Fins’ CEO targets attendance
DAVIE (AP) – Mike Dee knows his Miami Dolphins’ history, going back to their first game as an AFL expansion team 43 years ago, when Joe Auer returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown.
As the Dolphins’ new chief executive officer, Dee frequently encounters fans who attended that game, even though attendance was only 25,188.
“It seems there were 140,000 people there for that,” Dee says with a laugh. “It’s like Ted Williams’ last home run in Fenway Park – find me a person who wasn’t there.”
The analogy comes naturally for Dee because he spent the past five years as chief operating officer of the Boston Red Sox. He appreciates the depth of passion for baseball in Boston, but says he underestimated the extent of the Dolphins’ roots in South Florida.
It turns out they go all the way back to Joe Auer in 1966.
“I’m overwhelmed with the potential and the connection many people feel to this franchise,” says Dee, who began his new job in May. “A lot of people say they’re now more passive fans. They don’t come to games as much as they used to. I say, ‘It’s great you love the Dolphins. When’s the last game you went to?’ They say, ‘Well, I went to a game, let’s see, when Dan Marino was playing.'”
That would be in the 1990s. Or the 1980s.
“There’s this untapped passion for our franchise,” Dee says. “We need to do a better job.”
That’s where he comes in. Dee was hired by owner Stephen Ross to upgrade the business side of the organization.
Ross and Dee want to improve the fan experience at games and make the Dolphins more active in the community. As a more specific goal, Dee wants to increase season-ticket sales by 40 percent.
A Baltimore native, Dee lived in Miami for three years in the 1980s when he worked for a family business. The first Dolphins game he attended at the Orange Bowl was one of the most famous in franchise history, a Monday night victory that spoiled the 1985 Chicago Bears’ bid for a perfect season.
Dee developed a fondness for the Dolphins that continued even as he spent eight years working for the San Diego Padres and six in Boston.
“People say, ‘How could you leave the Red Sox?'” Dee says. “This is the only job I would have left for.”
While Dee was with the Red Sox, they set records for attendance and revenue growth.
The hiring of Dee may have the greatest impact of any move made by Ross since he completed his purchase of the Dolphins in January. Not surprisingly, partnerships Ross forged with Jimmy Buffett, Marc Anthony and Gloria and Emilio Estefan have received much more attention.