# Sunshine Hoist and Steel Erectors --- url: https://miamigardens.com/listing/sunshine-hoist-and-steel-erectors/ author: David published: 2025-10-21 modified: 2025-10-24 type: listing --- Stephen Ross Says the Miami Grand Prix Makes More Money Than the Dolphins. Here's What That Means for Miami Gardens. ** # Stephen Ross Says the Miami Grand Prix Makes More Money Than the Dolphins. Here's What That Means for Miami Gardens. By MiamiGardens.com Editorial** · May 3, 2026 · 12 min read * The track wraps around Hard Rock Stadium. So does the money. Stephen Ross went on CNBC in March and said something that would have sounded absurd five years ago. When Andrew Ross Sorkin asked whether his Formula 1 race makes more money than his NFL team, Ross didn't flinch. He said the **Miami Grand Prix is more profitable than the NFL** Dolphins. One three-day racing weekend draws more total attendance and generates 25% more ticket revenue than eight regular-season Dolphins home games combined. This is the owner of the Miami Dolphins saying, on national television, that his football team isn't the top earner at his own stadium. In the city that gave the NFL one of its most iconic franchises, the biggest revenue weekend now belongs to open-wheel racing cars going 220 mph around a parking lot. Most of the coverage of Ross's comments has focused on what it means for Formula 1's growth in America, or whether the NFL should be worried about live attendance trends. That's fine. But we live in Miami Gardens. The stadium is in our city. These events happen on our streets. And from where we're standing, the story is bigger than sports business analytics. ## What Ross actually said The exchange happened during a March 2026 CNBC interview. Sorkin put it to Ross directly, and Ross confirmed it without hedging. Sports journalist Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel captured the key quote: ** Andrew Sorkin:** "I think you made more money on F1 than the Dolphins. Am I wrong?"** Steve Ross:** "F1 has been great... We get more attendance for F1 races for three days than the entire [Dolphins] season tickets that we sold." The numbers behind the quote check out. The 2025 Miami Grand Prix drew 275,480 spectators over its three-day weekend. That was actually the lowest* of the three U.S. rounds on the F1 calendar that year. And it still generated 25% more ticket revenue than all Dolphins home games for the season. The Dolphins play eight regular-season home games. Hard Rock Stadium seats 65,326 for football. Even at full capacity for every game, that's 522,608 fans across the season. The Grand Prix pulls 275,000 in three days. The ticket prices, though, are where the math tilts hard. F1 general admission starts around $200. Premium hospitality packages reach into the thousands. Dolphins tickets start at $50-$80 for upper-deck seats. The per-head revenue isn't close. 275,000 fans in 3 days. More ticket revenue than 8 NFL home games. And the contract runs through 2041. ## The stadium isn't just a stadium anymore Ross has spent over $1 billion of his own money transforming Hard Rock Stadium from a football venue into what he calls a "global entertainment destination." That's corporate language, but the results are concrete. The stadium now hosts the Dolphins, the Miami Open tennis tournament, the Formula 1 Grand Prix, and in about seven weeks, seven FIFA World Cup matches. That's four world-class event properties operating from the same 18-square-mile city. In March 2026, Ross sold a 1% stake in the holding company behind the Dolphins, stadium, and Grand Prix for $125 million. That put the total valuation at $12.5 billion. For a 1% slice. The Grand Prix contract alone runs through 2041, meaning 15 more years of guaranteed F1 racing in Miami Gardens. This isn't speculation about future growth. It's a locked-in revenue commitment that outlasts most mortgage terms. Whatever your feelings about the traffic on race weekend, that contract means Formula 1 will be part of Miami Gardens' economic life for at least another decade and a half. ## $1.5 billion in four years. Where did it go? * The Grand Prix has injected an estimated $1.5 billion into the South Florida economy over four years. The question for Miami Gardens: how much stays local? Over its first four years (2022-2025), the Miami Grand Prix has generated an estimated $1.5 billion in economic impact for the South Florida region. The 2023 race alone contributed $449 million. Visitors during race week spent an average of $1,940 per person, nearly double what a typical tourist spends in Miami. Here's the breakdown that matters: 18,000 people are credentialed to work each race weekend, and most of them are local hires. Over 100 restaurants and dining vendors operate on the stadium campus during the event. The Community Restaurant Program, now in its fifth year, gives 15 local, predominantly women-owned food vendors a platform at one of the world's most-attended sporting events. The MIA Academy workforce development program has placed dozens of Miami Gardens students into full-time careers in sports and entertainment. Those are real programs with real local beneficiaries. But let's keep our eyes open about where the bulk of that $1.5 billion actually lands. "Economic impact" studies count hotel spending, restaurant spending, and retail activity across the entire Greater Miami region. A Brazilian family flying in for the race, staying at a South Beach hotel, eating in Brickell, and taking an Uber to the stadium generates "economic impact" that largely bypasses Miami Gardens businesses entirely. The honest question for residents isn't whether the Grand Prix is good for South Florida. It clearly is. The question is whether the city of Miami Gardens (the actual municipal entity whose streets get closed and whose residents deal with the traffic) captures a proportional share of the benefit. The community restaurant program and the workforce pipeline are steps in the right direction. Whether they're enough is a fair debate. ## What changes if F1 is the main event? Ross's comments matter beyond the revenue comparison because they signal a shift in how the stadium's operator thinks about his property. If the Grand Prix generates more money than the Dolphins, it changes the calculus for every decision about the stadium campus: infrastructure investment, traffic management, community engagement, and what gets prioritized when schedules conflict. For Miami Gardens, a few things to watch: **The track infrastructure is becoming permanent.** The Miami International Autodrome is technically a "temporary" circuit built around the stadium. But with a contract through 2041, the track layout, pit facilities, and paddock infrastructure are becoming de facto permanent features of the campus. That has implications for how the surrounding roads and neighborhoods function year-round, not just on race weekend. **Event density is increasing.** In 2026 alone, Hard Rock Stadium hosts the Miami Open (March-April), the Formula 1 Grand Prix (May), and seven FIFA World Cup matches (June-July). That's four months of major international events, each bringing tens of thousands of visitors, road closures, and disruption to daily life in the surrounding neighborhoods. When the stadium was "just" a football venue, event impact was concentrated on eight Sundays. That's no longer the case. **The audience is increasingly international.** F1 fans skew different from Dolphins fans. During the 2022 Grand Prix, the largest visitor contingents came from Canada, the UK, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina. These visitors stay longer, spend more, and have different needs than a local fan driving to a Sunday afternoon football game. The businesses best positioned to capture this spending are hotels, upscale dining, and entertainment venues. Not necessarily the walk-up Caribbean restaurants on 27th Avenue. **The labor opportunity is real.** 18,000 credentialed workers per race weekend is a significant number for a city of 112,000 residents. If Miami Gardens residents are filling those positions (security, hospitality, food service, logistics, media support), the employment impact is meaningful even if the broader economic impact flows elsewhere. The pipeline matters more than the headline number. ## The NFL isn't going anywhere. But the power balance shifted. Nobody should read Ross's comments as the Dolphins becoming irrelevant. NFL teams generate massive revenue through television deals, merchandise, and league-wide revenue sharing that doesn't depend on local attendance. The Dolphins' estimated franchise value is $7 billion. The NFL's new media rights deals run through 2033 and pay each team hundreds of millions annually regardless of how many seats they fill on Sundays. What Ross acknowledged is something the NFL has been quietly dealing with for years: the in-stadium football experience has been declining relative to alternatives. Thursday night games flex schedules to optimize TV ratings at the expense of ticket holders. Concession prices push $15 for a beer. Parking costs $40-$60. Many fans, especially younger ones, prefer watching from home on a 75-inch screen with their own food and a bathroom that doesn't have a 20-minute line. Formula 1 solved this problem by making the live experience the product. You can't replicate an F1 weekend from your couch. The sound of the cars, the paddock access, the celebrity sightings, the Beach Club, the concerts. All of it is designed to make being there feel fundamentally different from watching on TV. The NFL's broadcast product is arguably better than its in-stadium product. F1 flipped that equation. For Miami Gardens, both events will continue to coexist on the same campus. The Dolphins play eight Sundays in the fall. The Grand Prix takes one weekend in May. The World Cup gets five weeks in the summer. The Miami Open fills two weeks in the spring. They're not competing with each other. They're stacking on top of each other, turning a football stadium into a 12-month revenue machine that happens to host some football. ## What this means if you live here If you're a Miami Gardens resident, Ross's comments probably confirm something you already feel: the stadium is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the city's identity, for better and worse. The **better**: job opportunities during events, increased visibility for Miami Gardens on the global stage (every F1 broadcast mentions the city), rising property values in areas near the stadium, community programs funded by event revenue, and a legitimate claim to being one of the world's premier sports destinations. The **worse**: more event-day traffic disruption across more months of the year, road closures that affect daily routines, noise from construction and events, rising cost of living that may price out longtime residents, and the ongoing question of whether the city's government negotiates firmly enough for community benefits when billions of dollars are flowing through its jurisdiction. The **complicated**: Miami Gardens' identity is increasingly defined by what happens at Hard Rock Stadium, but most residents' daily lives have little connection to F1, the Miami Open, or the World Cup. The jerk chicken spot on 27th Avenue doesn't benefit when a Canadian tourist spends $5,000 on a Grand Prix hospitality package and never leaves the stadium campus. The gap between "Miami Gardens the global brand" and "Miami Gardens the place where people live" is real, and it's worth talking about honestly. **What we'd like to see:** More structured community benefit agreements tied to major events. More local hiring commitments with verifiable numbers. More investment in the neighborhoods east of the stadium that absorb the traffic but rarely see the spending. And more coverage (including from us) that treats Miami Gardens as a community with its own interests, not just a stadium address. ## The numbers, side by side MetricMiami Grand Prix (3 days)Dolphins Season (8 games) Total attendance275,000~522,000 (at capacity) Ticket revenue25% higher than DolphinsLower despite more events Average ticket price$200+ (GA), $1,000+ (premium)$50–$300 Economic impact (annual)~$400–$500 millionNot publicly disclosed separately Event workers18,000 credentialed~3,000–5,000 per game TV viewers (US)~2.4 million (2025 race)~10–15 million per game Contract lengthThrough 2041Ongoing (franchise) Out-of-town visitors66% of attendeesPrimarily local/regional The TV viewership gap is worth noting. The NFL still dominates the screen. The average Dolphins game draws 10-15 million viewers. The 2025 Miami Grand Prix drew 2.4 million on ABC. Ross makes more money at the gate from F1, but the NFL's broadcast revenue dwarfs what any single race generates on television. Both models work. They just work differently. ## What happens next The 2026 Miami Grand Prix is happening this weekend (May 1-3) at Hard Rock Stadium, just 43 days before the first World Cup match. For the first time, the stadium campus will host back-to-back international sporting events of this magnitude within a single summer. If Ross is right that F1 already outearns the NFL at his venue, the World Cup could push the total 2026 event revenue into territory no single sports venue in America has reached before. Whether that translates into tangible benefits for the 112,000 people who actually live in Miami Gardens, and not just for the billionaire who owns the stadium, is the question worth asking. We'll keep asking it. The [World Cup arrives in 43 days](/world-cup-2026-miami-gardens-guide/). The Grand Prix is happening right now. And somewhere on 27th Avenue, a woman is opening up her restaurant at 6 a.m. and wondering if anyone from either event will find their way to her counter. We hope they do. ## Frequently asked questions ### Did Stephen Ross say the Grand Prix makes more money than the Dolphins? Yes. In a March 2026 interview on CNBC with Andrew Ross Sorkin, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross confirmed that the Miami Grand Prix draws more total attendance in three days than the Dolphins' entire season-ticket base and generates 25% more ticket revenue than all eight regular-season Dolphins home games combined. ### How many people attend the Miami Grand Prix? The 2025 Miami Grand Prix drew 275,480 spectators over its three-day weekend (Friday practice, Saturday qualifying/sprint, Sunday race). This was the fourth edition of the race, which debuted in 2022. Attendance has grown each year, from approximately 242,000 in 2022 to 275,000 in 2025. ### How long will the Miami Grand Prix continue? The Miami Grand Prix contract was extended in 2025 through the 2041 season, giving the race 15+ more years at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. This is the longest race contract in Formula 1, representing a long-term commitment to the Miami Gardens venue. ### What is the economic impact of the Miami Grand Prix? Over its first four years (2022-2025), the Miami Grand Prix generated an estimated $1.5 billion in economic impact for the South Florida region. The 2023 race alone contributed $449 million. Average visitor spending during race week was $1,940 per person, nearly double the typical Miami tourist. The race employs 18,000 credentialed workers per weekend, the majority local. ### Is the Miami Grand Prix good for Miami Gardens? The answer depends on what you measure. The event creates jobs (18,000 workers per weekend), includes community programs (a restaurant program for local vendors and a workforce development academy), and raises Miami Gardens' global profile. However, much of the $1.5 billion economic impact flows to hotels, restaurants, and businesses outside the city. Residents also deal with traffic disruption, road closures, and noise. Whether the community benefits adequately relative to the disruption is an ongoing conversation. Sources: CNBC interview (March 19, 2026), AutoRacing1.com, Pro Football Network, ScuderiaFans.com, Motorsport.com, Applied Analysis economic impact studies, F1 Miami GP official releases, Dave Hyde/South Florida Sun-Sentinel. For more on Hard Rock Stadium events, see our [stadium guide](/hard-rock-stadium/) and [World Cup guide](/world-cup-2026-miami-gardens-guide/). Last updated: May 3, 2026.* --- *Source: [Miami Gardens](https://miamigardens.com/)*