Cirque du Soleil Miami Redux

Now that Cirque du Soleil has withdrawn from trying to strike a deal with the City of Miami Beach by turning the Jackie Gleason Theater into a permanent Cirque show, perhaps they may want to cast their sight across Biscayne Bay at downtown Miami at the Miami Arena. MVB has been championing this site for a long time to anyone who will listen. Since Glenn Straub bought it in 2004 for $28 million dollars from the county (it cost tax payers $52.2 million in 1988), nothing has really been done with it. Aside from the fact that the building could easily adapt the Cirque's unique tents to its shape through stressed canopy construction, the Arena already sits in the City of Miami's designated entertainment district. Having a permanent Cirque du Soleil in downtown Miami would offer another reason for cruise ships to make Miami a destination instead of just a point of departure. Think about it: bringing tourists and their dollars into Miami gives them, among other options, a chance to see a Cirque show at the arena; a ballet, symphony, opera or a Broadway musical at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts and, depending on the season, a Miami Heat basketball game at the American Airlines Arena. Not too shabby. At least it beats a stop over in the Bahamas at the straw market-- or any other destination we can think of.