and the Miami Open tennis tournament. Since 2022, the grounds of Hard Rock Stadium has also hosted the Miami International Autodrome, a temporary racing circuit used for Formula One's Miami Grand Prix. The stadium will host multiple matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup[7] and hosted several matches at 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. It also hosted matches for the 2024 Copa América (including the final). From 1993 until 2011, the stadium also was the home field of the Florida Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB) until their move to LoanDepot Park in 2012.
The facility opened in 1987 as Joe Robbie Stadium and has been known by a number of names since: Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, Land Shark Stadium, and Sun Life Stadium. In August 2016, the team sold the naming rights to Hard Rock Cafe Inc. for $250 million over 18 years; they will retain the naming rights until 2034.[8]
History
1976–1987: Conception and construction
For their first 21 seasons, the Miami Dolphins played at the Orange Bowl. Team founder Joe Robbie explained what led to the decision to build a new stadium: "In 1976, the city of Miami wanted to quadruple our rent. That did it. I began thinking in earnest about building a stadium." What made the construction of the stadium unique was that it was the first multipurpose stadium ever built in the United States that was entirely privately financed.[9]
Robbie also believed it was only a matter of time before a Major League Baseball (MLB) team came to South Florida. At his request, the stadium was built in a rectangular configuration, with a field that was somewhat wider than was normally the case for an NFL stadium.[10] The wide field also made it fairly easy to convert the stadium for soccer. Because of this design decision, the first row of seats was 90 ft from the sideline in a football configuration, considerably more distant than the first row of seats in most football stadiums (the closest seats at the new Soldier Field, for instance, are 55 ft from the sideline at the 50-yard line). This resulted in a less-intimate venue for football compared to other football facilities built around this time, as well as to the Orange Bowl.
Events
NFL
The stadium has played host to six Super Bowls (XXIII, XXIX, XXXIII, XLI, XLIV, and LIV) and also hosted the 2010 Pro Bowl.
Super Bowl XLI in 2007 at Dolphin Stadium, when the Indianapolis Colts defeated the Chicago Bears 29–17, was marred by heavy rains. An estimated 30% of the lower-level seating was empty during the second half.[39]
In 2010, the NFL threatened to take the stadium out of further consideration for a Super Bowl or Pro Bowl unless significant renovations were made. One of the upgrades desired was a roof to protect fans from the elements. In 2012, the Dolphins scrapped plans for pitching a $200 million hotel tax proposal that would have included a partial stadium roof.
In 2016, an open-air canopy was constructed that protects the seating bowl from the elements. The canopy, however, does have a football-field-sized hole in the middle, and thus does not protect the playing field itself from rain. The renovations were completed by the first Miami Dolphins pre-season home game in September 2016.
Previously, since the field runs east–west (rather than north–south, as is the case in most other stadiums), the north stands were exposed to the full force of South Florida's oppressive heat early in the season.
Naming rights
The stadium has gone through many name changes, bringing up a question of the value of corporate naming rights.[85]
During the planning and building phase of the stadium, the stadium was referred to as Dolphin Stadium. Joe Robbie, the original and then-owner of the Miami Dolphins and the new stadium, did not want the stadium named after himself, saying, "I didn't want them to name it after me. But they insisted, and I guess I'm only human."[9] The stadium opened on August 16, 1987, as Joe Robbie Stadium.
In the early 1990s, Wayne Huizenga gained control of the stadium. Huizenga first sold the naming rights to Pro Player, the sports apparel division of Fruit of the Loom, and the stadium became Pro Player Park on August 26, 1996. After the Dolphins opened the 1996 season there, the stadium was renamed Pro Player Stadium before the team returned home in week 3. The Marlins' 1996 season was played when the stadium was known under three different names, having started the year under the Joe Robbie name.
Fruit of the Loom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1999, and the Pro Player brand was ultimately liquidated in 2001, but the stadium name held for several more years. In January 2005, the stadium was renamed Dolphins Stadium, coinciding with a renovation of the stadium. In April 2006, it was renamed Dolphin Stadium in an update of graphics and logos.
See also
- List of NCAA Division I FBS football stadiums
- List of American football stadiums by capacity
- Lists of stadiums
External links
- Hard Rock Stadium at StadiumDB.com
- Hard Rock Stadium – hurricanesports.com..
- Hard Rock Stadium Seating Charts
References
- FAQs Miami Dolphins, retrieved April 7, 2016^
- Manouk Akopyan. Dolphins unveil $400.000.000M renovation plan for Sun Life Stadium National Football League, January 17, 2015, retrieved April 7, 2016^
- Venue www.miamiopen.com, retrieved 2019-02-04