Dolphins to raise ticket prices in 2016

The Miami Dolphins will be raising ticket prices starting in 2016. It’s been coming for awhile as Miami has been restructuring some of their seating without actually raising many of the prices.

According to a report on the Miami Herald’s website, tickets for about 46% of the seating will be going up. In addition the team will be starting season ticket renewals by December 18th while 2015 is still being played out.

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It’s a tough decision for fans who have committed to season tickets in the past and have been rewarded with average play on the field. The interesting part about the early renewal is that fans won’t know if the Dolphins will have a new head coach or stick with Dan Campbell. That decision won’t be made until after the season has ended.

The Herald is reporting that “less than eight percent of seats will go up more than $5” but they admit to not knowing the exact structure of the price increases. 54% of the seating will remain the same with no price changes.

The stadium is still under the renovation process. Last season the first phase was completed and many fans found that they were being moved from their long time seats. In addition several sections around the stadium, specifically in the corners, leave fans with severe blind spots when trying to watch action on the opposite end of the field. This is something I witnessed first hand last month. Section 139 was so bad that even sitting in the front row had vision issues when looking downfield.

Posts are not to blame for the blocked vision but fans in the neighboring section are. When the stadium seating was rebuilt to coincide with the renovations, the corner sections sit lower than the sections next to them subsequently blocking the view. CEO Tom Garfinkel said he is aware of the issues and that the team is looking for ways to fix the problem. That won’t reassure season ticket holders who are being asked to renew while the issue is still, well, an issue.

In the image used for this article, you can see how the fans to the left block the view. My seat was an aisle seat and the image was taken while stepping up on the seat.

In the end, fans are going to complain but most will renew their season tickets ahead of the deadline.