Virginia Key Considered For New Stadium

[Cane7451]

I like the Virginia Key rumor that is only on this board more than the Dodge Island site that Beckham wants. At least Virginia Key has land for building parking garages, RV parking and tailgate space. Virginia Key sure beats 40,000 people walking 7 to 15 blocks depending where they can find parking downtown over a Port of Miami bridge to Dodge Island.

Virginia Key traffic can't be worst than the single bridge to the Port of Miami that is one of the busiest sea ports in the country and all the crew ships would be loading up when we were trying to get to a game.

There is only one real site that is ideal for UM's football and than is at Tropical Park. Anywhere on an Island would be nightmare for traffic and parking that would price out a lot of our average fan's sports $$$ and end up just as empty as we are at SLS. UM need a site that is affordable and has easy access for cars since few people use mass transit in Florida. If you can't get to the stadium by car with easy access and have cheap parking people are going to stay home and watch the game on TV. If UM can't make money on football then they are going to downsize our football program to match revenue.

UM has a lot of competition now for sports $$$ and I have friends that are Canes fans but choose to spend their money on the Fins tickets. So making UM more expensive than the Dolphin game isn't going to help UM put butts in the seats.

 

[Lauderdale]

I posted that the Virginia Key site was among those being considered, a possible but not probable site.

I think it would be a great location for the University of Miami, next to UM RSMAS and close to campus. There would be no more scenic site for a stadium then this one with spectacular views of downtown Miami, Biscayne Bay and Key Biscayne. It would be a tremendous help to recruiting but there are drawbacks. Before the drawbacks lets get rid of the non-sense that some people have brought up.

The treatment plant in 2014 does not emit the odors of 20-30 years ago. Heck, Fisher Island is as close to treatment plant as the proposed site. The turtles and mangroves are not an issue.

What is an issue is that the traffic is a major concern and one way to remediate that would be to rebuild the West part of the old Rickenbacker Causeway and the center bridge. It could then fly over the new highway with it's 2 lanes to the east and into the Marine Stadium parking lot area and parallel the new highway to the stadium parking. EXPENSIVE (probably $150 - 200 million) and it would need county and city support and that's a long shot. If it were to be done it would give Marine Stadium and the Seaquarium a huge boost because the Seaquarium could build a large capacity parking garage and add attractions that they've wanted to do for years. The whole area and the rest of the park at Virginia Key could be redeveloped into something very special for 365 day a year use as well as preserving the mangroves and natural settings.

I really doubt politicians could get this done unless Beckham's group paid for the entire stadium and the parking garages adjacent to the stadium. As to where the stadium will be built I think an inner city area or an area near Marlin's Park is most likely. The port of Miami land is too valuable to give away particularly after over a billion dollars has been spent on the tunnel and dredging, the port needs that land and it could have a worth of $20-30 million per acre or more. The traffic there would be worse than Virginia Key. The fall back is Tropical park and I doubt Beckham would want to be there. Those are the only sites I've heard are in the mix but I'm sure there are others. I think too no matter what is said for private funding some public support will be needed.

 

[Tad Footeball]

I
UM has a lot of competition now for sports $$$ and I have friends that are Canes fans but choose to spend their money on the Fins tickets...

Have your friends been diagnosed with a specific mental illness or do they just suffer from a little bit of everything? Don't ever let them drive or be near a firearm. Their judgement is obviously not sound.

 

[caneinpsl]

So does the place smell any better than it did 40 years ago when my friends and I used to hang out there at "sewer beach" to drink and smoke pot?

If not, I sure as **** don't wan't to go to games there.

We should put the entire waste plant in a giant bubble then funnel the gases into a plant that converts them into energy and use that to power the stadium. The savings would fund the cost of the bubble, the bubble would eliminate the smell, and it'd be great for the surrounding environment.

***** that. Funnel the gases into the visitors locker room.

 

[ramcanes]

I posted that the Virginia Key site was among those being considered, a possible but not probable site.

I think it would be a great location for the University of Miami, next to UM RSMAS and close to campus. There would be no more scenic site for a stadium then this one with spectacular views of downtown Miami, Biscayne Bay and Key Biscayne. It would be a tremendous help to recruiting but there are drawbacks. Before the drawbacks lets get rid of the non-sense that some people have brought up.

The treatment plant in 2014 does not emit the odors of 20-30 years ago. Heck, Fisher Island is as close to treatment plant as the proposed site. The turtles and mangroves are not an issue.

What is an issue is that the traffic is a major concern and one way to remediate that would be to rebuild the West part of the old Rickenbacker Causeway and the center bridge. It could then fly over the new highway with it's 2 lanes to the east and into the Marine Stadium parking lot area and parallel the new highway to the stadium parking. EXPENSIVE (probably $150 - 200 million) and it would need county and city support and that's a long shot. If it were to be done it would give Marine Stadium and the Seaquarium a huge boost because the Seaquarium could build a large capacity parking garage and add attractions that they've wanted to do for years. The whole area and the rest of the park at Virginia Key could be redeveloped into something very special for 365 day a year use as well as preserving the mangroves and natural settings.

I really doubt politicians could get this done unless Beckham's group paid for the entire stadium and the parking garages adjacent to the stadium. As to where the stadium will be built I think an inner city area or an area near Marlin's Park is most likely. The port of Miami land is too valuable to give away particularly after over a billion dollars has been spent on the tunnel and dredging, the port needs that land and it could have a worth of $20-30 million per acre or more. The traffic there would be worse than Virginia Key. The fall back is Tropical park and I doubt Beckham would want to be there. Those are the only sites I've heard are in the mix but I'm sure there are others. I think too no matter what is said for private funding some public support will be needed.

You make good points. But, the port site has access to mass transit: Metrorail/MetroMover, Trolley and more importantly, FEC Grand Central Station, which will run all the way up the east coast. THere is really no need to deal with traffic or parking if these forms of transportation are taken advantage from different locations. If needed, have parking at Virginia Key and provide ferry service to the port site. It's a very, very short ferry ride to port site. Yankee Stadium and AT&T Park have ferry service to their stadiums

Key Biscayne is a good location Heck, you can built a waterpark there to go along with the stadium. The issues is traffic getting in and out. But, for 6 games a year, to be surrounded with a fantastic view, such as AT&T Park (San Fran Giants) I won't mine traffic or just get early and leave late from tailgate. Plus, they're talking down those toll booths and making it just Sunpass, it will help a bit

 

[Bigtip]

traffic should be fun getting in and out

 

[CANE4LIFE]

Narrow @ss Rickenbacker causeway with 50K fans going to a game? Key Biscayne ever allowing this? Rebuilding bridges? Metrorail expansions? Bubbles to funnel sewer gasses??? LMFAO. I havent laughed so hard in a while. Thanks guys.

 

[TheMatador]

don't **** with my mountain bike path!

Canes > PUNCICANE's Mountain Bike Path

Holy ****! That's disgusting.

 

[TheMatador]

So does the place smell any better than it did 40 years ago when my friends and I used to hang out there at "sewer beach" to drink and smoke pot?

If not, I sure as **** don't wan't to go to games there.

We should put the entire waste plant in a giant bubble then funnel the gases into a plant that converts them into energy and use that to power the stadium. The savings would fund the cost of the bubble, the bubble would eliminate the smell, and it'd be great for the surrounding environment.

***** that. Funnel the gases into the visitors locker room.

You don't have to eliminate the smell. It can smell just like New Jersey did when I was a kid. Heck, it still might smell, I don't know. The Jersey kids will feel at home. Just worry about the fat guy coming down and blocking the bridges. You can distract him if a new McDonald's coupon book is out. I was always finding extra McDonald's coupon booklets that people threw away from their mail. I was thinking of mailing the extras to the governor's mansion up in Trenton or wherever it is.

 

[BisCane]

With the numerous problems at the Port of Miami site (too expensive a land value, too small, too difficult to get to etc.) Virginia Key is considered a viable option. The site there does not interfere with protected mangroves and is large enough for a 40,000 to 50,000 seat stadium with adequate parking and tailgating areas. It would sit on land just to the South of Arthur Lamb road and extend to near the beach and would be West of the Rickenbacker Causeway by 300 meters. Again there is no interference with the mangroves in this area and it would provide spectacular views of downtown Miami, Key Biscayne, Biscayne Bay and it would be next to the University of Miami's School of Marine Science.

David Beckham should go wild for this piece it's better than the Port site, more viable for other events and it will be next to a hopefully renovated Marine Stadium.

This site is being brought up for serious consideration, Key Biscayne will probably object but they have little too fall back on and they already have the tennis tournament there.

look at all the f cuking morons who believed this..oh op is tremendo ***g and dips hit

 

[Dingaan1828]

Narrow @ss Rickenbacker causeway with 50K fans going to a game? Key Biscayne ever allowing this? Rebuilding bridges? Metrorail expansions? Bubbles to funnel sewer gasses??? LMFAO. I havent laughed so hard in a while. Thanks guys.

That would ruin my idea of having fans sky dive into the stadium to help with the traffic situation. They could return to the mainland by mini-sub or scuba. The U could make some money off of the scuba rental. Otherwise, fans can just swim both ways. I think most fans would love the idea of a refreshing pre-game and post game swim in the bay.

But, I do like the bubble idea too. They could pump the oxygen out of the bubble, then charge fans to get a breathable mixture during the game. They could even sell nitrous oxide instead of beer. I'm liking this more by the minute.

 

[CaneAlmighty]

This is the worse ***** idea I ever heard for a possible site for a stadium.

 

[jzabl001]

I grew up on Key Biscayne and building a stadium anywhere on Virginia Key would be a hilariously awful idea. It takes me almost an hour to go visit my parents on Sundays during normal beach traffic, and I live in Wynwood. Unless they were to do away with the tolls and adopt a Sun-Pass like system, you'll have 2-3 hour traffic tie-ups, and god forbid we'd ever have a Thursday night game