One of the biggest boosters for the University of Miami Hurricane football team has revealed his stadium dreams!
John H. Ruiz wants to build a 60,000-seat stadium for the Hurricanes at Tropical Park off Bird Road in SW Miami-Dade. The stadium would have retractable roof, air conditioned and luxury suites.
Ruiz is working with HKS Architecture, which designed AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas where the Dallas Cowboys play. They also designed SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., which is the home of The Angeles Rams and The Angeles Charges. SoFi Stadium hosted Super-Bowl LVI in February. The proposed Stadium at Tropical Park would have a floating score-board similar to the one at SoFi.
Ruiz said the project would be funded privately with no tax dollars. “The process would be very similar to Freedom Park, which was just approved by the voters. If you follow their path, we would likely mirror a similar process.” In this case, the deal for the land would need to be done with Miami-Dade County and not by the City of Miami.
Ruiz believes the Tropical Park is the ideal, because it’s about 3 miles from UM campus in Coral Gables. Ruiz said there are just the first renderings for the stadium so the people can see the overall concept. He promised that many more details are forthcoming, but hopes to get the stadium built by 2025.
In 2008, the Hurricanes signed a 25-year contract to play their home-games at the Hard Rock Stadium. That deal ends in 2033.