Miami's Big 4 Sports Teams Ride The Bench As Soccer Brings City Into Stadium District Era
South Florida is home to franchises in each of the four major professional sports leagues — including one owned by billionaire developer Stephen Ross. But none of those teams are taking advantage of the hottest off-the-field trend in sports: massive real estate projects around their stadiums.
But Miami hasn't been passed by the stadium district movement. To be expected by a region where more than 40% of residents are foreign-born, it is taking a more international approach.
The first and only sports venue-anchored development underway is Miami Freedom Park. The 25,000-seat stadium for Major League Soccer franchise Inter Miami CF is set to open early next year, surrounded by a hotel, offices, retail and restaurants, all owned by the team.
With seven matches, including the bronze medal match, in the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be played in Miami, the world's most popular sport is playing a starring role in Miami's projected economic development, Miller said. Those games are projected to generate nearly $500M in revenue for Miami-Dade County.
“Pro sports is a critical piece of our economy,” said Rodrick Miller, CEO and President of the Miami-Dade Beacon Council. “It's a very big piece of the whole of what we're pulling together. Miami has a long-standing reputation as an entertainment and tourism hub, and the sports really amplify that.”
The anticipation for the $1B Miami Freedom Park — with its 360K SF of restaurant space, 240K SF of retail, 750 hotel rooms and 400K SF of offices — has only grown ahead of Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi’s contract with Inter Miami ending this year. The club's owners have said they “fully expect” Messi to return next year to christen the stadium.
When Messi — who has won the Ballon d'Or, given every year to the world's best soccer player, a record eight times — signed with Inter Miami, the buzz and business he generated for the area was dubbed the “Messi Effect.”
One of the ramifications of the Messi Effect has been soccer's leap to prominence in Miami, whereas it still is secondary in most major markets to the big four of pro sports: the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.
“We, being the U.S., have a tendency to be very, ‘Oh, we're basketball, football, baseball,’ but everywhere else in the world, soccer is much bigger,” Miller said. “[Miami is] an international community.”
As the values of pro sports franchises have grown astronomically in recent years, so have their real estate ambitions. The trend toward stadium districts was spearheaded by the MLB's Atlanta Braves and The Battery, their development anchored by Truist Park, which opened in 2017.
The project, owned by the Braves, features a music venue that can hold up to 4,000 people, a movie theater, 250K SF of retail and restaurant space, and more than 1M SF of office space. It is credited with changing the dynamics of sports stadiums.
“Professional sports teams, more and more, are beginning to focus on the opportunity for mixed-use development around their venues,” said Dave Demarest, an international director at JLL who was a key figure in the development and programming at The Battery. “Not only is that opportunity available to them as an additional revenue stream, but it enhances the broader neighborhood by creating a new place.”
There are 48 mixed-use sports venue-anchored projects across the country, four under construction and another 32 publicly under consideration, according to a 2025 report by real estate consulting firm RCLCO. A quarter of those proposed projects have been introduced over the past year alone, while five have been delivered.
More MLB teams anchor these projects than teams from any other sports league, followed by the NHL and the NBA tied for second, then the NFL, according to RCLCO. Major League Soccer is fifth.
South Florida is among 13 metro areas that have all four major sports, including the Miami Marlins baseball team, Miami Dolphins football team, Florida Panthers hockey team and the Miami Heat basketball team.
The opportunity for more stadium district development beyond Miami Freedom Park is untapped, even by Related founder Ross, who owns the Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium, which will host the World Cup games.
The Miami Gardens stadium opened in 1987, and Ross spent $400M renovating it in 2015, just before The Battery kicked off a new era of sports projects.
“The public hates being told to have patience,” RCLCO Managing Director Erin Talkington said. “But the reality is that venues take a while to construct, they take a long time to come together in some cases. Mixed-use developments, we wish it would be faster to build, but it's not.”
Stadium projects are heavily reliant on the lease terms a team has with the venue, the availability of land surrounding it and the right capital and market conditions from both the public and private sector, Talkington said.
The big four might not be left behind for long. Both Demarest and Jonathan Fascitelli, founder of sports and entertainment venue development company Seregh, said they were pursuing opportunities in the Miami market but couldn’t give specifics.
Fascitelli pointed to the defending Stanley Cup champions as an obvious candidate. The Panthers last year extended their lease through 2043 at Amerant Bank Arena, across from the Sawgrass Mills mall in Sunrise.
“If you go out to Sunrise, people are like, ‘It's a pain in the ass to get out there and there's a sea of parking lots around it,’” Fascitelli said. “If you make it more habitable, people come and stay, and I think for that project to be successful, it will require a tremendous investment.”
The team released plans to update the 27-year-old building in January, Florida Hockey Now reported. There was no mention of building new uses on the asphalt that surrounds the stadium. The team didn't respond to Bisnow's requests for comment.
The Miami Heat, who play at the 20,000-seat Kaseya Center, have a prime spot on the water in Downtown Miami. Despite being surrounded by a development boom, including the $6B Miami Worldcenter development, the team hasn’t pursued any developments around the arena, which is owned by Miami-Dade County.
The Miami Marlins’ current stadium, LoanDepot Park, was built in 2012. The 37,000-seat stadium is most known for its retractable roof that protects visitors from unpredictable Miami weather. The team, which wealth manager Bruce Sherman bought in 2017, has started to dip its toe into the real estate surrounding 501 Marlins Way.
It partnered with The Cordish Cos. in January to build Miami Live! at LoanDepot Park, a year-round entertainment and dining venue in the plaza next to the stadium. An opening is slated for next year, according to a release.
Like with soccer, South Florida's international flavor has made it a magnet for emerging sports. Fort Pickleball Club, the world’s first dedicated pickleball stadium, opened in Fort Lauderdale in February. Miller said the Beacon Council has even gotten interest from a sport originated in South Asia named Kabaddi.
Eventually, sports-anchored development could become a trillion-dollar industry, Seregh projects. Fascitelli says Miami is a sleeping giant in the movement, and Miami Freedom Park is only the beginning.
“These developments are incredible, and when you drop them in anywhere, they do great,” Fascitelli said. “But if you drop them into this exciting environment in Miami, they can do even better. People love them, people love them everywhere, but Miami definitely has sizzle.”
