The Miami Marlins made franchise history this month when they swept the New York Yankees in a raucous three-game series that drew nearly-sold out crowds. As more than 32,000 fans packed the stadium for the Friday night game — the first of the three that weekend — newly elected Miami Commissioner Ralph Rosado had one of the best seats in the house.
Using more than a dozencomplimentary tickets, Rosado attended the Aug. 1 game with his family, staff from his District 4 office and some of their family members. The group watched the game from one of the stadium’s “MVP Suites,” which can cost as much as $4,566 per game, according to the Marlins website.
But the specific box Rosado was in — Suite 18 — isn’t meant for elected officials and their inner circle. The suite is considered a “community benefit” that’s granted to the city and Miami-Dade County as part of their operating agreement with the Marlins. The purpose of the box, which the operating agreement refers to as the “community suite,” is for “public or charity use.”
It’s difficult to know with certainty who uses each of the 640-some tickets the city gets for the Marlins box each year, as the city keeps no formal log. But Miami Herald reporting shows that it’s not always community groups or members of the public. In addition to Rosado’s Aug. 1 outing, his staff also attended the game using the suiteon Aug. 18. City Manager Art Noriega has attended a game in the suite along with family, friends and staff. Employees in Mayor Francis Suarez’s office have also attended multiple games in Suite 18 this year.
“It’s supposed to be a community benefit. Not an executive perk,” said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, whose district includes loanDepot Park, home of the Marlins.
Higgins is a candidate for Miami mayor in November’s election. But in her role as county commissioner, Higgins’ office is also given a small share of tickets to the same private suite as part of the Marlins’ operating agreement. Higgins said she’s never attended a game in the suite, and that her office always gives away the tickets to community groups, including Salvation Army and Family Resource Center of South Florida.
“Why am I going to take a seat from a bunch of kids or low-income families?” Higgins said.
Lottery system for tickets
Under the operating agreement with the Marlins, the city and county alternate usage of the community suite, each getting it for about 40 regular season home games.
To distribute the tickets, the city and county each have their own “lottery” or drawing in the spring.In the city,the chiefs of staff for Miami city commissioners, the mayor and the city manager gather for a private drawing where the tickets are doled out among their offices. That amounts to five to six games per office per season; the suite includes 16 tickets.
City Manager Art Noriega’s office oversees the distribution of tickets to its own office, the five commission offices and the mayor’s office. Once the games are divvied up in the drawing, they’re laid out in a spreadsheet, which the city provided to the Herald.
But beyond that, there’s little to no regulation on the city’s end over who actually attends the games.
“The City Manager’s Office does not currently maintain a log of the tickets used specifically by each office,” said city spokesperson Kenia Fallat.
Noriega’s office was assigned tickets for five games for the 2025 Marlins season, including the third game in the record-setting Yankees series earlier this month. But Fallat said Noriega’s office has no record of who has attended the games assigned to his office, nor could she provide a list of charitable organizations who’ve used the tickets.
Fallat confirmed that Noriega has attended one game in Suite 18, and that he brought family or friends along. In addition, she said staff in the city manager’s office have used the suite. Fallat did not provide further details.
The city has no formal mechanism for a member of the public or community group to seek access to the Marlins suite, short of them directly asking the offices of mayor, commissioners or city manager.
Tickets as ‘political currency’
Miami’s lack of oversight, and the fact that the tickets go directly to elected officials’ office, could put the city at odds with ethics guidelines.
More than a decade ago, when Miami Beachofficials ran into controversy over the use of New World Symphony tickets, the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust issued guidelines specifically about the use of tickets by public officials.
In its guidelines, the Ethics Commission recommended that elected officials be “entirely removed from the process involving distribution of complimentary tickets.”
The Ethics Commission concluded that “there is simply no good reason why event tickets received by a municipality through a contractual ‘public benefits’ clause or through any other understanding between the municipality and a private entity, should pass through the hands of elected officials.”
The recommendations also stated that such tickets should be distributed to the public — not to city officials — “by an objective, non-political mechanism” in order to “remove any suggestion of political or other non-public benefit to the officials,” and that “the temptations that are inherently likely to cause ethical problems are heightened by any policy that allows such discretionary distribution without oversight or accountability. “
Rosado’s office said that in addition to the Aug. 1 game that the commissioner attended with family members and staff, as well as the Aug. 18 game that his staff attended, his office gave the tickets for the July 18 game against the Kansas City Royals to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami. Rosado was sworn into office on June 10 after winning a special election.
“These uses are consistent with the City’s agreement, which has been in place for more than a decade and approved by the City Commission,” Rosado’s spokesperson, Jennifer Torna, said in a statement. Torna also pointed to an addendum included with the Ethics Commissions’ guidelines for ticket use.
“Our office’s use of the tickets is in full compliance with these guidelines, and we will continue to adhere to them,” she said.
Former City Commissioner Ken Russell, who is now candidate for mayor, said he believes the city’s current protocol for Marlins tickets could constitute a violation of the city charter, which states that no city official or employee “shall accept any frank, free ticket, pass or service directly or indirectly, from any person, firm or corporation upon terms more favorable than are granted to the public generally.”
“It should be investigated and enforced if it’s being violated,” Russell said.
Russell said he never attended a game in the Marlins suite during his time on the City Commission, nor was he aware that city officials had access to a box at the stadium in the first place.
Russell said the lack of oversight on the city’s part was concerning.
“Tickets can become political currency,” Russell said. “There should 100% be a process to keep track of who is receiving these tickets and how they’re being utilized.”
Mayoral candidate and former City Manager Emilio González said he had little to no involvement in the city’s handling of Marlins tickets when he served as Miami’s top administrator from 2018 to 2020. González couldn’t say definitively that he’s never attended a Marlins game in the city’s suite, although he doesn’t recall ever doing so.
“Moving forward, when I’m mayor, we will follow the county guidelines on the use of the tickets, and no elected official nor anyone in their office should be allowed to use those tickets,” González said. “It should not be a friends and family program for commissioners.”
City Attorney George Wysong did not respond to questions about how the city’s protocols square with county ethics guidelines and whether he’s issued any guidance to city officials about the usage of Marlins tickets.
So far this year, staff for Mayor Francis Suarez have attended every game allotted to the mayor’s office: a Pittsburgh Pirates game on March 30, an LA Dodgers game on May 5 and a Colorado Rockies game on June 4.
Suarez’s office said the mayor has not attended a Marlins game in Suite 18 in recent years, but could not say definitively that the mayor has never used the suite during his tenure. LoanDepot Park, formerly known as Marlins Park, opened in 2012; Suarez has been an elected official in Miami since 2009.
Suarez’s office said it attempts to give away the Marlins tickets to community groups, while also using the tickets as an incentive for staff and their families. The mayor’s office also said it’s rare that it gives away all 16 tickets because it can be difficult finding people who are able to attend.
But Higgins, whose office receives tickets to about three games per season, said her office “has never had any trouble” finding community organizations with clients who are more than willing to go.
That appears to be true for City Commissioner Damian Pardo as well. Pardo’s chief of staff Anthony Balzebre said that so far this year, Pardo’s office has given its designated Marlins tickets to two Coconut Grove organizations, the local Special Olympics chapter and the police union. Neither Pardo nor his staff attended those games, Balzebre said.
Commissioner Joe Carollo said he recalls attending just one game this year where he hosted a group of people from the Venezuelan community. Carollo said he and his wife, Marjorie, showed up briefly “just to say hello” and stayed for no more than an hour.
Carollo said it’s likely that his staff have attended games in the private suite, but said his office doesn’t keep a list of who uses the tickets, noting that they were never told to do so by the City Attorney’s Office.
The offices for Commissioner Christine King and Miguel Angel Gabela did not respond to questions from the Herald about how they used the tickets they were given.
The next game on the city’s roster is scheduled for Wednesday. The mayor’s office was the recipient of the tickets for the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Miami Marlins game.
The box might sit empty for the night. As of Wednesday afternoon, hours before the game was set to begin, the mayor’s office said it didn’t have anyone who planned to use the tickets.
Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.