Hoop dreams

Let's celebrate the Canes and the Owls and turn loanDepot park into more than just the home of the Marlins

It’s been almost 2 weeks since the University of Miami and Florida Atlantic University played on the biggest stage in College Basketball at the Final Four in Houston.

The 2 schools, whose home arenas are separated by a mere 52 miles, energized South Florida fans with their incredible runs, which both came up one win shy of a spot in the championship game.

Here’s an idea: How about loanDepot park hosts its first-ever basketball game, matching the 2 local programs early in the 2023-24 season?

With both Miami and Florida Atlantic riding unprecedented surges in popularity, properly priced tickets could make it a huge event.

You could even turn this into a larger-scale celebration of South Florida basketball by inviting other area schools to play games. Start with Nova Southeastern, who just completed an undefeated season and captured the Division II National Championship.

It would be important to include local women’s teams, headlined by Katie Meier’s Hurricanes, who just made a run to the Elite Eight.

Maybe work some local high schools into the mix as well.

It is critical—some might even suggest existential—that the organization generate as much non-Marlins baseball event revenue as possible year-round in the retractable-roof, synthetic grass ballpark. While they’re already working on this, I would suggest that if they invested the necessary time, energy and manpower into the effort, team ownership might generate more revenue on the 284 days a year when they’re not hosting Marlins games at loanDepot than on the 81 days a year when they are, generally in front of some of the smallest average crowds in Major League Baseball.

Since opening in 2012, the ballpark has hosted occasional concerts. There was the short-lived Miami Beach Bowl and a one-off Miami-FIU football game in 2019. There was once a boxing card scheduled at the park. There’ve been Monster Jams, drone races and private events both large and small.

The recent World Baseball Classic generated more excitement at the ballpark than any event in the more than 11 years since it opened. The Caribbean Series comes to loanDepot in February of 2024.

But let’s do more.

Countless College Baseball teams from the North and the Midwest visit Florida every spring to play local universities and to go head-to-head with each other in a series of tournaments to launch their seasons when it’s too cold to play at home. Why not bring them and their fans together in a big league ballpark? An annual series of spring break games in Miami could turn into baseball’s equivalent of College Basketball’s Maui Invitational.

Why not explore the Panthers hosting an NHL Winter Classic at the ballpark, as others, including Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards, have suggested?

Depending on exactly what the franchise’s lease with the city allows, it’s time for the club to work aggressively to maximize non-Marlins baseball revenues at loanDepot park.

It’s a spectacular venue that fills a niche in the market, sized larger than the Keseya Center and FLA Live Arena but smaller than Hard Rock Stadium.

Instead of lamenting low revenues, due—in part—to small baseball crowds, it’s time for the Marlins to take their efforts to attract other major events to the ballpark to another level.

Bringing a pair of Final Four teams together in front of a massive hometown crowd would be a great place to start.

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