MIAMI _ The idiom of dangling a carrot in front of one's nose sees its extreme in the NFL dangling the prospect of hosting Super Bowls in front of wide-eyed cities.
The perfume is powerful enough to move mountains, to see local governments genuflect, to get new stadiums built.
In Miami, it was powerful enough to convince Stephen Ross to part with $350 million. And the result is South Florida's transformation to "Super Bowl City" _ a place at the center of the NFL universe.
If he hadn't, the Kansas City Chiefs and the winner of Sunday night's NFC Championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers would not be headed to Miami, where the eyes of the world will be fixed on the biggest sporting event in America on Feb. 2.
Miami and his Hard Rock Stadium are only hosting the city's record-setting 11th Super Bowl this season because Ross made that commitment. The NFL had made that clear.
"Our stadium wasn't modern and up to date and it really wasn't a showcase," as Ross put it. "The league said they weren't coming back to Miami unless we did upgrade the stadium."
Ross, the Miami Dolphins owner, spent more than a third of a billion dollars in a privately funded 2015-16 facelift of the stadium Joe Robbie had built (also privately funded) in 1987. That is why Miami ended its 10-year drought, after previously last hosting a Super Bowl following the 2009 season, and earned the distinction of hosting the Super Bowl 54 game that will crown and cap the league's 100th season.
