Cote: Ross taking last big swing to rescue his legacy as Dolphins owner | Opinion
Imagine being a monumental success in life. Having so much wealth that your heirs are set for generations to come. Growing your sports empire in a way that should be the envy of your rivals. And yet failing — failing consistently across almost 20 years — at the one thing you are most known for.
This is the legacy of Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. It is not complete yet, how the man will be remembered and judged, but Ross turns 86 on Mother’s Day. Fleeting is the time left to fix that legacy so great but for the very centerpiece of it.
Winning at football is the only thing Ross has found money can’t buy.
As his team ramps up its offseason program to prepare for what will be his 18th season as majority owner, Ross has mashed the reset button, started over with a ground-up rebuild in what feels like his last big swing at making his franchise an NFL champion. Jeff Hafley is his eighth head coach (including two interim guys) since Ross took over in 2009, third most in the league. Jon-Eric Sullivan is his fifth try at finding just the right general manager.
Nothing has worked. The most prominent coaching and administrative hires have failed. The two first-round quarterbacks drafted in his tenure, Ryan Tannehill and Tua Tagovailoa, promised hope but ultimately delivered disappointment. Ross’ regular-season won-loss record as owner is 131-146. He has overseen five winning seasons and three playoff appearances (all three losses) in 17 years.
Ross’ desperation to win showed dubiously in 2022 when he worked behind the scenes to try to lure quarterback Tom Brady and coach Sean Payton to Miami. The NFL found that to be impermissible contact that led Miami to forfeit its 2023 first-round draft pick.
Founding owner Joe Robbie and then Wayne Huizenga formed a lineage that demanded success, but Ross took over the franchise at a time it needed a lift. The Dolphins entered ‘09 having not won a playoff game the previous eight straight seasons. Under Ross, that streak is now 25 years, longest in the NFL — a plain embarrassment for the only franchise (still) to have a Perfect Season.
“We’re a long way away from where we need to be,” Ross said of the Dolphins ... in 2019. They remain a long way away at the outset of this rebuild, the projected wins over/under of 4.5, tied for the lowest in the league in 2026.
Yet all around the struggling center of Ross’ kingdom is opulence, wealth, success.
The personal riches that started with global real estate development has grown to about $17 billion, top five among NFL owners. The franchise despite the losing has grown in value to $8.25 billion, with some valuations as high as $12.5 billion. Ross says he has been offered close to $15 billion for the team but plans to keep it in the family. (Ross today owns 86% of the club. He sold 13% to private equity partners in 2024 and just this March sold 1% to Lin Bin, a Chinese-American who founded Xiami, a Beijing-based software and technology company.)
Hard Rock Stadium, which Ross also owns, is state of the art, home of the Miami Hurricanes, too, site of the biggest music concerts, host this summer to seven World Cup soccer matches.
His stadium in March again hosted the Miami Open tennis tournament he has owned since 2019, an event often called the “fifth major” on the ATP and WTA tours.
Just last week his stadium and its surrounding autodrome racetrack again hosted the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, which Ross also owns, an annual fixture since 2022 and with a contract through 2041, the longest deal in the sport. F1 has been a particular gold mine for Ross. He said the three-day F1 event generates about 25% more in ticket revenue than all Dolphins regular-season home games combined over an entire season.
Philanthropy is another part of what’s going right with Ross. And much about his Dolphins’ ownership also is going right — at least off the field.
In 2020 Ross and the club won the Paul Tagliabue Award for diversity and inclusive hiring. The NFL Players Association’s annual survey regularly grades the Dolphins very high in facilities, treatment of player families and other things.
The surrounding success complicates Ross’ legacy, offsetting somewhat but not erasing his football team’s failures.
Dolfans who have waited a quarter century to cheer a playoff win, to cheer new glory days, don’t find much solace in an F1 race or in Ross’ growing wealth.
It isn’t as complicated with South Florida’s other major pro team owners.
The Heat’s Micky Arison, dean of this exclusive club, has led the NBA team since 1995 and overseen the hiring of Pat Riley, the drafting of Dwyane Wade, the signing of LeBron James and three championships. Despite the Heat’s recent lull, nobody can argue the success of this stewardship.
Panthers owner Vinnie Viola, in charge since 2013, after a slow start has seen the hockey team reach three Stanley Cup Finals in the past four years and win the championship in 2024 and ‘25. Cats fans love him, and should.
Marlins owner since 2018 Bruce Sherman is presently on pace for a seventh losing season in his ninth year. The club’s attendance is embarrassingly small. The player payroll is second lowest in MLB. There is no mistaking Sherman’s ownership as even remotely successful thus far.
Inter Miami’s majority and managing owner since 2022, Jorge Mas, signed Lionel Messi and overseen a club that had the best record in MLS in ‘24, won the league championship in ‘25 and just moved into a new stadium. Did I mention he signed Lionel Messi?
With Ross, the wealth and power, the stadium, the F1 race and the tennis tournament are all diamonds he can be proud, but in the middle of that sports empire is 17 years of woeful underperforming by the one thing he is most known for: the Miami Dolphins.
With Arison, Viola and Mas it is hard to find fault, while with Sherman it is tough to defend.
Fair or not, Ross is in the latter category and running out of time as he takes his last big swing.
He has learned he cannot buy his way out of his failures as Dolphins owner.
All that’s left is to win his way out.
