PolyTurf (1970-75), Prescription Athletic Turf (1976-present) |
construction_cost = $340,000
USD |
architect = |
former_names = Burdine Stadium (
1937-
1959) |
tenants =
Miami Hurricanes (
NCAA) (
1937-
2007)
FIU Golden Panthers (
NCAA) (
2007)
Miami Seahawks (
AAFC) (
1946)
Miami Dolphins (
NFL) (
1966-
1986)
Orange Bowl Classic (
1938-
1995,
1999)
Playoff Bowl (
1961-
1970)
Miami Toros (
NASL) (
1972-
1976)
Miami Freedom (
ASL/
APSL) (
1988-
1992) |
seating_capacity = 74,476 |
}}
The
Miami Orange Bowl is a
stadium in the City of
Miami, Florida, west of
Downtown in
Little Havana. It is considered a
landmark. It was the home stadium for the
University of Miami Hurricanes football team and the temporary home of the
Florida International University Golden Panthers for the
2007 football season while the
FIU Stadium underwent expansion.
It also hosted the
Miami Dolphins until the opening of then
Joe Robbie Stadium (now known as Dolphin Stadium) in what is now nearby
Miami Gardens for the
1987. The stadium was renamed in 1959 for the
Orange Bowl Classic college football game, which was played at the Orange Bowl following every season from
1937 to
1995, although it has been played at Dolphin Stadium since
1996, save for the January 1999 contest. The
Minor League Baseball Miami Marlins occasionally played games in the Orange Bowl from
1956 to
1960.
History :
The stadium was built by the City of Miami Public Works Department. Construction began in 1936 and was completed in December 1937. The stadium opened for Miami Hurricanes football on
December 10,
1937. From 1926 to 1937 the University of Miami played in a stadium near Tamiami Park and also at Moore Park until the Orange Bowl was built.
The Orange Bowl was originally named
Burdine Stadium after Roddy Burdine, one of Miami's pioneers. The original stadium consisted of the two sideline lower decks. Seating was added in the endzones in the 1940s, and by the end of the 1950s the stadium was double-decked on the sidelines. The AFL expansion Miami Dolphins played their first regular season game ever in the stadium on
September 2,
1966. The west endzone upper deck section was then added in the 1960s, bringing the stadium to its peak capacity of 80,010. In 1977 the permanent seats in the east endzone were removed, and further upgrades have brought the stadium to its current capacity and design. The city skyline can be seen to the east through the open end, over the modern scoreboard and palm trees. The surface has been natural grass, except for a time in the 1970s. PolyTurf, an artificial turf similar to
AstroTurf, was installed for the 1970 football season. It was removed and replaced with a type of natural grass known as Prescription Athletic Turf for the 1976 football season after Super Bowl X.
Under the leadership of Hall of Fame Football Coach Don Shula, the Miami Dolphins enjoyed a winning record in the Orange Bowl against rival teams in the AFC Eastern Division. Under Coach Shula, the Dolphins were an aggregate 57-9-1 (60-10-1 including playoff contests) against the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts (15-3), the Boston/NewEngland Patriots (15-1), the Buffalo Bills (16-1) and the New York Jets (13-4-1).
[{{cite web]| title | Miami Dolphins Franchise Encyclopedia |
|---|
| work | pro-football-reference.com |
|---|
| url | http://profootballreference.com/teams/miaindex.htm/ |
|---|
| accessdate | 2007-12-30}} The playoff results are: AFC Championship games: (1971, Miami 21, Baltimore 0); (1982, Miami 14, NY 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 the Buffalo Bills and a 15-0 streak against the New England Patriots, Also of note, the Miami Dolphins enjoyed a record 31-game home winning streak from 1971 to 1975. This 31-game streak includes four playoff wins. The Dolphins have not enjoyed the same level of success in Dolphin Stadium.
The Orange Bowl is also the site of the NCAA's longest college football winning streak. Between 1985 and 1994, the University of Miami Hurricanes won 58 straight home games at the Bowl. The stadium's home field advantage used to include a steel structure that fans would set to rumbling by stomping their feet. Recent concrete reinforcement has silenced the rumble. Still present is the advantage of the West End Zone, which has a relatively narrow radius that amplifies fan noise. The West End Zone was a factor in the Wide Right (Florida State) curse, in which the Florida State University Seminoles lost a series of close games due to missed field goals. This section was so raucous that some football announcers even confused it with the student section. In fact, the fans in this section were the working and lower middle class citizens of Miami and included amongst their number the Miami Maniac.
In addition to football, the stadium also hosted concerts and other public events. The stadium has a regular capacity of 74,476 orange seats, and can seat up to 82,000 for concerts and other events where additional seating can be placed on the playing field.
President John F. Kennedy once visited the stadium.University of Miami :
The City of Miami recently embarked on a plan to extensively renovate the stadium. However, those plans fell by the wayside as Miami focused on keeping the Florida Marlins in town, forcing the Hurricanes to threaten a move to Dolphin Stadium in suburban Miami Gardens if a plan to renovate the stadium were 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 president Donna Shalala made the announcement during a press conference at the Hecht Athletic Center on August 21, 2007. The University has tentatively agreed to a 25-year contract to play at Dolphin Stadium. According to Miami City Manager Pete Hernandez, this now puts the Orange Bowl back in the forefront as a possible site for a new Marlins stadium. The hope is that talks resume soon on that possibility.[Miami Leaving Orange Bowl; Will Play in Dolphin Stadium, ESPN.com, accessed 21 August 2007 http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2984425]
Many Hurricane fans vocally support a reversal of the decision to move stadium locations and prefer 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 have even stated to various broadcast, print and internet-based media outlets that they will no longer attend the games of Hurricanes football, once the team leaves the Orange Bowl.[Miami Herald's Eye on the U Blog; Time To Start Saying Goodbye, accessed 30 October 2007 http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umiami/2007/08/time-to-start-s.html] Some speculate that 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 Dolphins' poor performance during the 2007 season is that "they've never been the same since they left the Orange Bowl."["Checklist for Failure is all Too Familiar" David Hyde Commentary South Florida Sun-Sential October 3, 2007 ]Stadium events :
Soccer matches :
Wrestling :
- 1987 NWA Great American Bash supercard.
Football :
- Orange Bowl Classic game 1938-1995, 1999
- Miami Dolphins home stadium 1966-1986
- University of Miami Hurricanes home stadium 1937-2007
- 1948-1973: college football North-South Shrine Game
- USA Bowl for the "national champions" of semi-pro football
- 1975 NFL Pro Bowl All Star Game
- 1995 Canadian Football League exhibition game with the Birmingham Barracudas versus the Baltimore Stallions, the Stallions won 37-0 to judge if Miami could have supported an CFL team. The attendance was disappointing. The team would have been called the Miami Manatees.
The Orange Bowl hosted 5 NFL Super Bowls:
- Super Bowl II - Green Bay Packers defeated Oakland Raiders 33-14
- Super Bowl III - New York Jets defeated Baltimore Colts 16-7
- Super Bowl V - Baltimore Colts defeated the Dallas Cowboys 16-13 (first Super Bowl played on artificial turf)
- Super Bowl X - Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 21-17
- Super Bowl XIII - Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 35-31
Non-athletic events :
- Monster Jam
- Enchanted Dreamz Car & Bike show
- Funk Master flex Car show
Concerts :
In addition, the site was used for the Haiti national football (soccer) team for their "home" matches due to violent flare-ups in Haiti resulting from political instability. Hurricane Wilma :
In 2005, Hurricane Wilma caused structural damage to the stadium which rekindled discussion of tearing down the aging facility. The damage has since been repaired.Final Year & Demolition :
The historic stadium was 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 at Dolphin Stadium in 2008 in a 25-year deal. [Future of Orange Bowl in doubt, BBC Sport, 21 August 2007.] On November 10, 2007, the University of Miami Hurricanes lost their final game at the famed Orange Bowl when the University of Virginia defeated Miami 48-0 in the Hurricanes worst shutout loss in school history.[http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/scoreboards/2007/11/10/36108_viewcast_recap.html] The Florida International University Golden Panthers won their last game at the Orange Bowl against the University of North Texas Mean Green on December 1st, 2007 with a score of 38-19, snapping a 23-game losing streak; it was the final college football game scheduled for the stadium. The final official event at the Orange Bowl was the "O-D All-American Bowl" High School All Star game held on January 4, 2008.
A "Farewell To The Orange Bowl" celebration is scheduled for January 26, 2008 and will feature a touch-football game pitting Miami Dolphins alumni against University of Miami alums.
Demolition is scheduled to begin in February 2008. The stadium will be stripped and pieces of the stadium will be sold by Mounted Memories.References :
External links :