Sports Team Ownership
Huizenga currently owns 5% of the Miami Dolphins, as well as 5% of Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens. He held 50% of the team and stadium until January 2009 when he sold a 45% stake to Stephen M. Ross.
He purchased 15% of the team and their sports venue in 1990, during a period of financial hardship for the franchise. Long time owner Joe Robbie had recently died and his family found it difficult to keep the team afloat. In turn, Huizenga bought out the remaining shares of the team to become full owner in 1993. He then pulled the Joe Robbie name off the building and sold that space to a corporate sponsor who later went under (Pro Player). It has since been renamed Dolphins Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, LandShark Stadium, and Sun Life Stadium. On February 22, 2008, he sold 50% of the Miami Dolphins and 50% of the then Dolphin Stadium to Stephen M. Ross, a New York City-based real estate developer and founder, chairman and CEO of The Related Companies.
Huizenga is notable for introducing both baseball and hockey to the South Florida area as the initial owner of the Florida Marlins and Florida Panthers. He was criticized for naming his two teams for the state of Florida rather than the city of Miami, but as an advocate for the city of Fort Lauderdale, he explained that his goal was to include Broward County and Palm Beach County in his teams' fanbase. (Indeed, he claimed at the time that he had not even considered naming the teams after "Miami" as an option, and that in his view the only legitimate choices had been "Florida," "South Florida," and "Tri-County.")
Huizenga, in keeping with his previously stated intentions, sold the Marlins to current Boston Red Sox owner John Henry at the end of the 1998 season. Since then, however, relations between Huizenga and new Marlins management has been tepid, mainly because of stadium lease disagreements.
Huizenga operated the Panthers as a public holding company, buying numerous real estate properties in the name of his Panthers Holding Group. In 2001, he sold the Panthers to pharmaceutical juggernaut and friend Alan Cohen and his partner, former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, for a discount price. In all three team ownerships, he is very well known for minimizing costs while maximizing profits.
Huizenga, while attempting to build his sporting empire in South Florida, attempted to purchase the NBA's Miami Heat, but was unsuccessful.
Read more about this topic: Wayne Huizenga
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