Miami hosted its first-ever Formula 1 race on Sunday and it may have turned into a very profitable day for the Miami Dolphins. The Miami Grand Prix reportedly generated a ton of money for Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.
According to a report from the Orlando Sentinel, the Miami F1 race is expected to generate as much money as an entire Dolphins regular season.
The Grand Prix was a success, but the reality is that they may not have made much money at all.
CEO Tom Garfinkel expected the Dolphins would turn a profit on the Miami Gardens race, but not until year 2.
“We will not,” Garfinkel said. “As me after Year 2.”
More from the report:
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“The Dolphins and Formula One (F1) have a 10-year deal with Miami Gardens to keep the Miami Grand Prix (GP) on the grounds of Hard Rock Stadium. The Dolphins have spent the last nine months — with roughly 300-1,000 workers on site every day, Garfinkel said — transforming the parking lots into race track, erecting temporary grandstands and building a permanent paddock area for garages. Everything except the paddock and, of course, the new pavement will be taken down after the event concludes Sunday, a team spokesperson said Wednesday.
The CEO would like to increase capacity in the coming years as the Miami GP limited capacity to about 85,000 per day.
“If you would’ve asked me six months ago where the revenues were headed [I thought we would make money],” Garfinkel said. “Based on where the expenses were headed, we’re not going to make money this year. It was important to us to deliver a great event. The expenses far exceeded the expectations. We tried to do everything we could do first class to be on brand of what Formula One and the kind of event we wanted to deliver.”
