Joe Robbie Stadium

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

For their first 21 seasons, the Miami Dolphins played at the Orange Bowl. Team founder Joe Robbie explained what led to the decision to build a new stadium: 'In 1976, the city of Miami wanted to quadruple our rent. That did it. I began thinking in earnest about building a stadium.' What made the construction of the stadium unique was that it was the first multipurpose stadium ever built in the United States that was entirely privately financed. Robbie also believed it was only a matter of time before a Major League Baseball (MLB) team came to South Florida. At his request, the stadium was built in a rectangular configuration, with a field that was somewhat wider than was normally the case for an NFL stadium. The wide field also made it fairly easy to convert the stadium for soccer. Because of this design decision, the first row of seats was 90 ft (27 m) from the sideline in a football configuration, considerably more distant than the first row of seats in most football stadiums. This resulted in a less-intimate venue for football compared to other football facilities built around this time, as well as to the Orange Bowl. At the time it opened in 1987, Joe Robbie Stadium was located in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, and had a Miami address. Specifically it was in the Scott Lake census-designated place. Today, it is located in the city of Miami Gardens, which was incorporated on May 13, 2003. Widespread damage to the stadium was reported to have occurred during the 2024 Copa América final international soccer match which was held at Hard Rock Stadium on July 14, 2024.

In Their Own Story

The narrative of Joe Robbie Stadium is one of triumph amidst architectural compromise. In January 2004, following the Marlins' second World Series victory, local exuberance peaked as the City of Miami proposed building a new baseball-only stadium at the site of the former Miami Orange Bowl. However, by December 2004, the NFL team notified the Marlins of its intention to terminate their lease by 2010, casting a shadow over the franchise's future. Between 2004 and 2009, Loria and President David Samson negotiated funding while facing the specter of relocation to cities like Las Vegas, Portland, and San Antonio. This pressure mobilized Governor Charlie Crist and local mayors to support public funding for a new facility. The turning point came in August 2007 when the Miami Hurricanes announced their departure from the Orange Bowl, making that site the most attractive option. By February 2008, an agreement was reached to fund the new stadium, leading to the demolition of the Orange Bowl in March 2008 and a groundbreaking ceremony for LoanDepot Park in July 2009.

Reader's Guide

From 1993 until 2011, the stadium served as the home field to the Florida Marlins of Major League Baseball. While Joe Robbie Stadium was built primarily for football, it was also designed to easily accommodate baseball and soccer. The first Marlins game at Joe Robbie Stadium was played on April 5, 1993, a 6–3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Marlins drew over three million people in their inaugural season, and went on to win two World Series titles in 1997 and 2003. Despite such preparation and pockets of success, the stadium was less than adequate as a baseball venue. Although designed from the ground up to accommodate baseball, it was not a true multi-purpose stadium. Rather, it was a football stadium that could convert into a baseball stadium. There were plenty of reminders of this at Marlins games. The stadium's color scheme matched that of the Dolphins. When the football season overlapped, cleat marks, as well as silhouettes of hashmarks and logos of the Dolphins or Hurricanes, were visible on the baseball diamond. During football games, the infield dirt was visible on the gridiron. The Marlins reduced capacity to 47,662 (later to 35,521), mainly to create a more intimate atmosphere for baseball. However, capacity would have likely been reduced in any event, since many of the seats in the upper deck were too far from the field to be of any use during the regular season. Even with the reduced capacity, the sight lines were less than optimal for baseball. Most seats were pointed toward the 50-yard line—where center field was located in the baseball configuration. Lights were not angled for optimum baseball visibility. Players had to walk through football tunnels to get to dugouts that were designed with low ceiling joists. Some of these issues were showcased on national television during the two World Series held there, when capacity was expanded to over 67,000. Most notably, some areas of left and center field were not part of the football playing field, and fans sitting in the left-field upper deck could not see any game action in those areas except on the replay boards. These issues became even more pronounced over the years, as, by 2004, a wave of baseball-only parks left what had by then been renamed Pro Player Stadium as the only National League park that played host to both an MLB and an NFL team. Additionally, the stadium was built for ga

Did You Know?

• The stadium has hosted six Super Bowls (XXIII, XXIX, XXXIII, XLI, XLIV, LIV), the 2010 Pro Bowl, two World Series (1997, 2003), and four BCS National Championship Games (2001, 2005, 2009, 2013).
• Since 2022, the grounds of Hard Rock Stadium has also hosted the Miami International Autodrome, a temporary racing circuit used for Formula One's Miami Grand Prix.
• The stadium is scheduled to host multiple matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup and several matches at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
• The first regular season NFL game played there was a 42–0 Dolphins victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on October 11, 1987, played with replacement players during the 1987 NFL strike.
• The stadium was host of the Miracle in Miami game against the New England Patriots in 2018, where the Dolphins scored a dramatic touchdown on the last play of the game to turn a deficit into a walk-off victory.