Pythons keep Miami’s Super Bowl maestro up at night: a day in the life of Rodney Barreto
It’s been a hectic last few months for Rodney Barreto, an influential lobbyist and political power broker who is serving his third — and last, he insists — stint as chair of Miami’s Super Bowl Host Committee.
One recent morning, he met with staff dealing with a lengthy to-do list: VIP parties, ribbon-cutting ceremonies, media outings, ticket sales to politicians. Then there was discussion of staging a Kanye West gospel service at Hard Rock Stadium, an idea later dropped, and questions about a potential meet-and-greet by NASA astronauts at the Super Bowl Live fan fest at Bayfront park. In between, he made about 10 phone calls and electronically signed a dozen sponsorship agreements.
But his biggest concern that day? Burmese pythons.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was mounting a campaign against a python hunt the state had promoted in tandem with the game. Members were flooding sponsors with phone calls and emails and mounting a social media campaign to cancel the hunt — a potential public-relations headache for a host committee touting environmental themes for the Super Bowl .
So Barreto, Jacquie Weisblum, who leads the committee’s environmental projects, and Janelle Prieto, communications and marketing director, spent a good chunk of their meeting discussing a response. Host committee board members — sponsors with lots of money on the line — would certainly ask questions at a scheduled meeting later that day. Barreto had even talked with Gov. Ron DeSantis about the backlash the night before over dinner at the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee.
“I don’t think we should respond,” he told the two directors. “I told the governor we are not backing down. We have 70 native species to protect in the Everglades, we are doing what needs to be done,” said Barreto as he tossed a football from one hand to the other in a small meeting area in his glass-walled office in Coral Gables.
The football happened to be made of python skin — a promotional tie-in he ordered up for the hunt, dubbed the Python Bowl.
For Barreto, wrestling with Florida’s biggest invasive species problem isn’t new, and he wants to step away from organizing Super Bowls — he also chaired the host committee in 2007 and 2010, which is when it was last played here — to devote more time to controlling the spread of pythons and the state’s myriad other wildlife and environment issues.
An outdoorsman
Barreto, 62, an avid outdoorsman who loves to hunt and spends most of his free time fishing in the Keys and in the Everglades, was first appointed to Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Commission by former Gov. Jeb Bush in 2001 and later served as the chairman of the agency that is charged with the conflicting role of balancing the desires of Florida’s hunters and anglers while protecting dwindling fish and wildlife populations. DeSantis again named him to the board, an unpaid position, six months ago.
“Just look at where we live; Florida is paradise. The fishing is amazing, the Everglades is a very special place. We need to protect it, but also make sure people can enjoy it,” he said.
Barreto, a Miami native who started his career as a police officer, is a top Republican fundraiser who has long been a major force in Miami-Dade and Tallahassee, and a confidant of mayors and governors. His lobbying firm, Floridian Partners, has represented a string of high-profile clients including the Miami Dolphins and Ultra Music Festival. He is also CEO of The Barreto Group, a development company, and a former board member of U.S. Century Bank.
As a self-described deal maker, he circulates in many groups, and seems to know everyone in Miami.
“He is an amazing connector of people,” said Tom Garfinkel, chief executive officer of the Dolphins.
His lobbying skills and connections certainly help in his role as host committee chair. He’s very good at getting people to do things for him. Like getting free office space at the Miami Tower for the host committee staff, and occupying Miami Central Station, where the headquarters for volunteers was set up. Or convincing Perry Ellis International to provide the uniforms for nearly 10,000 volunteers at Super Bowl 54 venues. Or negotiating with cities and Miami-Dade County how much taxpayer money would be used to finance the Super Bowl — and convincing residents that the investment is a good deal.
Though the committee hasn’t released a detailed economic impact estimate, last year’s game in Atlanta claimed more than $400 million in gains for the local economy. These estimates always draw skepticism because there’s a natural temptation to aim for a high number to counter-balance the large local expenses involved in hosting the game.
For Miami-Dade taxpayers, the bill according to a Miami Herald analysis is as much as $20 million over time, which includes $10 million spent on police, infrastructure for the event and a partnership with the NFL to upgrade playing fields with artificial turf at Gwen Cherry Park in Liberty City and at Goulds Park in South Miami-Dade, and a new athletic field at Miami Beach Senior High School, the alma mater of Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.
A political and business player
Barreto’s many relationships have been profitable, and at times controversial. He was once one of the most prominent lobbyists at County Hall. And in the early 2000s, he was among a group of political insiders who quietly profited under a minority airport concessions agreement that came under suspicion by public corruption investigators. Barreto has never been accused of wrongdoing by law enforcement officials, but critics have drawn links between his campaign fundraising prowess and his personal and professional successes.
His public service roles also have not been without controversy. Under his leadership, the FWC attempted to rewrite imperiled species listing policies, an effort that many environmentalists said tilted the scale for development and for marine business interests instead of protecting rare wildlife. But the commission withdrew and substantially reworked the policy after a public backlash and questioning by then-Gov. Charlie Crist over the pending removal of the manatee from the state’s endangered species list.
Though some in the environmental community complained the agency continued to favor hunting and development under his watch, Barreto was praised for listening to staff and scientists, and for working to address all concerns in a balanced manner.
While the state opened 135,000 more acres for hunting during his tenure, the FWC also set up several statewide manatee speed zones and sanctuaries mandated by a federal court settlement. It stiffened penalties for illegal commercial netting of fish offshore and signed off on a vast no-fishing marine reserve in the pristine Dry Tortugas.
Though he dismissed PETA criticism of the python hunt, for instance, he stepped in to do some damage control last year when the FWC told people to kill iguanas whenever possible, which also sparked outrage from animal rights activists. Barreto said the agency’s advice wasn’t to turn South Florida into a “wild west” open season on iguanas and that people should hire licensed pest control companies to catch and remove the damaging invasive lizards.
“Rodney is a strong leader who was very skilled at weighing widely conflicting issues,” while chairing the commission, said Elizabeth Fleming, Florida representative at Defenders of Wildlife.
During this Super Bowl run-up, Barreto has also spent a great deal of time promoting the Ocean to Everglades initiative, an environmental program in partnership with The Everglades Foundation, Ocean Conservancy and NFL Green that aims to shed light on coral reef health, the Everglades and plastic pollution.
As a leader — both for the Super Bowl host committee and his FWC work — Barreto gravitates to center stage. When the awards for the python hunt were handed out at the Super Bowl Live fan fest at Bayfront Park last weekend, for instance, Barreto was there, hugging hunters and acting as master of ceremonies. In the end, PETA activists didn’t even show up, leaving their protesting to social media.
But he is more than a front man; he also dives in to get things done.
Powers of persuasion
Later on that same busy day, Barreto called former coach Jimmy Johnson personally to ask for an appearance at a press conference in the Keys. And when it appeared that a golf tournament to raise funds for The First Tee youth program and the Women’s Fund didn’t attract the desired number of participants, he quickly worked his contacts to find players willing to pay $1,500 each for a morning of golf with him and county Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
With so much on his plate, he also delegates a lot — but only after giving detailed instructions.
During that busy morning at his office, Barreto pretty much dictated what to write on a thank-you note for the media attending a party at PortMiami. He had a quick meeting with his son Brad, to discuss drainage issues at the Red Fish grill, the iconic waterfront restaurant at Matheson Hammock Park that his company is renovating.
And then he called the guy who is making more of those python footballs Barreto designed. He wants to give them out as gifts for VIPs at the Super Bowl.
“Ryan, where are my footballs? I want to see them today.”
Miami Herald staff writer David Smiley contributed to this report.
Follow Adriana Brasileiro on Twitter @AdriBras
This story was originally published February 1, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
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