New Facility Has Dolphins Covered

by Chris Shashaty, Phins.com Columnist

One of the realities of living and working in South Florida is dealing with tropical thunderstorms. In particular, the threat of lightning is a real danger that must be guarded against at all times.

Just ask Dave Hack, the Dolphins� Video Director. Last year he was nearly struck by lightning while filming a training camp practice from an elevated metal platform. Fortunately, quick thinking by Hack prevented serious injury.

The Hack incident underscores the unpredictability of Mother Nature. Not just an issue of safety, weather has always affected the team�s ability to practice on a predictable basis. While the Dolphins have lightning detectors and other weather information sources to help protect the team, they did not have a way to make up for lost field time.

Until now.

When training camp opens this month, a new covered 96,600 square foot practice facility will be ready for use. Inside, a modern FieldTurf surface complete with a climate control system as well as simulated crowd noise gives the Dolphins an added advantage in preparing for future games, such as those in domed stadiums or on artificial turf.

This new facility also gives the Dolphins the ability to get out of the heat and humidity when desired. This will be a huge benefit later in the season when the coaches sense that the players are overly tired and need a break.

Preventing lost practice time should yield a better prepared football team. Getting players out of the heat when needed can also mean a fresher team later in the season.

The fear is that excessive use of this new facility will equate to a softer football team. If the team runs indoors every time a summer shower comes rolling through, sans the lightning, or spends a high percentage of time inside on hot days, an important early season advantage will be lost as few teams relish coming into Miami in September or October.

What a sight it would be to have the Dolphins gasping for air alongside the Bills!

Don�t count on Nick Saban allowing this to happen. He has experience preparing teams using similar venues, most recently at LSU. Saban is just too focused on winning and making sure that everything the team does is directed to that end.

So is Wayne Huizenga, who spares nothing in making sure the Dolphins have what they need to win games. Everything is first class, no expense too large to create a competitive edge for his Dolphins. Not surprisingly, Sports Illustrated recently ranked him as one of the NFL�s four best owners.

Keep in mind that this new indoor practice facility likely cost the Dolphins something in the neighborhood of $9 million. That�s no small sum, even for Huizenga.

Of course this facility is not unique to the NFL. Many teams, particularly those in cold weather cities, have had them for years.

Does this mean that the Dolphins now have the same advantage that those teams had over them in the past? With respect to preparing for crowd noise and the feel of artificial turf, the answer is probably yes.

Huizenga and Saban recognize that there are many ways to gain a competitive advantage in today�s parity ridden NFL. Hiring (and paying) the best coaches is one edge we saw the team exploit last year. The new indoor facility is yet another.

Said Bryan Weidmeier, Dolphin President/Chief Operating Officer, �To have a great franchise, you need to have great ownership and a head coach who really cares about allowing his athletes to succeed. We have both here in the case of Wayne and Nick. Since Nick came in last year, with Wayne�s support, we�ve remodeled the locker room at Dolphins Stadium, we retooled a lot of the back-of-the-house things like the video systems, etc., to give our coaches state-of-the-art equipment to work with. Last year we added lights to our practice facility, again, to deal with cycles of heat-related issues during training camp. It�s just an example of the determination of Mr. Huizenga and Coach Saban to give our players, our coaches and our football operation every opportunity to be successful.�