The National Football League commissioner and Miami Dolphins owner and CEO said throughout the four-month push for public funding that Sun Life Stadium would not be awarded Super Bowl hosting honors in the immediate future without substantial upgrades at the Miami Gardens venue.
They were proven right Tuesday when the NFL awarded Super Bowl 50 to Santa Clara and Super Bowl 51 to Houston.
Skipping South Florida should have been no surprise after the Dolphins struck out in a bid for public assistance — an annual $3 million state sales tax rebate for the next 30 years and a 1 percent increase in Miami-Dade County bed taxes at mainland hotels to help fund $389 million in proposed stadium renovations.
The Florida Legislature, which needed to give the county the authority to raise the bed tax, let the stadium funding bill die this month.
The next potential Super Bowl-hosting opportunity for Sun Life Stadium would come in 2018 when Super Bowl 52 is played. Don't be surprised if the Dolphins and its team of high-priced lobbyists push for a second crack at public money next spring.