Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross unveiled his new $135 million enhancement of the franchise Tuesday and, in looking out across the throng of invited guests, spotted and mentioned general manager Chris Grier and head coach Brian Flores.
What Ross said then was meant to be lighthearted, was delivered as such, and even drew a chuckle from the crowd.
But the words also had an edge. A point. It was a truth-in-humor moment.
“Now the pressure is on them,” said Ross the boss, . “If you can’t win with a facility like this, you’re never gonna win!”
And so it is. The Dolphins now have one more reason to win, and one less excuse if they don’t, as players report next Tuesday for training camp to usher in the club’s 56th season.
Suit-wearing team executives unaccustomed to wielding shovels wore hard hats to dig dirt in the ceremonial ground breaking for this facility on August 20, 2019.
Tuesday, not quite two years later, it was with comically oversized scissors with which Ross and his executive team cut a ribbon in the ceremonial grand opening of the new Baptist Health Training Facility in what used to be a parking lot just northwest of Hard Rock Stadium.
It was a big deal. This is only the Dolphins’ fourth training camp location in their existence, after St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton (1966-69), St. Thomas University in Miami (1970-92) and Nova Southeastern University in Davie (1993-2020).
The Dolphins wanted a “best-in-class” new practice site and seem to now have one in a 217,200 square-foot facility more than 50,000 square feet bigger than the previous facility.
Along with the usual stuff — two full football fields with shaded seating for 2,200 fans, an indoor practice site, locker rooms, weight room, auditorium, meeting rooms — the new digs’ amenities include an “innovation hub” for new technology and spatial computing, a “fuel bar,” a recovery area with cryotherapy and isolation tanks, a huge dining hall and a lobby with a “grand staircase.”
Oh, a slide! Players will be able to get from the second to the first floor of the weight rooms down a 30-foot stainless steel slide.
(Google headquarters has one of those, by the way).
Dan Marino, Jason Taylor, Larry Little and Dwight Stephenson were Dolphins Hall of Famers among the many ex-players there.
“Must remind you of St. Thomas,” I kidded Marino.
“That place!” the old quarterback laughed. “Chicken wire and an outdoor weight room.”
Former receiver O.J. McDuffie: “I thought Davie was state of the art when I got there. But this blows that out of the water. It’s second to none right now.”
But McDuffie added (rather astutely), “Buildings don’t win championships. They won Super Bowls at St. Thomas.”
Ross’ willingness to spend big on his franchise and stadium has seldom been in question or doubt.
The new training facility increases to more than $600 million what he has spent on capital improvements just since 2015. That includes massive upgrades to the stadium itself, the new tennis stadium adjacent to HRS that lured the Miami Open from Key Biscayne, and now the shiny new toy.
Ross also has opened up the wallet on the roster with notable free-agent spending the past couple of years.
The question of Ross: When will the generosity and willingness to spend translate to sustained winning?
It was a question he sort of put in Grier and Flores’ laps Tuesday, no matter how playfully.
“We want to win a Super Bowl in a short period of time,” said Ross. “Emphasis on short.”
That is what most of matters to fans, and should.
The state-of-the-art massive video screens inside the stadium, the new training facility — all nice ... but all window dressing.
Ross bought 50 percent of the Dolphins and stadium in 2008 and owned 95 percent by 2009.
Despite the spending, Ross’ Dolphins have been 87-105 in his 12 seasons as majority owner, with only two winning seasons and one playoff appearance (a quick exit in 2016).
As bottom lines go, that isn’t very good, although last season’s 10-6 record sowed optimism. Grier/Flores are just the latest iteration of men Ross hopes can turn the franchise around, its championship glory days now nearly 50 years in the rear-view mirror. Second-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa proving himself this season and silencing all of the doubters would be a huge, needed step.
The imperative to win a Super Bowl in a “short period of time” is Ross saying he wants to win one on his watch; frankly, in his lifetime.
The owner is 81 now. Tick tock. He doesn’t have all day.
“We’re excited to get started,” Flores said. “We know there’s a lot of excitement for the season. We’re going to be ready to go.”
His Dolphins will set out with a “best-in-class” new training facility, and with one less excuse to fail.
