Miami Dolphins’ Stephen Ross Well on His Way to Repeating As No. 1 NFL’s Owner

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Miami Dolphins players and coaches arrived at Hard Rock Stadium Friday to quite the surprise: A sleek, spacious, renovated locker room.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and CEO Tom Garfinkel quietly dedicated a small fortune this offseason to transforming the players’ sacred space, which was in serious need of a spruce-up after nearly two decades of the same feel.

Miami Dolphins’ Stephen Ross Surprises Players With New Locker Room

The Dolphins revealed their new digs on social media a couple hours before Friday night’s preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons — and not long after the players reported to work. Dolphins staff had hoped to reveal the renovations at last Saturday’s stadium practice, but it was cancelled due to Hurricane Debby.

The updated locker room is just the latest modernization to a facility that has undergone a total overhaul in the last decade-plus. Ross has poured hundreds of millions of dollars in private funds into the Miami-Dade property.

New season, fresh digs

Our guys were surprised today when they arrived @hardrockstadium with a newly renovated locker room 🔥 pic.twitter.com/j0NtSNznbw

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) August 9, 2024

Along with transforming the stadium itself, Ross also built a new practice facility, a Formula 1 track, and a world-class tennis installation.

It’s the reason players voted the Dolphins the NFL’s No. 1 franchise — and Ross the league’s No. 1 owner.

NFLPA Franchise Report Card

“The Miami Dolphins are the top-ranked team in our 2024 Report Card,” the NFLPA wrote earlier this year. “Club owner Stephen Ross is the highest-graded club owner in our survey, receiving a near-perfect score. The club owner’s ranking reflects the strong performance in key areas that players care about, including the quality of their facilities, the comfort of players’ travel, and the quality and quantity of staff across multiple categories.

“The state-of-the-art facilities continue to impress, but more importantly, are complemented by the number of quality trainers, strength coaches, and other support staff who help make the workplace experience one of the best across the league.”

Among the findings:

• Ross earned a 9.9 out of 10 rating when considering his willingness to invest in the facilities.
• Ninety-four percent of respondents said that Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel is efficient with their time, and he had the second-highest grade in terms of willingness to listen to the locker room.
• The Dolphins rank first overall in food taste and second in food freshness.
• Dolphins players give their team dietician the second-highest individual grade of any NFL dietician.
• Dolphins players with near-unanimity feel like Miami’s locker room is big enough, and more than nine in 10 feel like they have enough room in their individual lockers.
  Head trainer Kyle Johnston earned the third-highest individual score in the league.
• Players are more than satisfied with the size and quality of the weight room, and Dave Puloka received the highest individual grade.
• The Dolphins provide a family room at the stadium and daycare on gameday.

“He doesn’t get enough credit, but Steve’s vision and his willingness to invest private money into this thing,” Garfinkel said earlier this year.

“He really cares about Miami, and he really cares about doing things first class, and he wants to win more than anybody in this organization. But he gives us the autonomy and the resources to do big things, and he supports us, and we couldn’t have a better owner. None of this is possible without him.”