About Hard Rock Stadium
Hard Rock Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Miami Gardens, Florida, a city north of Miami. It is the home stadium of the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL) and the Miami Hurricanes, the University of Miami's NCAA Division I college football team. The stadium also hosts the Orange Bowl, the Miami Open tennis tournament, and the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
Originally opened in 1987 as Joe Robbie Stadium, it has undergone a massive privately-funded renovation that added an open-air canopy roof to shade spectators from the intense Florida sun. The roof covers 92% of the seating bowl but leaves the playing field exposed to the elements. The stadium has hosted six Super Bowls, including Super Bowls XXIII, XXIX, XXXIII, XLI, XLIV, and LIV.
The venue is known for its versatility and luxury experiences, featuring art galleries, clubs, and gondolas. The campus layout allows for complex event setups, such as constructing a tennis campus or a race track around the stadium. It stands as a premier global entertainment destination in South Florida.
The venue is owned by South Florida Stadium LLC, a subsidiary of Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross's real-estate holding Related Companies; Ross acquired majority control of the team in January 2008 for 550 million dollars and full ownership by 2009 for an additional 550 million dollars. The 2015-2016 renovation programme costing 550 million dollars was funded entirely by Ross personally without any public subsidy, an unusual arrangement in an era of taxpayer-subsidised stadium projects. The Hard Rock naming-rights deal signed in August 2016 with the Seminole Tribe of Florida's Hard Rock International hospitality subsidiary is worth 250 million dollars across 18 years, the largest naming deal in the NFL at the time. The site's original 1987 groundbreaking took place on land purchased by original owner Joe Robbie from the Graham family, prominent Miami-area farmers descended from a Scottish immigrant.