Dolphins Cancel Stadium Plans as Miami Blocks Funding for Renovations (VIDEO)
Miami Dolphins have canceled stadium plans after Florida legislature failed to pass a funding plan that would assist the team to refurbish its stadium on Friday.
According to CBS News, Florida's oldest professional sports franchise would be left without a home due to the bad news.
Some have said that the funding refusal will lead the team to discuss its long term future remaining in Miami, and also would derail plans for South Florida to become Super Bowl hosts again in the coming years.
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The Miami Dolphins were not the only team to be left disappointed, and others who also lost out were the city of Orlando, who had hoped to receive funding to attract a Major league Soccer team, and the Daytona International Speedway, as well as the Jacksonville Jaguars.
All the teams were left disappointed when House Speaker Will Weatherford refused to bring up the legislation that would have seen potential funding coming to the sports.
"I think part of the complication was the fact that it wasn't just the Dolphins," Weatherford said. "You had five or six different franchises that were looking for a tax rebate, and that's serious public policy. You're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars and I think the House just never got comfortable there when the session ended."
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has angrily criticized Weatherford, saying that he had promised to at least let the legislation go to a vote on the House floor: "He put politics before the people and the 4,000 jobs this project would have created for Miami Dade, and that is just wrong."
He also touched on the point that the development sent a "terrible message" to the NFL owners as they decide on who will host the Super Bowl in 2016 and 2017.
The Dolphins had hoped that both state and local aid would have helped them to pay for $400 million worth of renovations to Sun Life Stadium.
Here is a Forbes video report on the Miami Dolphins stadium plans:
