The Miami International Boat Show is making its new home farther south on Biscayne Bay at the hurricane-battered, graffiti-tagged Miami Marine Stadium.
Starting in 2016 and running through at least 2017, the boat show will be hosted outside the abandoned waterfront concrete hulk where speedboats once zoomed and pop superstars crooned, according to a Miami Herald report.
Boat show representatives declined to answer questions Tuesday about the show’s future beyond 2017, but sources with knowledge of the agreement say the event — one of South Florida’s largest tourist draws — could remain at the venue long-term and play a key role in the financing of a $30 million renovation of the dilapidated stadium.
“Calling Miami Marine Stadium a home in 2016 and 2017 unites two of the city’s most celebrated boating institutions and solidifies Miami’s place on the map as an international boating destination,” National Marine Manufacturers Association president Thom Dammrich told the Miami Herald.
Details of the arrangement are still in flux. But stadium booster Gloria Estefan and Miami city officials planned to cruise over to the stadium Thursday morning on a yacht to officially announce the deal. Dammrich is also expected to release further details as questions linger over whether the show will return to Miami Beach, where renovations to the city’s convention center all but forced the show’s relocation.
