Orange Bowl bonanza funds sports fields at two parks

Rolling Oaks Park owned by the City of Miami Gardens and county-owned land at the Boys and Girls Club of Miami-Dade, Kendall Club, would each get millions of dollars from a complex agreement to fund the Orange Bowl and its host committee that also secures top-rated college football championship games.

As part of the county funding agreement for the Orange Bowl and host committee, the county also would pay half the $600,000 cost of establishing a science, technology, engineering and math community center in a Miami Gardens area site.

The agreement was forwarded last week to county commissioners for a vote with no discussion by the Chairman’s Policy Council headed by Commission Chairman Oliver Gilbert III, a past mayor of Miami Gardens who represents the area.

Rolling Parks Park had not been identified previously for a legacy gift project under a 2020 funding agreement among the county, the Orange Bowl Committee Inc. and the Host Committee for the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

That agreement, according to the county legislation to fund the two parks and the new educational facility, “included a requirement for the Host Committee to facilitate two legacy gift projects in Miami-Dade County, including a $1.15 million contribution to construct a legacy gift project” at a park to be chosen and finish the project by this spring. The county in the agreement was to match that funding.

But, the legislation says, “it was not feasible to undertake the legacy gift at the park originally selected … due to land use restrictions” and the agreement before commissioners would create the legacy gift project instead at Rolling Oaks Park, 18701 NW 17th Court in Miami Gardens.

Both that park and the Kendall site at 9475 N Kendall Drive are to receive, at minimum, new artificial turf and scoreboards.

The agreement also requires that county Mayor Daniella Levine Cava negotiate with the Host Committee to provide the county with $300,000 to establish the STEM training center in Mr. Gilbert’s district and match the funds with $300,000 for the county.

The legislation notes that the 90-year-old Orange Bowl football game and its associated festival is a county tradition, and that for the past 23 years the county commission has supported the Orange Bowl. Miami-Dade, it notes, is one of only six locations to host a College Football Playoff semifinal game every three years.

The City of Miami Gardens and Miami-Dade County are to host a semifinal in 2025 and a quarterfinal in 2026 and will host the National Championship Game in 2026, bringing in large numbers of fans to the county.