Mid 20th century John F. Kennedy and
Mrs. Kennedy greet surviving members of
Brigade 2506 at the Orange Bowl following the failed
Bay of Pigs Invasion of
Cuba on December 29, 1962 on January 17, 1971, with the
Baltimore Colts playing the
Dallas Cowboys; the Colts won 16–13. The Miami Orange Bowl hosted five
Super Bowls between 1968 and 1979. Super Bowl V was the first Super Bowl ever played on
artificial turf. The Miami Orange Bowl, initially called
Burdine Stadium after
Roddy Burdine, one of Miami's pioneers and the owner of the
Burdines department store chain, was built by the City of Miami Public Works Department. Construction began in 1936 and was completed in December 1937 and featured stadium lights. Prior to completion, the first game was a
high school game on September 24, 1936, in which
Miami Edison Senior High School shut out Ponce de Leon, 36–0. During this opening game, the stadium's new lighting system went partially out, leaving the mid-field dark with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The stadium opened for
Miami Hurricanes football on December 10, 1937, in a 0 to 26 loss to the University of Georgia in the final game of the 1937 season. From 1926 to 1937, the
University of Miami had played in a stadium near Tamiami Park and also at Moore Park until the Orange Bowl was built. For a brief time in the late 1930s, the Orange Bowl was home to the headquarters of the
International Baseball Federation. The stadium originally seated 23,739 people along the sidelines, roughly corresponding to the lower level of the sideline seats in the stadium's final configuration. Attendance for its first Orange Bowl in January
1938 was under 19,000, but the
following year saw over 32,000 in attendance. Seating was added in the end zones in the 1940s, and by the end of the 1950s the stadium was double-decked on the sidelines. In
1966, the
AFL expansion
Miami Dolphins played their first regular season game in the stadium on Friday, September 2. The west end zone upper deck section was then added in the 1960s, bringing the stadium to its peak capacity of 80,010. On January 1,
1965, the Orange Bowl was the first college bowl game to be televised in prime time.
Late 20th century From 1966 to 1968, and again in the 1970s, a live
dolphin was situated in a water tank in the open (east) end of the Orange Bowl. He would jump in the tank to celebrate touchdowns and field goals. The tank that was set up in the 1970s was manufactured by Evan Bush and maintained during the games by Evan Bush and Dene Whitaker. Flipper was removed from the Orange Bowl after 1968 to save costs and the 1970s due to stress. In the film
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Snowflake, a live dolphin who does special behaviors after the Dolphins score a touchdown, was the basis of the film after he is kidnapped as part of a revenge plot against
Dan Marino. In 1977, the permanent seats in the east end zone were removed, and further upgrades brought the stadium to its final capacity and design. The city skyline was visible to the east through the open end, over the modern scoreboard and palm trees. The surface was natural grass, except for six seasons in the 1970s.
Poly-Turf, an
artificial turf similar to
AstroTurf, was installed for the 1970 football season. It was removed and replaced with a type of natural grass known as "Prescription Athletic Turf" after
Super Bowl X in January 1976. In 1980, the stadium was used as a holding facility for
Cuban refugees, who arrived in
South Florida during the
Mariel Boatlift. Under the leadership of
Hall of Fame head coach
Don Shula, the Miami Dolphins enjoyed a winning record in the Orange Bowl against rival teams in the AFC Eastern Division. Under Shula, the Dolphins were an impressive 57–9–1 (60–10–1 including playoff contests) against the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts (15–3), the Boston/New England Patriots (15–1), the Buffalo Bills (16–1) and the New York Jets (13–4–1). They have also beaten every visiting franchise at least once, enjoying perfect records against 11 of them. The playoff results against AFC East opponents are: AFC Championship games: (1971, Miami 21, Baltimore 0); (1982, Miami 14, New York Jets 0) and (1985, New England 31, Miami 14) and AFC First round game (1982 strike shortened season, Miami 28, New England 13). Notable winning streaks during the Shula-era in the Orange Bowl include a 13–0 streak against the
Buffalo Bills and a 15–0 streak against the
New England Patriots, Also of note, the Miami Dolphins enjoyed a record 31-game home winning streak from
1971–
75, which includes four playoff wins and the perfect season of
1972. The Dolphins have not enjoyed the same level of success at Hard Rock Stadium. While much of this lack of success at Hard Rock Stadium is obviously attributable to a diminished level of talent and organizational stability, it is also widely recognized that the homefield advantage that the Dolphins enjoyed in the Orange Bowl was much greater than in their newer home. This was in great part due to the atmosphere of the Orange Bowl. The closeness of the seats to the field, along with the closed West End Zone, metal bleachers, and steel structure (and of course the team's success and its status as Miami's only professional sports team for so many years), made the Bowl one of the loudest and most electric stadiums in the NFL. Visiting team quarterbacks often complained to referees or were forced to call time out as their teammates could not hear them barking out the signals due to the unbearable noise, especially when the Dolphins were making a goal-line stand in the closed West End Zone. While Hard Rock Stadium is much newer and cleaner and is considered one of the top facilities in the NFL, with top-notch amenities, the seats are set further back from the field than comparable seats at the Orange Bowl. As a result, even at its loudest, Hard Rock Stadium is nowhere near as loud as the Orange Bowl. The Orange Bowl was also the site of the NCAA's longest
college football home field winning streak. Between
1985 and
1994, the
Miami Hurricanes won 58 straight home games at the Bowl, until
ended by the
Washington Huskies. The stadium's home field advantage used to include a steel structure that fans would set to rumbling by stomping their feet. Concrete reinforcement had silenced the rumble in the stadium's later years. There was still the advantage of the West End Zone, which had a relatively narrow radius that amplified fan noise. The West End Zone was a factor in the
Wide Right curse, in which the
Florida State Seminoles lost a series of close games due to missed field goals. This section was so raucous that some football announcers often confused it with the student section. In addition to football, the stadium also hosted concerts and other public events. The stadium had a regular capacity of 74,476 orange seats, and could seat up to 82,000 for concerts and other events where additional seating would have been placed on the playing field. The last professional football game to be played in the Orange Bowl took place on April 29, 2000, and matched the
Miami Tropics against the
San Antonio Matadors of the short-lived
Spring Football League. The Matadors won 16–13.
College football game between the
Miami Dolphins and
Miami Hurricanes The City of Miami embarked on a plan to extensively renovate the stadium. However, those plans fell by the wayside as Miami focused on keeping the
Florida Marlins in town, forcing the Hurricanes to threaten a move to Dolphin Stadium (now
Hard Rock Stadium) in suburban
Miami Gardens if a plan to renovate the stadium was not in place within 45 days. Some feared that Miami would permit the college to leave, only to tear down the Orange Bowl and replace it with the new stadium for the Marlins. That fear became reality as Paul Dee, athletic director for the University of Miami, announced that the Hurricanes would be moving to Dolphin Stadium for the 2008 season. Dee and university president
Donna Shalala made the announcement during a press conference at the Hecht Athletic Center on August 21, 2007. The university agreed to a 25-year contract to play at then Dolphin Stadium. According to Miami City Manager Pete Hernandez, this put the Orange Bowl back in the forefront as a possible site for a new Marlins stadium. The hope that talks would resume soon on that possibility vanished after only a short while. Many Hurricane fans vocally opposed the decision to move stadium locations and preferred maintaining the Orange Bowl as the Hurricanes' home field, out of concern of Dolphin Stadium's extra distance from campus, the severing of an icon of the Hurricanes' historical successes on the field, and potentially more expensive parking costs. Many fans stated to various broadcast, print and internet-based media outlets that they would no longer attend the games of Hurricanes football once the team abandoned the Orange Bowl. Some speculated that the decision to leave the Orange Bowl might have cursed the Miami Hurricanes and would cite the Miami Dolphins as a precedent. Indeed, a common explanation for the Miami Hurricanes' poor performance during the 2007 season was that "they've never been the same since they left the Orange Bowl." The University of Miami lost their final Orange Bowl game to
Virginia, 48–0, in a nationally televised
ESPN game. It was the most lopsided home shutout loss in the Miami program's history until Clemson beat Miami 58–0 in 2015. The last home game of college football in the Orange Bowl was a home win for the
FIU Golden Panthers against
North Texas. FIU had been using the Orange Bowl as home field for the season due to renovations to their home stadium. Miami and FIU had engaged in a bench clearing
brawl at the Orange Bowl the previous year during the first of two scheduled games between the two schools.
Motorcycle fatality On February 8, 1997, the Miami Orange Bowl was host to a
U.S. Hot Rod Monster Jam. As part of the show, motorcycle stunt rider
Corey Scott attempted a stunt that required him to drive up a ramp and land into a net hoisted into the air. Scott missed the net, bounced out, and fell to the ground below. He later died at
Jackson Memorial Hospital. The event was witnessed by a crowd of around 30,000 spectators.
Hurricane Wilma In October 2005,
Hurricane Wilma caused structural damage to the stadium, which rekindled discussion of tearing down the aging facility. The damage was subsequently repaired after the 2005 college football season. The stadium served as a
FEMA relief center in the hurricane's aftermath.
Final year and demolition The Orange Bowl was demolished in May 2008, and
LoanDepot Park is now on the site. Despite some protests, the historic stadium had been earmarked for demolition when the University of Miami announced that they were moving out of the Orange Bowl after the 2007 season to begin play at
Sun Life Stadium in 2008 in a 25-year deal. On November 10, 2007, the University of Miami Hurricanes lost their final game at the Orange Bowl when the
Virginia Cavaliers defeated
Miami 48–0 in the Hurricanes' second worst home shutout loss in school history. The
FIU Golden Panthers (now Panthers) won their last game at the Orange Bowl against the
North Texas Mean Green on December 1, 2007, by a score of 38–19, snapping a 23-game losing streak that many attributed to the consequences of suspensions following the
UM-FIU brawl the year before. Since the Golden Panthers had been using the Orange Bowl as their home field during the construction of
FIU Stadium, this win allowed the FIU team to boast that it was they who officially closed the Orange Bowl's college football career with a home win. A high school all-star game, "The Offense-Defense All-American Bowl", took place on January 4, 2008, and was the last game before the closing events. On Saturday, January 26, 2008, a "Farewell to the Orange Bowl Stadium" flag football game was held. The game featured former Dolphin and Hall of Fame quarterback
Dan Marino, plus
Mark Duper,
Mercury Morris,
Dwight Stephenson,
A. J. Duhe,
Don Strock,
Jim Kiick,
John Offerdahl,
Jim Kelly,
Bernie Kosar,
Melvin Bratton,
Brian Blades,
Bennie Blades and
Eddie Brown. The NFL's winningest coach
Don Shula coached the Dolphins while
Florida Atlantic University and former Hurricanes coach and former Dolphins assistant
Howard Schnellenberger coached the University of Miami. The Orange Bowl was open to the public for the last time February 8–10, 2008 when a
public auction of stadium artifacts and memorabilia was held. The stadium was stripped and pieces were sold by a company called Mounted Memories. Demolition of the Orange Bowl began on March 3, 2008, and was completed on May 14, 2008. The Orange Bowl is one of eight stadiums that are no longer standing that have hosted a Super Bowl. The other seven are:
Tulane Stadium (hosted three Super Bowls; demolished in 1980),
Tampa Stadium (hosted two Super Bowls; demolished in 1999),
Stanford Stadium (hosted one Super Bowl; demolished and redeveloped in 2006), the
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (hosted one Super Bowl; demolished in 2014), the
Georgia Dome (hosted two Super Bowls; demolished in 2017), the
Pontiac Silverdome (hosted one Super Bowl; demolished in 2018), and
San Diego Stadium (hosted three Super Bowls; demolished in 2021). ==Commemorative marker==