The little known secret was, Miami never really had fans. Hollywood, Miramar, Pembroke Pines, Cooper City, did. In other words, Broward County. The demographic of those fans were mostly suburban, family oriented. They trecked to the Orange Bowl faithfully, risking life and limb, parking their cars on the front lawns of strangers, and sitting on hard plastic seats, rain or shine. We badly needed another stadium, so Joe Robbie made one. He catered to the fact that most of the paying fans were one county over, by actually moving the stadium in that direction. However, with the new stadium, almost immediately, some of the mystique was gone. It was a less intimate venue, and even when fully packed, less loud. Also, as someone pointed out, although the stadium is between the two counties, it's not in an exciting area. It's a dead zone.
Still, JRS had a good run. The fans came. BUT...it was still very hot at the games, and getting hotter every year, and became more and more expensive. Florida is one of the lowest wage states in the nation. Shelling out big bucks for football games became a luxury, and for many was not even an option.
Forces outside The Miami Dolphin's control were facilitating a drop-off in attendance, for example, changes in technology and lifestyle. Other cities have a "going downtown" lifestyle, and are used to getting out of their houses and spending money, doing things and being in crowds. Here, we stay in our houses. We kept buying bigger and bigger ones, outfitting them with flat screen tv's and big recliners. We began watching the games at home. And add to that now, are our internet connections, laptops, tablets, red-zone channels, blogs, etc, which create more activity outside of the stadium. Simply put, all this sports technology and 24-7 Espn coverage, hasn't increased stadium attendance, it's decreased it. You can get a sports fix, a sports experience, without even setting foot outside your house. I imagine this phenomenon happens elsewhere too, but more pronounced in Florida because of our propensity to cocoon, and our changing demographic.
So let's talk about the demographic. As I stated before, they were suburban, not city-folk. Where are they? Well, many of them have moved north. The same reason folks moved from the city (Miami) to the burbs in Broward (Pembroke Pines), is exactly why they moved to places like Winter Park and Port St. Lucie. (it was less crowded and less expensive). What about the fans still here? Well, less and less went. As I said, it used to be a family experience. But the stadium atmosphere became more roudy, and the chances of getting a beer dumped on you by a drunken fan, were higher than ever before. Not sure why that was, maybe because as families sold season tickets, it opened up the seats to other people, and soon enough you'd look around and be surrounded by idiots, or by fans of visiting teams hollaring at you. That created a domino effect, with more fans turning in their season tickets. So who was still going to games? The loyal few, and a few new fans who moved to Florida and started getting interested in the team, during the exciting Marino years.
We all know what happened after that. After Marino, there wasn't much to get excited about. Fans stopped going. Which means, they weren't bringing their kids to games, either. WHICH MEANS...a lost generation of kids who have no loyalty to this football team. Case in point, my brother's kids root for another team, or are more into basketball.
So where is Ross? Between a rock and a hard place, that's where. He can't magically turn back to clock and convert that lost generation. Will winning help? Yes, of course, it will fill seats. But the seats won't likely be filled by young people, because those young people in Miami are more into basketball than football, or have been raised on soccer, or have friends who are of a different culture (Argentina, Venezuella, Puerto Rico, Chile, Philipines, etc), and therefore are not inclined to get all excited about going to a football game. No, the seats will be filled by desperate fans from the Marino or Griese years, who are happy we're winning some games and want to hear that old fight song again.
Will that sustain the team? No. What we need, is another Dan Marino. What we need, is a draw for young people. The same way Tiger Woods is a draw, or King James is a draw. Someone who will transcend culture and race, who will give people a reason to root for the team, buy merchandise, and start getting interested in Dolphin football. How many RGIII Jerseys did fans buy? I'll bet a whole lot.
