Miami is drawing up a plan to let Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive rent up to six downtown banners for $202,000 apiece during the launch window of Grand Theft Auto VI, with the roughly $1.2 million in proceeds earmarked for the Underdeck Heritage Trail park rather than the city’s general fund.
The proposed ordinance, sponsored by City Commissioner Damian Pardo, would temporarily loosen billboard and signage rules and apply from October 15 through December 31, 2026, bracketing the game’s November 19 launch date, according to GTA BOOM. Under the plan, Rockstar and Take-Two could cover downtown Miami with GTA VI promotional banners, building wraps, and displays, though any promotional displays would still require downtown homeowner association approval. The outlet reports the arrangement is temporary, privately funded, and confined to downtown billboards, with the city commission set to vote on the ordinance next Thursday, September 10.
The banner revenue would flow directly into the Underdeck park project, a 33-acre linear park designed to reconnect Overtown with downtown Miami beneath the new I-395 Signature Bridge. That funding path carries real urgency: the U.S. Department of Transportation rescinded a $60.3 million federal grant for the project in August 2025 following new federal legislation, according to Florida Politics, leaving the $82 million park facing a major shortfall. The overhead bridge structure itself, an $866 million state project, saw new delays in July 2025 that pushed completion back to late 2029, per Miami New Times.
A Much Smaller Ask Than the County’s Stalled Vision
Miami’s six-banner proposal looks modest next to Miami-Dade County’s own pitch to Rockstar, which sought a far broader takeover of public infrastructure. The county’s 19-page proposal, submitted in July 2026 and detailed in Hoodline’s earlier reporting, floated temporarily rebranding Miami International Airport as “Vice City Airport,” wrapping Metromover trains in game artwork, installing Vice City-branded manhole covers, and hosting a car culture festival at Tropical Park. That county arrangement has undisclosed exact terms and, per GTA BOOM’s reporting, nothing about the broader Miami-Dade takeover has been approved…