Miami-Dade says it is not Vice City: sheriff and commissioner reject the GTA 6 pitch, while the City of Miami weighs six $202,000 banners

On September 3 Miami-Dade County published a joint statement from Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez and Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz calling on the county to reject any use of county resources to promote Grand Theft Auto VI. The release ends on one line: "Miami-Dade County is not Vice City." A day later the City of Miami, a separate government sitting inside that county, placed the opposite bet on its agenda: an ordinance that would let Rockstar and Take-Two hang up to six promotional banners downtown at $202,000 apiece. The real city behind Vice City now has two answers to the same launch, and neither has been voted on.

What is being rejected first. On August 27 the local outlet The Miamian published a pitch deck it obtained through a public records request, dated June 29, describing a "GTA VI x MDC" collaboration. Six ideas: an arrival experience at Miami International Airport with a display aircraft wrapped in Vice City logos and a themed baggage claim; a Port Gellhorn-inspired mural built from cargo containers at PortMiami's Terminal J; Vice City-wrapped Metromover and Metrorail cars with station signage at Government Center, Brickell and Bayfront Park; utility box wraps and custom manhole covers downtown and in Brickell; a photo frame or sculpture at Rickenbacker Beach; and a family car-culture event at Tropical Park with classic cars and lowriders. No dollar figure appears anywhere in the coverage. Who knocked first is muddier than the headlines: The Miamian reads the deck as the county pitching Rockstar, the Miami Herald reports that Rockstar approached the county, and the mayor's spokesperson Carlos Suarez says only that the county has "had some conversations with Rockstar Games" and that "nothing has been formally agreed to or approved."

The pushback, in the officials' own words. Bermudez: "I still cannot believe that we are even considering temporarily rebranding important County assets, including Miami International Airport, as 'Vice City Airport.'" He told WLRN he would vote against the plan if it ever reached the commission. The sheriff's half of the release calls Grand Theft Auto "a video game franchise built around criminal activity" and asks what message is sent "when our own government promotes a fictional identity centered around many of those same crimes." NBC 6 adds a third voice: Chief Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan sent a letter asking that every county courthouse and court facility be expressly excluded from any GTA VI promotion. None of the county ideas has gone to a vote, and the mayor's office says all of them would need review and approval.

The city's smaller plan. The ordinance is sponsored by District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo and sits on the September 10 City Commission agenda. It would temporarily loosen downtown sign rules from October 15 to December 31, a window around the November 19 launch, to allow up to six banners and building wraps at $202,000 each, just over $1.2 million if all six are sold. The money is earmarked for the Upperdeck, the Edward T. Graham Heritage Trail planned under the new I-395 Signature Bridge. Downtown homeowner associations would have to consent, and the artwork would need Take-Two's approval. The text of the ordinance calls the release "an opportunity to further highlight Miami as an international center for entertainment, technology, media" and more. The Miamian found no lobbyist registered with the city for Rockstar or Take-Two, so who asked for this is another open question.

What Rockstar has said: nothing. Neither Rockstar nor Take-Two has commented on the county deck, the sheriff's statement or the city ordinance, and none of this touches the game. The release date stays November 19. For our database the detail that matters is that a county document names Port Gellhorn, the run-down port town from the trailers, as the model for a real mural at the real port. Miami has spent two decades pretending not to notice that it is Vice City. A pitch deck with the county seal on it is the closest thing to an admission we have seen.