Miami-Dade Mayor Pitches GTA 6 Tie-In; Sheriff and Courts Object
Miami-Dade Mayor proposed a GTA 6 marketing deal with Rockstar Games. The county sheriff and judicial system have both pushed back against it.
In June, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava put forward a “GTA VI × MDC” marketing partnership with Rockstar Games, aiming to turn certain areas of the city into a real-life replica of Vice City from GTA 6, as reported by The Miamian in response to a public records request.
The scheme would involve giving thematic treatments to parts of Miami International Airport, PortMiami, Metrorail stations, Tropical Park, and other county-owned buildings, using approved GTA 6 characters and visual references.
However, Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz and the county’s judicial system have opposed the proposal, and the deal has not yet been formally agreed. The sheriff cited the game’s criminal themes as the basis for her objection.
Miami-Dade’s GTA 6 Tie-In Plan and Sheriff’s Objection
Public records revealed that the proposal comprised a number of themed installations on county land.
The Vice City Motor Fest event would bring together classic cars, custom vehicles, lowriders, motorcycles, tropical graphics, and local entertainment in a supervised, family-friendly environment.
At Miami International Airport, an aircraft decorated with Vice City logos would serve as the main feature, alongside a baggage claim area inspired by GTA 6, themed luggage carts, limited-edition luggage tags, and signage welcoming passengers to “Vice City.”
A visual display at a dockyard modelled on Port Gellhorn from GTA 6 was also proposed, making use of cargo containers, cranes, and cruise ships.
A “Vice City Radio Lab” would give the community access to equipment for recording, editing, and working with digital media, covering music production, podcasting, oral histories, sound engineering, and video game development.
Further proposals included Metromover cars covered with Vice City colours and logos, signage at key locations, and custom sewer or stormwater manhole covers.
Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz has opposed the scheme. “Grand Theft Auto is a video game series based on criminal behaviour,” she said in a statement. “The fictional world of the game involves murder, robbery, drug running, carjacking, violence directed at law enforcement, and other activities which are exactly the kinds of things that the men and women of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office work every day to prevent.”
Those comments were included in a news release issued by Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez, a Republican considered a likely candidate to succeed Cava as mayor in 2028. The report also notes that Cordero-Stutz and Cava are currently competing for County Commission support over rival funding proposals for the Sheriff’s Office in the county’s 2027 budget.
Court Objections and Unanswered Questions About the GTA 6 Deal
The county’s judicial system also asked Cava to exclude the courts from any GTA 6 promotional crossovers. “We do not think that our courthouses should form part of a promotional campaign for a video game whose main themes involve criminal activity, violence, law enforcement pursuits and other fictional representations of crime,” Chief Judge Ariana Fajardo and Clerk Juan Fernandez-Barquin wrote in a letter to the mayor.
The letter did acknowledge that a deal would provide “significant” economic opportunities and potential financial benefits for Miami-Dade County.
The marketing arrangement has not yet been officially agreed upon, and it remains unclear whether Rockstar Games has responded to the proposal. With objections from both the sheriff and the courts — set against a backdrop of a budget dispute between the sheriff and the mayor — the future of the tie-in, and the form it might take, remains unresolved.
