"Super" news -- best news of Tuesday, in my opinion: NFL owners voted in spring meetings in Charlotte, N.C. to return the Super Bowl to South Florida. The 2020 biggest game of the professional football year has been awarded to the Miami Dolphins' stadium.
Miami gets the game that culminates the 2019 season, which happens to be the 100th season of professional football and all the hoopla that goes with it. Super Bowl LIV (54) will represent the 11th time the NFL championship game has been played in South Florida -- most of any region. Right now Miami is tied with New Orleans.
Read the Dolphins' story of the selection and contract award here.
Now I'd like you to celebrate the occasion with a thought.
With a reminder of the ironic twist this story has taken. It certainly knocked my socks off.
Remember the night of Sine Die 2013? Remember when Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, in a fit of temper, issued a vicious statement because he didn't get his stadium funding approved?
It was all House Speaker Will Weatherford's fault, if you'll recall. Weatherford promised and dadgummit, he didn't deliver.
Championship football in South Florida was doomed. Doooomed. Untold millions in February tourism dollars were about to be lost.
Weatherford, a big football fan himself, had to stand there, duck the brickbats and the arrows from football-loving Floridians in both chambers and beyond. God knows, all of us in the media swarmed all over it. Here's Ross' tirade, as reported in The Miami Herald:
"Tonight, Speaker Weatherford did far more than just deny the people of Miami Dade the right to vote on an issue critical to the future of our local economy," Ross trumpeted in his statement. "The Speaker singlehandedly put the future of Super Bowls and other big events at risk for Miami Dade and for all of Florida. He put politics before the people and the 4,000 jobs this project would have created for Miami Dade, and that is just wrong.
"I am deeply disappointed by the Speaker's decision. He gave me and many others his word that this legislation would go to the floor of the House for a vote, where I know, and he knows, we had the votes to win by a margin as large as we did in the Senate. It’s hard to understand why he would stop an election already in process and disenfranchise the 40,000 people who have already voted. I can only assume he felt it was in his political interest to do so. Time will tell if that is the case, but I am certain this decision will follow Speaker Weatherford for many years to come."
I don't think I ever admired Weatherford more than when he unapologetically stood up to the pressure, telling Ross in so many words that he didn't spike the stadium bill -- it got sacked. Three times on the trot, in fact -- three and out for a bill over which the speaker had no control http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/after-dolphins-s...
"First," explained Weatherford, "it failed to pass the House Appropriations Committee, which was its last committee of reference. House Appropriations Chair Seth McKeel said on April 17th that he had no plans to hear the Dolphins bill.
"Secondly, the bill didn’t have support from the local delegation. According to Representative Carlos Trujillo, 'I like the Dolphins, I like the football team, but I don’t think it’s the best use of our public funds.'
"Finally, the local referendum was rejected by Miami-Dade voters with 57 percent of the vote. Even with the millions of dollars being spent, the referendum was going down. The voters spoke ... and so did the Legislature. The Dolphins are a great Florida team, and I hope the leadership will focus their energy on constructive and collaborative solutions. Now, let’s all support our Dolphins getting to the Super Bowl this year."
Now, that was a pronouncement from a real leader.
Said the Dolphins' story, "Landing a Super Bowl was a just reward for Ross, who financed a $450 million modernization of the stadium in Miami Gardens that is expected to be completed for the start of the 2016 preseason. Miami hasn’t hosted a Super Bowl since 2010 when the Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts to close out the 2009 season."
So, what was predicted as doom and disaster in 2013 is now triumph and celebration, am I right, Mr. Ross? You stepped up to the plate (pardon the cockeyed sports metaphor) and paid for the $450 million in upgrades. As you could have done all along. Good for you, sir. Now you're a real owner.
But the story does have this ironic twist. Which is the thought I want to leave you with: By any estimation, it's Will Weatherford who is Our Hero. That's right. Weatherford saved more than his face three years ago. Turns out he saved Florida taxpayers $450 million.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
