Miami-Dade votes Oct. 20 on GTA 6 'Vice City' promotions, from the airport to the Metromover

Miami-Dade County commissioners are scheduled to vote Tuesday, Oct. 20, on whether Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's staff can keep negotiating paid Grand Theft Auto VI promotions with Rockstar Games on county property. At the commission's Oct. 6 meeting, opposition was strong enough to end the talks, Fortune reported, until Commissioner Oliver Gilbert used a procedural move to push the vote to this week.

The vote comes a month before GTA 6 takes players to Vice City on Nov. 19. Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive, haven't commented publicly on the county's talks, and none of the county's ideas has been announced as a deal.

The sign that's already up

One county deal is done. A helicopter lowered a giant pink "Welcome to Vice City" sign onto the roof of Kaseya Center, the county-owned home of the Miami HEAT, on Sept. 22, Fortune reported, and the HEAT say it was lit Oct. 1. The agreement with Rockstar is worth $975,000, $25,000 below the $1 million line at which a deal needs the commission's approval; below it, the mayor can sign on her own. On Oct. 6, commissioners reminded her administration that any deal above $1 million has to come back to them.

What the county pitched

The talks go well beyond one sign. On June 29, county officials sent Rockstar a pitch deck, according to documents The Miamian got through a public records request, as reported by Fortune. Its ideas:

• A "Vice City Airport" arrival experience at Miami International Airport
• Metromover cars wrapped in Vice City branding
• A mural at PortMiami
• Custom manhole covers in downtown Miami and Brickell
• A car-culture festival at Tropical Park

"Nothing has been formally agreed to or approved," Carlos Suarez, a spokesperson for the mayor, told The Miamian. He said the county sees a chance to make money while showing off Miami-Dade to a huge audience.

Who objects

The pushback started before the sign went up. On Sept. 3, Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz and Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez urged the county in a joint statement not to use public resources to promote the game, and closed with "Miami-Dade County is not Vice City." Bermudez told CBS News Miami the game glorifies running over pedestrians and hurting police, while saying he isn't against gamers. Ariana Fajardo, the chief judge of the county's circuit court, asked the mayor to keep courthouses out of any promotion, NBC 6 reported.

On Oct. 6, several commissioners, led by René Garcia, objected to the mayor's staff negotiating paid promotions at county facilities, according to Fortune. The proposal in front of them came from the commission's chairman, Anthony Rodriguez, and would let the mayor negotiate a deal worth more than $1 million, the Miami politics blog Political Cortadito reported.

Miami Beach and the City of Miami already said yes

Two neighboring governments have approved their own GTA 6 deals. Miami Beach commissioners voted 4-3 on Sept. 10 for discreet Vice City branding on beach chairs and umbrellas from Oct. 15 through Dec. 31, a deal Fortune puts at up to $4 million. The City of Miami approved temporary banners worth up to $1.2 million.

Rockstar's own Miami campaign keeps growing. On Nov. 18, the eve of launch, the HEAT play the Milwaukee Bucks as "Vice City" in A Night in Vice City. Fortune also lists a Goodyear blimp in Vice City livery, real cars made over to look like the game's vehicles, with Leonida plates, and a Wynwood Walls partnership: free admission for Miami-Dade residents from Oct. 13 through 2028 and 10 new murals of art commissioned for the game, the museum says.

What the vote decides

Commissioners can end the county's talks with Rockstar or let them go on, and any deal worth more than $1 million would still need their approval. GTA 6 comes out Nov. 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S; our launch calendar has every date around it.