bit of whining going on here:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/dolphins-future-miami-uncertain-014025434--nfl.html
Dolphins' future in Miami uncertain By The Sports Xchange | The SportsXchange – 13 hours ago
Miami Dolphins CEO Mike Dee suggested Sunday the Dolphins may have to relocate at some point as a result of Friday's decision by the Florida legislature to reject hearing a referendum that would have provided public renovations to the Dolphins' Sun Life Stadium.Dee had said last month owner Stephen Ross would not renovate the stadium without a public-private partnership. Ross reiterated that there will be no renovation in an interview with CBS4 in Miami, saying it would be "difficult" to do the renovations on a more limited basis.Regarding the team's future in Miami, Dee said,
"I wouldn't want to prognosticate what the future holds, but it's clearly bleak."Although Dee said Ross won't move the team, Dee said the next owner could move the team, possibly to Los Angeles. Ross has said he won't sell the team in his lifetime, but Dee didn't rule out a sale during Ross's lifetime."The Dolphins are one of the only franchises in the NFL that don't have a long-term lease with their community," Dee said, according to The Palm Beach Post. "At some point, somebody's going to buy the franchise from (Ross), and clearly the stadium is the first thing they would need to address."
I wanted to wait a day before commenting but I have some gems to share with you guys from an interview the local CBS affiliate had with Mike Dee where he said on air that Owner Stephen Ross was not aware just how bad the stadium was in when he purchased the Miami Dolphins...that is just laughable and total bull. You mean to tell me that the man spent $550M in 2008 to own 50% of the team, bought the other 45% for about the same price in 2009 and became the majority owner of the team, $1.1 Million. Nowhere in that process did this man who the University of Michigan named their business school after recently...nowhere in that time frame did he ever take a look at the stadium and say "Hey, this place is gonna need a major face lift."???
It gets so much worse and even though I have some of the funkiest math skills I promise you I did my homework and the numbers are kind of shocking so check this out. Ross and Mike Dee(off my X-Mas List) had been pimping the fact it was a 50/50 split and the tax payers would pay about $200M, Ross would kick in $200m...I should really make a huge thread and launch the attack at who this squarely rests on...Roger Goodell. The problem is this board doesn't like to hear it. Ross is leveraged to his ears, that is true and he made a bad investment in the Miami Dolphins on the surface. But look at the numbers he(Ross) tried to pull over the entire state of Florida and then I'll tie this right in to Goodell, I promise.
Regardless of the fact I personally wanted the people of this area to vote and would have been fine with the results, despite that personal bias I have/had you cannot in this country demand that an election simply take place. No matter how much Slap and I think the people in Miami should all contribute an extra $5 to fund public education, we can't just go demand that we hold a special election about it and force folks to vote, it doesn't work like that and essentially the Miami Dolphins never asked permission, they simply started spending and worried whether the bill would pass later. You cannot just buy an election and have it take place and pass laws that way. We could go on and on about this but if you think about it for a second, it simply is wrong and I cannot blame the Florida Legislature for wanting a full year notice instead of having something stuffed in at the end of their session. It's not the State of Florida that is Ross' problem. Now when people like Ross act like a baby and have the Miami Mafia press release thru Mike Dee saying the outlook is "Bleak"...usually when that happens you can trace it back to the beginning and see that Ross was actually mad he wasn't able to cheat on this a little. Let's take a look at the math because you will lose your mind when you read this.
The Miami Dolphins didn't even want this to go to a vote, they were pressing the city of Miami, Miami Gardens, and Dade County...they never wanted a vote, they wanted Miami to just give it to them and not even allow the community to vote. In the cover of night Stephen Ross was trying to get a deal put thru, why the initial going around the people? Let's let that simmer a minute and let's invite Roger Goodell into the cuts because he really is the Mafia Boss of the NFL.
He is literally shaking teams and cities down by dangling Super Bowls and such. And if you do a little reading which this group of football fans does do but if you do a little reading(most fans don't) you will find out that
Roger Goodell and the NFL will kick in for part of the stadium upgrades if you have a public private partnership. Read that again because it should start to set off the light bulbs for many Dolphins fans, and NFL fans in other cities. It gets worse...
So if Ross gets some of the money, which in this case is actually a majority of the almost $400M they need to renovate the stadium...the campaign is that Ross was spending 50% of the money or essentially $200M...but wait a minute, the county and state with the deal in place would account for almost all of the money you need to make the stadium upgrades plus what Goodell and the NFL kick in...
WHERE EXACTLY IS ROSS SPENDING HIS OWN MONEY? Pssst, he isn't. So what exctly is Ross really putting into this deal? Whatever the gap was surely Goodell and the NFL were ready to kick in. So Stephen Ross was going to spend NONE of his own money at the end of the day. That is the truth and because of the wretched Steve Loria and what he did to this city by not leaving it to a vote and strong arming the local politicians with the Marlins...because of that we got this mess.
So what are you really paying for Stephen Ross? It doesn't sound like you were paying for anything and so I speak for myself and many other fans after they learn the truth about what you were trying to swindle and get done. I was all for the stadium upgrades, would absolutely love it but the owner who reaps those profits need to pay for it. If Ross is not liquid enough, not my problem. Sell the team, you suck at running it anyways. And please keep playing those pocket deuces you keep pushing because it's a bad hand Mr Ross and the fans are holding pocket Aces, what's your move? Move the team? Just try it, I know Cleveland got hosed but I find it hard to believe that a team with the rich history that competed in 5 SB, 3 in a row, and winning back to back including the perfect season...go ahead and threaten with the "bleak" comments. I was trying to secure a couple of lower bowl tickets for the season but you can forget it when they threaten the fan base here. Fans should be in droves out at the stadium protesting but we don't have many passionate fans here.
Guys I'm sorry for being so passionate in opposition to the Miami Dolphins, it's hard to imagine I am a fan at times but I care so much and it hurts so much to watch this team struggle with poor leadership, ownership, and management. I feel like I have to at least share what I know and point out some of the facts and figures we really would like to not think about. I wonder if fans have to deal with this nonsense in New England, Pittsburgh, Denver...why can't we have a solid owner down here who has a real plan and knows what he is doing?
See, I didn't even bring up the Miami GM