The Dolphins will move their training home from Davie to a "new facility that will be located on the northwest side of Hard Rock Stadium" that is "likely to cost" at least $75-80M, according to a front-page piece by Andre Fernandez of the MIAMI HERALD. Dolphins Vice Chair, President & CEO Tom Garfinkel said that the team hopes the new training HQ "will be ready" by '20 at the earliest and "will be built on team-owned lands." Fernandez notes Dolphins lobbyists had previously "secured an expanded subsidy deal" with Miami-Dade County that "could bring" more than $60M to the franchise over the next several decades. The agreement "increased" the current $5M cap on "yearly stadium subsidies" to $5.75M under a '14 agreement. The Dolphins have called Nova Southeastern Univ. in Davie home "for a quarter century." This move "will put all team employees together in the same place." For decades, ticketing and business staffs "worked at the stadium while football operations were in Davie." The move would bring Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross’ "total investment in his stadium property" to more than $600M since '15. Ross has "spent a half-billion dollars on renovating Hard Rock, and is also funding the construction" to host the ATP/WTA Miami Open at the venue beginning in '19 (MIAMI HERALD, 8/8).
GROWING UP: In Ft. Lauderdale, Perkins, Austin & Kelly in a front-page piece note the Dolphins had "outgrown the NSU facility and couldn’t expand any further." Garfinkel said that the Dolphins "felt they needed to keep up with the rest of the league’s facilities, which provide far more space and amenities for players and coaches" (South Florida SUN SENTINEL, 8/8). Garfinkel also said that the Dolphins are "not dissatisfied with their current facility" at NSU. He said, “They’ve been great partners to us, so this is in no way a reflection of anything negative there whatsoever.” He added, “We’ve kind of run out of space. So the first thing it’s going to do is allow us to build a new, state-of-the-art facility that has enough space for these needs” (PALM BEACH POST, 8/8).
