Dolphins CEO Mike Dee Looking To Boost Team's Season-Ticket Base

Dee Hopes To Increase Season-Ticket Base

New Dolphins CEO Mike Dee is "charged with reversing a trend that saw the team's season-ticket base drop from 61,121 in 2006 to 47,000 last year," according to Brian Biggane of the PALM BEACH POST. At the "heart of Dee's message is the value of the game experience." Dee: "We want the feeling to be, 'If you're not here, you're missing something.'... If the game experience is what it should be, it doesn't matter how clear that high-definition screen is, how great your sound is, there's nothing like being there. I don't remember many games I watched on television, but I remember every one I attended with my dad." Biggane notes Dee "hopes to boost the season-ticket base to 50,000 this season." Dee "won't cite specifics," but he said that the team's goal is to "jam as much entertainment as possible into the game's three-hour window." Dee also "wants to expand Dolphins territory to everything south of an imaginary line that would stretch from Port Charlotte on the West Coast across the state to Vero Beach" (PALM BEACH POST, 8/13).

INSTANT IMPACT: The AP's Steven Wine wrote the hiring of Dee earlier this year "may have the greatest impact of any move made" by Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross since he completed his purchase of the team in January. But "not surprisingly, partnerships Ross forged with music stars Jimmy Buffett, Marc Anthony and Gloria and Emilio Estefan have received much more attention." The Dolphins "sold only 46,131 season tickets last year, their lowest total since 1992." Dee "expects to reach at least 51,000 this year," and his "long-term goal is 65,000, a figure last achieved in 1974, when the Dolphins were coming off back-to-back Super Bowl championships" (AP, 8/12).

BUS STOP: In Miami, Jeff Darlington reports the Dolphins continue to "extend their new Dolphins Express bus program, which will provide fans a way to buy a package deal to home games that includes transportation from a variety of locations throughout Florida." In addition to southwest Florida, the program "will run in Palm Beach [County] and the Treasure Coast." Fans can purchase an "upper-corner, end-zone ticket, round-trip transportation on the Dolphins Express and a take-out meal for $69." Participating fans "will be able to park at Duffy's Sports Grill on home games to catch the Dolphins Express 2 1/2 hours before kickoff" (MIAMI HERALD, 8/13).