Miami to move Hurricanes' football out of Orange Bowl for Dolphin Stadium in 2008 By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Sports Writer August 21, 2007 Juan Carlos Perez removes pieces of loose concrete while doing routine maintenance at the Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007, home to the Miami Hurricanes football team for seven decades. The university's trustees decided Tuesday that Miami will play their home football games at Dolphin Stadium starting in 2008, leaving the historic but decaying Orange Bowl. AP - Aug 21, 4:11 pm EDT More Photos CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -- The Orange Bowl hosted a dozen games that decided college football's national championship, five Super Bowls and a speech by John F. Kennedy. Miami football called it home for seven decades -- but after this year, no more. The Hurricanes will play at Dolphin Stadium starting in 2008, leaving the historic but decaying Orange Bowl in what university president Donna Shalala called "a painful and sad decision." University trustees voted to make the move Tuesday, despite the offer of $206 million by city officials to renovate one of Miami's best-known landmarks. With the Hurricanes set to depart, the Orange Bowl will no longer have a primary tenant -- putting the building's future in serious doubt. Some believe demolition may be an option, and the site has also been mentioned as a possible home for the Florida Marlins, who want a baseball-only facility. "If they don't have a use for it, I'm sure they'll do something else with it," Miami athletic director Paul Dee said. ADVERTISEMENT Miami agreed to a 25-year lease and could collect more than $2 million in additional revenue annually by moving to Dolphin Stadium, which will carry a new corporate-sponsored name by 2010. Shalala indicated that the choice to leave the Orange Bowl was difficult, saying afterward, "I didn't want to do it." "We really tried and I hope our fans understand that we really tried," Shalala said. "That said, the decision itself, given what our options were, was not that complicated." Miami first played at the Orange Bowl in 1937. The Hurricanes won three national championship games on that field, had a NCAA-record 58-game home winning streak from 1985 through 1994 and have drawn more than 17 million fans there over the years. But the stadium's facade is rusting, upgrades are needed and the building lacks many amenities modern stadiums have -- such as the luxury suites and video replay screens that helped lure Miami to the Dolphins' home. "When you look back at the history and all that we have done in that stadium and all that's been accomplished there, frankly, it was accomplished by a group of people on the field," Dee said. "It was accomplished by a group of people in the stands. The Orange Bowl never scored a touchdown. The Orange Bowl never cheered. It was the people that were there." Miami's first game in Dolphin Stadium -- which is undergoing $300 million worth of expansion and renovations -- is scheduled for Aug. 30, 2008, against North Texas, but Dee said the school is working to bring a different opponent in for the opener. The Orange Bowl hosted a famous speech by Kennedy to Cuban exiles after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, along with concerts, boxing and even Olympic soccer matches in 1996. Miami has won nearly 70 percent of its games there, bolstered by raucous crowds. "It got to be very tough to hear and tough to communicate down there. That's what made it difficult," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. Miami Hurricanes former head coach Larry Coker, center, runs onto the field with his team at the beginning of a college football game against Boston College, Nov. 23, 2006, at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The University of Miami's trustees decided Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007 that Miami will play their home football games at Dolphin Stadium starting in 2008, leaving the historic but decaying Orange Bowl. AP - Aug 21, 4:11 pm EDT More Photos Dolphin Stadium owner Wayne Huizenga said he hopes the move "continues the storied football legacy of UM," and Dolphins coach Cam Cameron was pleased. "There are no negatives from our end," Cameron said. The city's stadium refurbishment plan was met with skepticism by some within the university, since much of the money would have come from grants and tax credits that haven't been secured. Shalala called the city's effort "extraordinary," but wondered if remodeling was worthwhile. "Is it appropriate for the University of Miami, a private university, to ask the people, the taxpayers of the city, to spend $200 million on six games a year?" Shalala asked. Ultimately, that answer was no. Some fans lobbied until the end, with more than 4,000 signing an online petition imploring the Hurricanes to stay put, and others organizing rallies in hope of getting trustees to change their mind. "A lot of people say moving to Dolphin Stadium, you won't get the fan support," Miami coach Randy Shannon said. "But if you're truly a University of Miami fan, you're going to come. Fans are going to be there. We just have to give them a product." Miami's last scheduled game at the Orange Bowl is Nov. 10 against Virginia. "We can't live in yesterday's success," said Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin, a former Miami standout. "We have to move forward to tomorrow's success."
Great stadium history, and moving will no doubt take away a good bit of the atmosphere in the short term; but the OB was in bad shape. This is a move that had to be made.
This is sad to hear, they could have refurbished the Orage Bowl, all this mens is there wil be more empty seats at the New Stadium b/c it holds alot more than the Orange Bowl does.
Miami wouldn't provide for the Marlins...And now the Hurricanes. What a horrible fan-base...I love my Canes, but for that city to provide nothing to EITHER one of the sports teams is a joke...
The Orange Bowl is a crappy Stadium but it's history and Um couldnt' sell out that building and now move into a bigger building. By the way, how can you say Joe Robbie isn't a nice Stadium?
First of all like the article states, UM is private university so the city really didnt have pony up the cash. The U was going to eventually move because Dolphin Stadium offers them income from luxury boxes that the OB doesn't. Parking at the OB is horrendous and Dolphin Stadium is located right on the border of Miami-Dade and Broward county so they can now reach a bigger fan base. But what really matters is the profit and they're projected to make $2 millon more a year in profits by playing their games at Dolphin Stadium and Huizenga gave them a good deal unlike the one the Marlins got.
