The Dolphins made their first stab for public funding in 2010, but a bill allowing Broward and Miami-Dade to raise hotel taxes for the renovation fizzled in Tallahassee that year and again in 2011.

Miami Beach joined Broward in opposing a bill backed by the Dolphins to use hotel taxes to fund at least part of an estimated $225 million renovation of the team’s Sun Life Stadium. The planned improvements include a partial roof, about 3,000 additional seats near the sidelines, and expensive lighting the NFL requires for filming night games in high-definition television.

Leaders of the NFL, a partnership made up of Dolphins Chairman Steve Ross and his fellow team owners, warned South Florida needed an improved stadium to remain competitive amid a new crop of modern stadiums. Sun Life is the 10th oldest venue in a league of 32 teams. A rare February downpour that soaked spectators at the 2007 Super Bowl in Miami Gardens accelerated calls for a more sheltered venue.

While Miami-Dade didn’t take an official position on the plan, Broward passed a resolution rejecting it, with some commisioners calling the proposal “vile” and “shameful.” The rejection left Dolphin executives seething, especially since the team mantains a training facility north of the Miami-Dade line at Davie’s Nova Southeastern University.

“At this point, there is a lack of recognition and appreciation that Broward County has demonstrated that [the facility] matters to their commmunity,’’ Dee said Friday. “We will certainly take that into account as we conduct our business, and look to Miami-Dade for our partnership.”

Dee’s comments also touch on one of the prickliest topics in South Florida’s Super Bowl politics: How much of the game’s vast footprint belongs in Broward, and how much in Miami-Dade? With Broward taxpayers joining Miami-Dade in subsidizing the event, the NFL in 2007 officially changed the game’s location from “Miami” to “South Florida.” In 2010, the NFL went further, shifting its media center and Super Bowl headquarters from Miami and Miami Beach to Fort Lauderdale.

Broward’s role in Super Bowls could become even larger if the NFL continues inching the championship game later in the year.

In 2010, the NFL included Presidents’ Day weekend as a potential Super Bowl date when inviting communities to bid on the 2014 game. That prompted South Florida for the first time to tell the NFL it would reject a Super Bowl if it was scheduled on that weekend, citing conflicts with the Boat Show.

Big weekend

As South Florida’s largest tourism event, the Boat Show fills up too many hotel rooms and event spaces to accomodate Super Bowl in Miami-Dade at the same time, tourism officials say. Last year, the NFL invited only Phoenix and Tampa to bid on the 2015 Super Bowl, a a decision largely viewed as a snub to South Florida, which typically vies with those cities when the league wants to hold the game in a warm-weather city.

The Super Bowl Host Committee and the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau had approached the Boat Show about moving to a different weekend on Super Bowl years, and those talks continue as the 2016 bid approaches, Barreto and Dee said Friday. Boat Show executives were not available for interviews.

Another option might be to shift more Super Bowl accomodations to Broward, while still holding the game in Miami Gardens.

“If Super Bowl is going to be Presidents’ Day weekend, Broward is the only hope for South Florida getting a Super Bowl,” Grossman said. She also suggested Broward could court the NFL alone if Miami-Dade opted to pursue the game as a solo act.

“Should Miami-Dade choose not to include Broward in its bid,” she said, “it is not inconceivable there could be a Broward bid.”

Miami Herald staff writer Adam Beasley contributed to this report.