Miami-Dade is getting $3.9 million to dress its airport, port and even traffic lights as Vice City

Miami-Dade County has signed a $3.9 million GTA 6 advertising package with Rockstar: Vice City lighting at the airport and on the port's cranes, decorated walkways and traffic signal cabinets painted pink and blue. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced it on October 28, after weeks of sparring with the sheriff and several commissioners. Here's what you'll see, how much the county gets, where the money goes and why not everyone is on board.

What has Miami-Dade signed with Rockstar?

A $3.9 million marketing and advertising package (the press release rounds it to “nearly $4 million”), three weeks before launch. It's all in the county's official announcement, and it comes in two parts: a direct agreement between the county and Rockstar, plus ad space bought through the companies that run advertising at the airport and on public transit.

Rockstar foots the whole bill: installation, upkeep and removal. The designs still need the county's sign-off, though, and have to follow its content rules.

Where will Vice City show up?

Pretty much everywhere, starting with the front door for anyone flying into Miami:

• Miami International Airport (MIA): themed lighting and decorations on the pedestrian walkways linking the parking garages to the terminals. According to the Miami Herald, there will be a blue and pink light installation in the Central Garden courtyard next to Terminal E.
• PortMiami: the port's cranes will light up in the game's colors.
• Traffic signals: vinyl wraps on some of the electrical cabinets next to the county's traffic lights.
• Public transit: ads in spaces managed by the Department of Transportation and Public Works.

If you spot a traffic signal box with a Vice City sunset gradient, it isn't street art: it's GTA 6. And you won't need much imagination, because the gradient has already hit the streets. Content creator Joel Franco photographed the pillars of an elevated transit line in Miami a few days ago, painted one after another in the game's colors:

Joel Franco@OfficialJoelF

It’s beautiful 🤩

What about the “Welcome to Vice City” sign?

It's part of the package. The giant sign on the roof of the Kaseya Center, home of the Miami Heat and owned by the county, came from an earlier $975,000 deal, and that money counts toward the $3.9 million. Rockstar also paid to build and install it.

That cash already has a destination: the county will put it toward Dan Paul Plaza, the public park behind the arena that locals have been waiting on for years. The mayor sums it up like this: “With millions of people around the world waiting for this release, we have an opportunity for Miami-Dade to benefit from that attention.”

Why has there been so much controversy?

Because part of the county isn't at all happy about local government promoting a crime game. According to Fortune, Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz and Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez asked on September 3 that no public resources be used to advertise “a franchise built around criminal activity.” In October, other commissioners complained that the mayor's team had negotiated ads on public property without going through the full commission.

The twist: the idea didn't come from Rockstar. Again according to Fortune, it was the county that sent the first pitch in June, and it was far more ambitious: a “Vice City Airport” arrival at the airport, wrapped Metromover cars, a mural at the port, custom manhole covers and even a car festival.

Supporters of the deal point to history: Miami already survived Miami Vice in the eighties, and nobody believes a TV show, or a game, says anything about the real city.

What have Miami and Miami Beach signed?

They're going their own way and have closed their own deals. The City of Miami will put up temporary banners downtown, for up to $1.2 million according to Fortune, and Miami Beach is covering its beach loungers and umbrellas in ads, a deal worth up to $4 million that passed on a 4-3 vote. They're the same Vice City loungers that cost the person who filmed them early their job.

It all adds up to a campaign that has already taken over half the city: Vice City cars and a blimp, the Burger Shot and Cluckin' Bell at the Kaseya Center and the Heat game where the team becomes a Vice City squad the night before launch. At this rate, by November 19 it'll be hard to tell Miami from Vice City.