I have never been to the city of Miami and obviously have not been fortunate enough to attend a Dolphins home game.
As a fan this far north, I can tell you what I see when we play on TV and things I've heard from fans who do attend games regularly in South Florida.
1. Whenever the Dolphins are on TV, whether it be a huge prime time game or just a regular Sunday day game, the fans are never loud. I understand that the seats are set really far back from the field when compared to other NFL venues, but I can't be sure whether or not that's to blame for the lack of crowd noise or if the home crowd down there really is just that lousy.
2. There are always TONS of other teams fans there. I realize this can't be stopped and likely has to do with the allure of moving to South Florida. There are a lot of transplants down there that have probably brought their love of their hometown teams to Miami with them. There's really no way to stop this unless Dolphins fans just rush to buy up as many of the tickets as possible. That's not going to happen as long as we produce a mediocre result year in and year out.
3. Ross took away the option of us having early games at the beginning of the season because so many fans apparently complained about the heat. The heat is a major advantage to playing in Miami and we need to take full advantage of that. Our players practice in it, they are used to and it is to our benefit to use that. If fans don't want to bake in the sun, maybe they shouldn't be going to an outdoor stadium in South Florida in the first place? Do you really think the Packer fans or even the Jet fans complain about the cold weather in their outdoor stadiums in the dead of winter? Doubtful.
4. I have heard from SEVERAL fans in many different places that they have been yelled at by other Dolphins fans for standing during the game and being rowdy. I understand that there's a fine line between disrupting other people's experience and being rowdy, but this is a football stadium, not a retirement home. The fans SHOULD be on their feet, screaming, yelling and cheering. If you want to sit in your seat and watch a football game, stay at home on your couch.
That being said: The lack of a good fan culture in Miami has nothing to do with the product we've placed on the field. All the personnel decisions and Front office moves are completely separate from that. I don't blame our fans for our mediocrity because it's not their fault. We haven't had good homefield advantage since we moved from the Orange Bowl. That's just the truth. We've still fielded some decent teams in that time, though no Super Bowl winners to be sure.
If this franchise starts putting a winner on the field, and I mean a REAL winner, the fans will come and will get rowdier. Miami simply doesn't have a rabid fan base in South Florida like the Chiefs or Browns do in their respective towns. There's way more going on in Miami than there is in Kansas City or Cleveland. That's not faulting our fans, I'm simply saying that Miami is a city that requires a winner in order to sell tickets and rile up the hometown fans. Other cities don't necessarily have to rely on great game play because what else are people going to do? Look at the Marlins-- they've won 2 World Series in their fairly short time in the MLB and they still can't sell tickets. The fans are there... we've just got to start giving them a reason to care.
