In the game
The second trailer has a shot of a crowd packed into a stepped concrete grandstand, every surface painted in graffiti, water and boats at the foot of the stands and a party or concert under way. It looks like a reclaimed ruin rather than a working venue.
Fans have matched it to Miami Marine Stadium on Virginia Key, and the match is good without being certain. It rests on the combination: a stadium facing water instead of a field, a folded concrete roof, and graffiti on every inch. Only one real place has all three. Against it, the shot is short and crowded, and Rockstar could easily have invented a derelict venue that borrows the idea without copying the building. We call it likely.
The real place
Miami Marine Stadium opened in 1963 as the first stadium in the country built for powerboat racing. Its architect, Hilario Candela, was 28 and Cuban-born, and he gave it a cantilevered concrete roof that folds like paper over about 6,500 seats, all of them looking out over a basin of Biscayne Bay. Boats raced in front of it, and for three decades bands played on a floating stage: Jimmy Buffett, Ray Charles, Gloria Estefan.
Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992, the city declared the building unsafe, and it has been closed ever since. In the years it sat empty, graffiti writers covered it completely, and that painted ruin is what fans recognized. It is now on the National Register, and a restoration has been promised, funded and re-planned several times. Work may be under way when you visit, which could mean fencing, scaffolding or fresh paint. Check before you go.
From the Rickenbacker Causeway you get the view most people get: the long folded roof, the painted concrete, the bay in front and the Miami skyline behind. The detail a GTA fan will recognize is the roof line, unlike any other stadium anywhere.
Go there
Drive or cycle the Rickenbacker Causeway from Brickell (a few dollars in tolls, electronic only) and turn off for Virginia Key. The stadium sits on the basin on your left. It is fenced and you cannot go inside without a permit, so do not try; the point is the exterior and the setting.
Combine it with the rest of the key. Virginia Key Beach Park next door was Miami’s segregated beach for Black residents from 1945 and has a good shoreline and a small museum. Hobie Island on the causeway is where the city windsurfs and walks its dogs. The Rusty Pelican, on the water at the causeway end, has been serving the skyline view since the 1970s; expect $30-60 a head, or just have a drink.
The honest warning: the causeway has a narrow bike lane and fast traffic, and cyclists have died on it. Ride on the shared path where there is one, and go in the morning before the heat and the weekend cars.
Nearby
- Stilt houses on the bay: boat tours to Stiltsville pass this way, and Key Biscayne is the road to the view.
- Boats and jet skis on the bay: Crandon Marina on Key Biscayne is a rental base.
- The downtown skyline: the causeway is the classic skyline viewpoint.
Updated September 12, 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us.