ATP: Tennis in the football stadium soon?

Players will probably have to accept the Miami Open’s move to a football stadium in the near future.

Will reigning Miami champion Roger Federer and current Miami winner Johanna Kontakt soon have to get used to a new venue in Sunshine State?Well, it’s possible, because the Miami Open officials are working on a deal.

For all tennis fans in Florida and around the world, changes to the Master 1000 event seem to be imminent.

The tournament has been taking place for years in the Tennis Center at Crandon Park on the small island of Key Biscane near Miami – this should be history by 2019 at the latest.The organizers are pushing for a move to the Miami Dolphins stadium, the local American football team from the NFL.

Already six months ago Dolphins owner Stephen Ross announced his efforts to guide the tennis event to the hard rock stadium in Miami Gardens, a city in the Miami metropolitan region.Miami Open organizer IMG Tennis and the Dolphins are said to have approached a deal.

Miami Mayra Peña-Lindsay in the Miami Herald is quoted as saying:”It’s imminent, but nothing is official yet”.

The mayor had nothing to do with the deal, but had spoken to many officials about the issue, Peña-Lindsay explained.

The $425 million renovation of the Dolphins hard rock stadium in particular could be a tasty reason for IMG to postpone the event.The city of Miami has been supporting the Dolphins since 2014 with five million US dollars annually.In return, further sporting events were called for in the restored Super-Arena – the deal could therefore offer a win-win situation for both sides.

Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert also commented on the upcoming Miami Open move:”The deal is not yet finalized, but those in charge are working on it,”he said.

Everything points to the fact that the top stars will soon have to come to terms with a new venue for the second 1000cc calendar year – after Indian Wells.The event in March has always attracted the big names of the men’s and women’s world rankings to the sunshine state.Last year, the two old masters Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal fought for the crown in Miami – with the better end for “FedEx”, which celebrated its third title in 2017.Johanna Kontakt triumphed against Caroline Wozniacki.

In the coming year, however, the old changing rooms in Key Biscane will most likely have to be used – still.