Chris Perkins: Dolphins' small home crowds, Hard Rock Stadium's large number of visiting fans has been noticed

Chris Perkins, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Oct 14, 2026

Published in Football

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Sunday’s announced crowd of 58,223 to watch the Miami Dolphins’ 31-24 loss to Cincinnati was one of the smallest Hard Rock Stadium crowds in recent years, and the combination of empty aqua seats and boisterous orange-and-black clad Bengals fans was impossible to miss.

Miami linebacker Willie Gay Jr. noticed the excitable Bengals fans. The Dolphins were stretching before the game and Gay heard a big roar as the Bengals took the field.

“It was the Bengals fans,” Gay said. “I’m like, ‘Bro, this sounds like a home game for them.’”

The Dolphins are averaging 58,719 in two home games so far this season, which ranks 31st in the NFL. The Jacksonville Jaguars are last in average attendance at an average of 48,211 in three home games.

The winless and rebuilding Dolphins (0-5) are on pace for their lowest average home attendance in a non-COVID season since 2012, when they averaged 57,375, which was 29th in the league.

The situation with the large number of Cincinnati fans at Hard Rock Stadium was similar to Kansas City two games ago, a 24-10 Dolphins loss. The announced crowd was 59,216, but many of them were clad in red and cheering on the Chiefs.

“It’s almost like a, what do you call it — a neutral-site game,” Gay, the former Kansas City player, said of the opposing teams for the Dolphins’ two home games.

“Yeah, that’s how I would put it. It’s almost like a neutral-site game at times.”

After a press box discussion, colleague David Furones and I determined both the Chiefs and Bengals fans earned the “takeover” label, awarded when fans are said to “takeover” a visiting team’s stadium. Both teams had perhaps 35% of the fans at Hard Rock Stadium (however, there’s no established threshold for a “takeover”).

The problem is that if the Dolphins continue losing, the attendance issue will likely get worse.

Gay, a six-year veteran, understands the situation from a Dolphins fan’s point of view.

“They want to see better ball, and we’ve got to give it to them,” he said. “Obviously the way the season is going, we’re 0-5. You try to put yourself in a fan’s perspective and you say, shoot, we like this team. And as a fan, if things are not going well you might not support us as much. So that’s one thing that we hate as players, but it is what it is because it’s just the way the game goes.

“Hopefully we’re going to turn this thing around. We need them here in the next three or four weeks, when we come back home.”

Last year when the Dolphins went 7-10 during the 2025 season they were 19th in average home attendance at 67,123, but that includes the 78,610 that witnessed the game in Madrid, Spain, against the Washington Commanders. Average attendance in the eight games at Hard Rock Stadium was 65,687.

The Dallas Cowboys were No. 1 in attendance last season at 92,991. The Chicago Bears were last at 58,126.

The Dolphins’ next home game is Nov. 1 against England, a game that, if things keep moving in the current direction, would have plenty of Patriots fans.

On top of that, as the season progresses and the rest of the nation gets colder while Miami stays warm, South Florida becomes a more desirable destination.

All of this year’s remaining opponents at Hard Rock Stadium except one are from cold climates — New England (Nov. 1), the Detroit Lions (Nov. 8), the New York Jets (Nov. 29), Chicago (Dec. 13), the Los Angeles Chargers (Dec. 27) and Buffalo Bills (Jan. 3). Among that group, the Chargers are the only team from a warm climate.

In the bigger picture, it’s not often that the Dolphins play games at Hard Rock Stadium with crowds of 60,000 or fewer. You have to go back to 2019, another rebuilding season, to find the last time the Dolphins played two home games to crowds of fewer than 60,000 at Hard Rock Stadium in a non-COVID year.

The Dolphins, who started 0-7 in 2019 before finishing 5-11, had a crowd of 59,808 for a 17-16 loss to Washington, which dropped Miami to 0-5. They also had a home crowd of 59,229 for a 26-18 victory over the Jets that delivered the first victory of the season, improving Miami to 1-7.

But those were the only two home crowds of fewer than 60,000 in that season. Miami would eclipse that mark in its first three home games of 2026 if it gets a third home crowd of fewer than 60,000 against New England next month.

By the way, if you think fans aren’t important to players at home games, listen to Gay.

“Fans are very important, let me put it like that,” he began. “Coming out of halftime, winning or losing, if you run out, bro, and you see empty stands, it’s almost like you’re ready to go home.

“But honestly, bro, if those fans are rocking it’s almost like the momentum is on your side the whole time. I remember it was like that a few times last year with us. It wasn’t perfect last year, but I remember times the fans would be rocking with us for a little bit. It plays a big role.”

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