Another football championship coming to Miami. County paying millions for college game
Another big football game is coming to Miami.
And like the Super Bowl, it’s drawing interest from city governments willing to swap taxpayer money and waive rental fees for the promise of increased hotel room rates and media exposure.
Miami-Dade County plans to contribute $4 million cash over the next two years for the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship game — the same payout it made for the Super Bowl this year, according to the county budget office.
The Miami Beach City Commission is poised to approve a $1.6 million sponsorship deal to host events related to the game between top NCAA teams, which will be played at Hard Rock Stadium on Jan. 11.
Four city commissioners, in their capacity as members of the Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee, heard a pitch from the Orange Bowl Committee on Friday and sent the proposal to the full commission next month for a vote.
The city’s tourism office recommends that the commission pay the organizers $400,000, waive $1 million in rental and special event permit fees and offer another $250,000 worth of police and other city services.
The Hard Rock last hosted a national championship college game in 2013. The Miami area was selected in 2017 to host next year’s game.
There was no information available on services, such as police protection, that the county will donate.
The county’s 2014 agreement with the Miami Dolphins, tied to the privately financed renovation of Hard Rock Stadium, also commits the county to pay $3 million to the team as a bonus payment for playing host to a national college championship. That payment can be scratched if hotel taxes fail to meet budget projections.
Miami Beach Commissioner Ricky Arriola, the chair of the Finance Committee, said Miami Beach is proving to potential sponsors that it can handle large-scale events.
“Miami Beach is on a roll,” he said, referring to the hosting of Super Bowl events in February and the potential new sponsorship deal. “It shows that we can have worldwide events and that people want to have them here.”
The organizers estimate that the game will “generate hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact for the region,” according to a presentation given to the city Friday.
The 2013 BCS National Championship Game brought in $2.6 million in tax revenues, said Eric Poms, CEO of the Orange Bowl Committee and also head of the entity planning the College Football Playoff and its surrounding events. The biggest chunk of that money — $1.4 million — came from hotel taxes.
“It puts a spotlight on our community in a pronounced way,” Poms said. “It’s a celebration of one of America’s great traditions.”
Poms said organizers worked to ensure the city was “comfortable” helping to financially support the game as part of a “public private endeavor.”
Arriola said the commission would be wise to unanimously approve the agreement. The city’s investment in the national championship will be multiplied several times over, he said.
“The worldwide media exposure alone is worth, conservatively, 100 times what the city is going to invest,” Arriola said, without providing specific data to support his statement. “The city’s going to get a big multiple of its investment in the national championship football game.”
One city leader, Commissioner Steven Meiner, raised questions about Miami Beach’s $1.5 million sponsorship deal with the Super Bowl organizers after the Miami Herald reported that a planned concert for residents, billed as a “public benefit,” never happened.
Free fan zone, concert on Miami Beach
The College Football Playoff will host a fan-centered event during the weekend of the game at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Think of the convention center’s Super Bowl Experience, but for college fans. And unlike the Super Bowl’s version, the Playoff Fan Central will be free to the public.
The convention center will also be the site of Taste of the Championship, a ticketed culinary event with proceeds earmarked for the College Football Playoff Foundation.
Lummus Park, the public land between Ocean Drive and the South Beach shoreline, will be transformed once again into a broadcasters row for live ESPN shows like SportsCenter, College Football Live and College GameDay.
Miami Beach’s Art Deco architecture will be the backdrop to live TV shots, as it was with ESPN and other networks during the days leading up to the Super Bowl.
“I think Miami Beach will be the epicenter of everything that happens,” Poms said. “It’s a great infomercial for Miami Beach, Miami and the state of Florida.”
Lummus Park will also host free concerts and college pep rallies — featuring cheerleaders and marching bands — which are tentatively scheduled for Jan. 8 through Jan. 10, the same weekend as Playoff Fan Central at the convention center.
A 5K run will also be held in Miami Beach. It is scheduled for Jan. 10. That, too, will be free for the public.
One of the two championship teams will stay at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach and VIPs will be lodged at the Ritz-Carlton, South Beach and Loews Miami Beach Hotel. The other team will stay at the Intercontinental Hotel in Downtown Miami. For the media, organizers are aiming for the JW Marriott Marquis Miami.
Poms said residents of Miami Beach and across South Florida will hopefully feel a connection to the championship game through the events being organized in the area. As part of its commitment to providing a public benefit in exchange for public funding, the College Football Playoff plans to invest $1 million in Miami-Dade County middle schools, including a $20,000 gift to Nautilus Middle School in Miami Beach.
He said details about what other events and benefits the game will bring to the community would be announced in April.
“There’s a tremendous amount of community giveback,” he said. “I think they’ll really feel it in so many different ways.”
This story was originally published March 2, 2020 at 6:16 AM with the headline "Another football championship coming to Miami. County paying millions for college game."
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