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MIAMI GARDENS -- The Dolphins made a deal with Miami-Dade County voters Thursday: if South Florida doesn't get Super Bowl 2016 or 2017, the team won't use tax money for Sun Life Stadium renovations.
NFL owners vote on the locations of those Super Bowls on May 22 in Boston. There's still no date set for a public referendum for Miami-Dade County voters to approve that tax money.
The Dolphins also announced downtown Miami will be hosting the core of the Super Bowl activities. When the Super Bowl was held in South Florida in 2010, Broward and Dade counties shared hosting duties.
"If Miami does not get a Super Bowl at that May 22 meeting, even with a successful referendum, we're going to give the community the option to not move forward," Dolphins CEO Mike Dee said at a news conference at Sun Life Stadium.
Dee said Dolphins owner Steve Ross talked to NFL owners and league officials at the annual NFL Meetings in Phoenix earlier this week and feels confident the Dolphins will get one of those Super Bowls.
Dee said although he couldn't guarantee which Super Bowl South Florida would get, "...we are guaranteeing the referendum will be predicated upon a successful Super Bowl outcome on May 22."
"This is the likes of something you haven't seen," said Rodney Barreto, chairman of the South Florida Super Bowl Host Committee.
South Florida is battling Santa Clara/San Francisco 49ers for Super Bowl L in 2016, and if unsuccessful in that bid, then South Florida goes against Houston for Super Bowl LI.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday at the annual NFL Meetings it'd be tough for South Florida to get another Super Bowl without the proposed $400 million upgrades.
"It is important for us to play the game on the best possible stage and the stadiums are getting better and better," Goodell said.
Ross has pledged to pay more than half of the $400 million Sun Life renovation cost plus any overruns.
Much of the remaining financing would be done by raising the mainland hotel bed tax to 7 percent from the current 6 percent, and $90 million in sales-tax rebates over 30 years.
Dee wasn't sure the Dolphins would have made the money back guarantee if they didn't experience such a positive outcome after speaking with NFL officials and owners in Phoenix.
"I don't know; perhaps not," he said.
Ross and Dee have said Sun Life Stadium also need upgrades to remain in the mix to attract college football's national championship game. The major enemy, however, is new NFL stadiums luring Super Bowls. Sun Life Stadium, everyone agrees, needs to upgrade to stay comeptitive.
Still, Dee has little doubt the Dolphins will get either Super Bowl L or LI.
"We have great confidence that South Florida will be awarded a Super Bowl on May 22 when the owners vote in Boston," Dee said. "And I can't tell you which one that'll be, but I can tell you we're confident that vote will go our way." ___
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