Mayor Gimenez, Tom Garfinkel, Stephen Ross talk fans in stadium and meal program

Times are tough, but the community of Miami is tougher.

For decades, the Miami Dolphins have not only been a fixture of the South Florida sports scene, but the South Florida community as well. Team owner Stephen Ross and CEO Tom Garfinkel have not forgotten this fact, and they’ve launched an initiative to help their local community during these times of hardship.

Per the Miami Herald, amid the situation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, “the Dolphins will distribute at least 1,000 meals on stadium grounds every week day during the next year and another 1,000 on Sundays in conjunction with local restaurants and church groups.”

Garfinkel, head coach Brian Flores, and general manager Chris Grier were among those who were passing out meals to those in need in the local community on Monday. According to Garfinkel, the initiative was Ross’ idea. The Miami Herald quoted Garfinkel as explaining “Steve said to me, ‘Tom, race relations in this country are not good right now. Unemployment is at an all-time high. Now is the opportunity to help people. Let’s try to put together a program to help people in our own backyard in Miami Gardens’”

In terms of the future of football in Miami and in Hard Rock Stadium, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez addressed some potential possibilities that would allow Dolphins football to continue despite restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Gimenez explained “I believe we’ll have football here this fall. We can work with the Dolphins and the NFL to have football here. Whether there are going to be fans is another story.” Mayor Gimenez continued, “Even in terms of fans, it’s a big place and you have the ability to stay away from each other. Fifteen percent capacity, 20 percent capacity. We’ve had conversations with the Dolphins”

Hard Rock Stadium’s current max capacity for fans at Dolphins games is 65,326 people. If I pull out my calculator and do some real quick math, that comes out to ... *punches in numbers* ... just over 13,000 fans at 20 percent capacity. The Dolphins media team will likely be releasing more information on plans for stadium capacity in the near future.

Per the Herald, Garfinkel declined to address the timing of in person training camp, but explained, “If we can do it safely, I would expect us to be playing. If we can have fans safely, I would expect us to have fans. But that will be up to a lot of other people, not me.”