The Sea Football Heaven The Dock The Old Horseshoe in Little Havana | |
 Aerial view from the west,c. 1976 | |
| Former names | Burdine Stadium (1937–1959) |
|---|---|
| Address | 1501 Northwest 3rd Street |
| Location | Miami,Florida,U.S. |
| Coordinates | 25°46′41″N80°13′12″W / 25.778°N 80.220°W /25.778; -80.220 |
| Owner | City of Miami |
| Operator | City of Miami |
| Type | Stadium |
| Capacity | 72,319 (2003–2007)[1]Former capacity: |
| Surface | Natural grass (1976–2008) PolyTurf (1970–1975) Natural grass (1937–1969) |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1936 |
| Opened | December 10, 1937 (1937-12-10) |
| Expanded | 1944, 1947, 1950, 1953, 1955, 1968 |
| Closed | January 26, 2008; 17 years ago (2008-01-26) |
| Demolished | March 3–May 14, 2008 |
| Construction cost | $340,000 ($7.44 million in 2024[5]) |
| Tenants | |
| Miami Hurricanes (NCAA) (1937–2007) Orange Bowl (NCAA) (1938–1996, 1999) Miami Seahawks (AAFC) (1946) Miami Dolphins (AFL /NFL) (1966–1986) Miami Toros (NASL) (1973–1975) Miami Freedom (ASL /APSL) (1988–1992) Miami Tropics (SFL) (2000) FIU Panthers (NCAA) (2007) Miami FC (USL First Division) (2007) | |
TheMiami Orange Bowl was an outdoor athletic stadium inMiami, Florida, from 1937 until 2008. The stadium was located in theLittle Havana neighborhood west ofdowntown Miami. The venue was considered a landmark and served as the home stadium for theMiami Hurricanescollege football team from 1937 through 2007 and for theMiami Dolphins for the Dolphins' first 21 seasons, until Joe Robbie Stadium (nowHard Rock Stadium) opened in nearbyMiami Gardens in1987. The stadium also was the temporary home for theFIU Golden Panthers for one year, in2007, while its on-campusFIU Stadium underwent expansion.
Opened in 1937, it was originally known asBurdine Stadium. In 1949, it was renamed the Orange Bowl for theOrange Bowlcollege footballbowl game, which was played annually at the venue following every season from 1938 to 1996. The event was moved toPro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) beginning onDecember 31, 1996. In January 1999, itreturned to the Orange Bowl a final time due to a scheduling conflict. From 1956 to 1960, theMinor League BaseballMiami Marlins team occasionally played games in the Orange Bowl.
The stadium was located on a large city block bound by Northwest 3rd Street to its south, Northwest 16th Avenue to its west, Northwest 6th Street to its north, and Northwest 14th Avenue to its east, which was an open end of the stadium.
The Orange Bowl was demolished in 2008.LoanDepot Park, the homeballpark of theMiami Marlins ofMajor League Baseball, was built on the site. Construction began in July 2009, and the new stadium opened on March 5,2012.
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The Miami Orange Bowl, initially calledBurdine Stadium afterRoddy Burdine, one of Miami's pioneers and the owner of theBurdines department store chain, was built by the City of Miami Public Works Department. Construction began in 1936 and was completed in December 1937 and featured stadium lights. Prior to completion, the first game was ahigh school game on September 24, 1936, in whichMiami Edison Senior High School shut out Ponce de Leon, 36–0. During this opening game, the stadium's new lighting system went partially out, leaving the mid-field dark with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.[6]
The stadium opened forMiami Hurricanes football on December 10, 1937. From 1926 to 1937, theUniversity of Miami played in a stadium near Tamiami Park and also at Moore Park until the Orange Bowl was built.
For a brief time in the late 1930s, the Orange Bowl was home to the headquarters of theInternational Baseball Federation.[7]
The stadium originally seated 23,739 people along the sidelines, roughly corresponding to the lower level of the sideline seats in the stadium's final configuration. Attendance for its first Orange Bowl in January1938 was under 19,000,[8][9] but thefollowing year saw over 32,000 in attendance.[10][11][12] Seating was added in the end zones in the 1940s, and by the end of the 1950s the stadium was double-decked on the sidelines. In1966, theAFL expansionMiami Dolphins played their first regular season game in the stadium on Friday, September 2.[13] The west end zone upper deck section was then added in the 1960s, bringing the stadium to its peak capacity of 80,010. On January 1,1965, the Orange Bowl was the first college bowl game to be televised in prime time.[14]
From 1966 to 1968, and again in the 1970s, a livedolphin was situated in a water tank in the open (east) end of the Orange Bowl. He would jump in the tank to celebrate touchdowns and field goals. The tank that was set up in the 1970s was manufactured by Evan Bush and maintained during the games by Evan Bush and Dene Whitaker. Flipper was removed from the Orange Bowl after 1968 to save costs and the 1970s due to stress. In the filmAce Ventura: Pet Detective, Snowflake, a live dolphin who does special behaviors after the Dolphins score a touchdown, was the basis of the film after he is kidnapped as part of a revenge plot againstDan Marino.
In 1977, the permanent seats in the east end zone were removed, and further upgrades brought the stadium to its final capacity and design. The city skyline was visible to the east through the open end, over the modern scoreboard and palm trees. The surface was natural grass, except for six seasons in the 1970s.Poly-Turf, anartificial turf similar toAstroTurf, was installed for the 1970 football season. It was removed and replaced with a type of natural grass known as "Prescription Athletic Turf" afterSuper Bowl X in January 1976.
In 1980, the stadium was used as a holding facility forCuban refugees, who arrived inSouth Florida during theMariel Boatlift.[15]
Under the leadership ofHall of Fame head coachDon Shula, the Miami Dolphins enjoyed a winning record in the Orange Bowl against rival teams in the AFC Eastern Division. Under Shula, the Dolphins were an impressive 57–9–1 (60–10–1 including playoff contests) against the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts (15–3), the Boston/New England Patriots (15–1), the Buffalo Bills (16–1) and the New York Jets (13–4–1). They have also beaten every visiting franchise at least once, enjoying perfect records against 11 of them.[16] The playoff results against AFC East opponents are: AFC Championship games: (1971, Miami 21, Baltimore 0); (1982, Miami 14, New York Jets 0) and (1985, New England 31, Miami 14) and AFC First round game (1982 strike shortened season, Miami 28, New England 13).
Notable winning streaks during the Shula-era in the Orange Bowl include a 13–0 streak against theBuffalo Bills and a 15–0 streak against theNew England Patriots, Also of note, the Miami Dolphins enjoyed a record 31-game home winning streak from1971–75, which includes four playoff wins and the perfect season of1972. The Dolphins have not enjoyed the same level of success at Hard Rock Stadium. While much of this lack of success at Hard Rock Stadium is obviously attributable to a diminished level of talent and organizational stability, it is also widely recognized that the homefield advantage that the Dolphins enjoyed in the Orange Bowl was exponentially greater than in their newer home. This was in great part due to the atmosphere of the Orange Bowl. The closeness of the seats to the field, along with the closed West End Zone, metal bleachers, and steel structure (and of course the team's success and its status as Miami's only professional sports team for so many years), made the Bowl one of the loudest and most electric stadiums in the NFL. Visiting team quarterbacks often complained to referees or were forced to call time out as their teammates could not hear them barking out the signals due to the unbearable noise, especially when the Dolphins were making a goal-line stand in the closed West End Zone. While Hard Rock Stadium is much newer and cleaner and is considered one of the top facilities in the NFL, with top-notch amenities, the seats are set further back from the field than comparable seats at the Orange Bowl. As a result, even at its loudest, Hard Rock Stadium is nowhere near as loud as the Orange Bowl.
The Orange Bowl was also the site of the NCAA's longestcollege football home field winning streak. Between1985 and1994, theMiami Hurricanes won 58 straight home games at the Bowl, untilended by theWashington Huskies. The stadium's home field advantage used to include a steel structure that fans would set to rumbling by stomping their feet. Concrete reinforcement had silenced the rumble in the stadium's later years. There was still the advantage of the West End Zone, which had a relatively narrow radius that amplified fan noise. The West End Zone was a factor in theWide Right curse, in which theFlorida State Seminoles lost a series of close games due to missed field goals. This section was so raucous that some football announcers often confused it with the student section.
In addition to football, the stadium also hosted concerts and other public events. The stadium had a regular capacity of 74,476 orange seats, and could seat up to 82,000 for concerts and other events where additional seating would have been placed on the playing field.
The last professional football game to be played in the Orange Bowl took place on April 29, 2000, and matched theMiami Tropics against theSan Antonio Matadors of the short-livedSpring Football League. The Matadors won 16–13.
| Date | Super Bowl | Team (Visitor) | Points | Team (Home) | Points | Spectators |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 14, 1968 | II | Green Bay Packers | 33 | Oakland Raiders | 14 | 75,546 |
| January 12, 1969 | III | New York Jets | 16 | Baltimore Colts | 7 | 75,389 |
| January 17, 1971 | V | Baltimore Colts | 16 | Dallas Cowboys | 13 | 79,204 |
| January 18, 1976 | X | Dallas Cowboys | 17 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 21 | 80,187 |
| January 21, 1979 | XIII | Pittsburgh Steelers | 35 | Dallas Cowboys | 31 | 79,484 |
The City of Miami embarked on a plan to extensively renovate the stadium. However, those plans fell by the wayside as Miami focused on keeping theFlorida Marlins in town, forcing the Hurricanes to threaten a move to Dolphin Stadium (nowHard Rock Stadium) in suburbanMiami Gardens if a plan to renovate the stadium was not in place within 45 days. Some feared that Miami would permit the college to leave, only to tear down the Orange Bowl and replace it with the new stadium for the Marlins.
That fear became reality as Paul Dee, athletic director for the University of Miami, announced that the Hurricanes would be moving to Dolphin Stadium for the 2008 season. Dee and university presidentDonna Shalala made the announcement during a press conference at the Hecht Athletic Center on August 21, 2007. The university agreed to a 25-year contract to play at then Dolphin Stadium. According to Miami City Manager Pete Hernandez, this put the Orange Bowl back in the forefront as a possible site for a new Marlins stadium. The hope that talks would resume soon on that possibility vanished after only a short while.[17]
Many Hurricane fans vocally opposed the decision to move stadium locations and preferred maintaining the Orange Bowl as the Hurricanes' home field, out of concern of Dolphin Stadium's extra distance from campus, the severing of an icon of the Hurricanes' historical successes on the field, and potentially more expensive parking costs.
Many fans stated to various broadcast, print and internet-based media outlets that they would no longer attend the games of Hurricanes football once the team abandoned the Orange Bowl.[18] Some speculated that the decision to leave the Orange Bowl might have cursed the Miami Hurricanes and would cite the Miami Dolphins as a precedent. Indeed, a common explanation for the Miami Hurricanes' poor performance during the 2007 season was that "they've never been the same since they left the Orange Bowl."[19] The University of Miami lost their final Orange Bowl game toVirginia, 48–0, in a nationally televisedESPN game. It was the most lopsided home shutout loss in the Miami program's history until Clemson beat Miami 58–0 in 2015.
The last home game of college football in the Orange Bowl was a home win for theFIU Golden Panthers againstNorth Texas. FIU had been using the Orange Bowl as home field for the season due to renovations to their home stadium. Miami and FIU had engaged in a bench clearingbrawl at the Orange Bowl the previous year during the first of two scheduled games between the two schools.
On February 8, 1997, the Miami Orange Bowl was host to aU.S. Hot RodMonster Jam. As part of the show, motorcycle stunt riderCorey Scott attempted a stunt that required him to drive up a ramp and land into a net hoisted into the air. Scott missed the net, bounced out, and fell 70 feet (21 m) to the ground below. He later died atJackson Memorial Hospital. The event was witnessed by a crowd of around 30,000 spectators.[20]
In October 2005,Hurricane Wilma caused structural damage to the stadium, which rekindled discussion of tearing down the aging facility. The damage was subsequently repaired after the 2005 college football season. The stadium served as aFEMA relief center in the hurricane's aftermath.[21]
The Orange Bowl was demolished in May 2008, andLoanDepot Park is now on the site. Despite some protests, the historic stadium had been earmarked for demolition when the University of Miami announced that they were moving out of the Orange Bowl after the 2007 season to begin play atSun Life Stadium in 2008 in a 25-year deal.[22] On November 10, 2007, the University of Miami Hurricanes lost their final game at the Orange Bowl when theVirginia Cavaliers defeatedMiami 48–0 in the Hurricanes' second worst home shutout loss in school history.[23]
TheFIU Golden Panthers (now Panthers) won their last game at the Orange Bowl against theNorth Texas Mean Green on December 1, 2007, by a score of 38–19, snapping a 23-game losing streak that many attributed to the consequences of suspensions following theUM-FIU brawl the year before. Since the Golden Panthers had been using the Orange Bowl as their home field during the construction ofFIU Stadium, this win allowed the FIU team to boast that it was they who officially closed the Orange Bowl's college football career with a home win.
A high school all-star game, "The Offense-Defense All-American Bowl", took place on January 4, 2008, and was the last game before the closing events.
On Saturday, January 26, 2008, a "Farewell to the Orange Bowl Stadium" flag football game was held. The game featured former Dolphin and Hall of Fame quarterbackDan Marino, plusMark Duper,Mercury Morris,Dwight Stephenson,A. J. Duhe,Don Strock,Jim Kiick,John Offerdahl,Jim Kelly,Bernie Kosar,Melvin Bratton,Brian Blades,Bennie Blades andEddie Brown. The NFL's winningest coachDon Shula coached the Dolphins whileFlorida Atlantic University and former Hurricanes coach and former Dolphins assistantHoward Schnellenberger coached the University of Miami.
The Orange Bowl was open to the public for the last time February 8–10, 2008 when apublic auction of stadium artifacts and memorabilia was held. The stadium was stripped and pieces were sold by a company called Mounted Memories. Demolition of the Orange Bowl began on March 3, 2008,[24] and was completed on May 14, 2008.
The Orange Bowl is one of eight stadiums that are no longer standing that have hosted a Super Bowl. The other seven are:Tulane Stadium (hosted three Super Bowls; demolished in 1980),Tampa Stadium (hosted two Super Bowls; demolished in 1999),Stanford Stadium (hosted one Super Bowl; demolished and redeveloped in 2006), theHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (hosted one Super Bowl; demolished in 2014), theGeorgia Dome (hosted two Super Bowls; demolished in 2017), thePontiac Silverdome (hosted one Super Bowl; demolished in 2018), andSan Diego Stadium (hosted three Super Bowls; demolished in 2021).
As part of the newMarlins Park, the home field of theMiami Marlins ofMajor League Baseball,Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places commissionedDaniel Arsham andSnarkitecture to design apublic art work to commemorate the Miami Orange Bowl. Their project uses the letters from the original "Miami Orange Bowl" sign as the basis for the 10-foot-tall (3.0 m) orange concrete letters rearranged across the east plaza of the new ballpark so that they form new words as visitors move around them.[25]
The Orange Bowl hosted fiveSuper Bowls:
Tucked into the northeast corner of 16th Avenue and Third Street, a ball field calledTatum Park was built in time for spring training in 1916.[4] The park was used for spring training games for six seasons, but with no new tenants booked, it was abandoned and demolished in December 1921.[MiamiNews, December 22, 1921, pp. 3, 14, 31]
In 1924, new seating was built on the site, and this facility was calledMiami Field.[MiamiHerald, May 22, 1924, p. 15] It resumed being a site for spring training and other local events, including a revived Florida East Coast League minor league club. It served as the home field forUniversity of Miami baseball from 1940 through 1965. Both the old and the new fields had a small covered seating area at 16th and Third.
As the Orange Bowl was developed and then expanded over time, it encroached somewhat on that small ballpark to its southwest. The ballpark's center field fence ran along the periphery of the stadium's outer concourse, and the right field fence bordered a driveway that led up to the big stadium.
There was also a softball field to the east across the driveway. During football season, the baseball and softball fields were both used for parking. In December 1965, Miami Field's seating area was demolished, and the land occupied by the two fields was reconfigured into full-time parking areas. The Hurricanes played elsewhere for a few years, and then openedAlex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field in 1973.
Miami Field can be seen in the 1940 aerial photoFile:Miami-Orange-Bowl-1940.jpg. It also appears often in old aerial view postcards of the big stadium.
| Events and tenants | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Miami Field Hard Rock Stadium | Home of theOrange Bowl 1938–1995 1999 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by none | Home of theMiami Dolphins 1966–1986 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Host of theSuper Bowl II 1968 –III 1969 V 1971 X 1976 XIII 1979 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Host of theNFL Pro Bowl 1975 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Home of theFIU Golden Panthers 2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Host of Drum Corps International World Championship 1983 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Host ofAFC Championship Game 1972 1974 1983 1985–1986 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Host of theCollege Cup 1971–1973 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| Geographic | |
