When Did Sun Life Stadium Open?
Sun Life Stadium was a multi-purpose facility for a few sports teams in south Florida. The arena opened up on August 16th, 1987 as Joe Robbie Stadium. The playing field had a plethora of names including Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Land Shark Stadium, and Sun Life Stadium. Now the name of the facility is the Hard Rock Stadium. If you are looking for Hard Rock Stadium Parking, you can check out that link.
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Where is Sun Life Stadium Located?
The location of Sun Life Stadium is Miami Gardens, Florida in the United States of America. Miami Gardens is a city that is north of Miami. The exact location of the arena is 347 Don Shula Drive.
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What Team Played Sun Life Stadium?
Joe Robbie was built for Football but had a design ready for Major League Baseball and Soccer too. The Florida Marlins became a new expansion MLB team in the game and would play their first game in 1993. The Florida Marlins were a Major League Baseball Team in the National League East Division. National League East contenders include the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, and Washington Nationals. The Florida Marlins are now known as the Miami Marlins in 2019 and play at LoanDepot Park.
What were the Dimensions at Sun Life Stadium?
Pro Play Park (Miami Stadium) was known as a pitchers park due to the far dimensions out in center field. In left field, you were 330 feet from home plate, 360 in left center, 434 in center field, 385 in right center, and 345 in right field. Sun Life Stadium was one of the largest fields in the game for hitters to hit a home run at.
What was the Capacity?
While the arena could sit over 60,000 people, the sight lines for baseball were not ideal. Over the years, Sun Life Stadium would reduce their seating capacity down to 35,521 seats when the Marlins played regular season baseball games. Most of the seats in the upper deck were too far away from the field, so they were not available for purchase.
Notable Events
Sun Life Stadium had many events take place. For baseball, the Marlins won the 1997 World Series in front of their home fans. A walk-off single by Edgar Renteria sent the crowd home happy. In 2003, the Marlins won the World Series, but they won the series at Old Yankee Stadium.
Outside of baseball, Land Shark Stadium had many events. The Miami Dolphins NFL team had games at the arena too. Soccer matches took place at the venue Miami Tennis Tournaments, College Football Orange Bowl games including the Miami Hurricanes, Concerts, and Wrestle Mania events took place at the stadium. Five Super Bowls have taken place at the site as well. Now in 2019, the Miami Dolphins have made many renovations to the arena to accommodate their football 100% and not have to cater to baseball anymore with the Marlins in their new facility.