Dolphins On Top

While the Miami Dolphins prepare to host the Super Bowl next month, the team is also trying to land the 2014 version with a proposal to give Dolphins Stadium a 621,000-square foot “umbrella.”

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and former owner H. Wayne Huizenga have already forked over $250 million in improvements to land next month’s game. There is no price tag yet for giving the stadium a 2014 vibe – a steel-and-metal suspension structure that would cover the seating area and concourses, leaving the field open-air.

“This is not a plan that has been priced out,” Dolphins CEO Mike Dee told a South Florida Super Bowl Host subcommittee appointed to review the proposal. “We’re not at a point where we’ve figured out financing or figured out how to make it work. But we want to leave no stone unturned to see how we can work it out.”

The NFL will choose the host in May. Other candidates include Phoenix, Tampa and the nearly completed Meadowlands facility that will host the New York Giants and Jets. Next year’s Super Bowl goes to Dallas, which has a new, $2 billion stadium.

“I know there are other cities ready; they’re up and running,” host committee chairman Rodney Barreto said. “If we walk in there and say we’re kind of yes, kind of no – we’re going to fall to the bottom of the line.”

Left unanswered is who would pay for the improvements, and the Fort Lauderdale area voters have historically been opposed to stadium tax initiatives.

Dolphins Stadium was officially dubbed Land Shark Stadium, based on Jimmy Buffett’s beer brand, until Jan. 6 when the sponsorship ended.