Miami wants to turn parts of the city into a real-life GTA Vice City, but sheriff opposes the plan

"Grand Theft Auto is a video game franchise built around criminal activity"

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WTF?! The very long history of Grand Theft Auto has been defined by protagonists who break the law, kill police officers, and act in a generally less-than-moral manner. So, it comes as little surprise to see Miami-Dade's sheriff slamming plans to turn the city into a real-life version of GTA 6's Vice City to promote the game.

A public records request last week revealed that Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava put forward the idea of a "GTA VI × MDC" marketing collaboration to Rockstar Games in June.

The plan, which was revealed by The Miamian, included transforming areas of Miami International Airport, PortMiami, Metrorail stations, Tropical Park and other county-owned buildings and public rights-of-ways using approved GTA VI characters or visual references.

Some of the ideas do sound pretty good, like the Vice City Motor Fest event, which would combine classic cars, customized vehicles, lowriders, motorcycles, tropical graphics, and local entertainment within a controlled, family-appropriate setting – so no stealing or blowing up anything.

Elsewhere, the airport's centerpiece would be a display aircraft wrapped in Vice City logos, alongside a GTA 6-inspired baggage claim, customized baggage carousels or column wraps, themed luggage carts, limited-edition luggage tags, or coordinated airport signage. Arriving passengers would see "Welcome to Vice City" messages when disembarking their planes.

One proposal mentioned a dockyard visual installation, inspired by GTA 6's Port Gellhorn, that would encompass cargo containers, cranes, and cruise ships.

There's also "Vice City Radio Lab." It would offer the community access to recording, editing, and digital media equipment, in a space that supports music production, podcasting, oral histories, neighborhood storytelling, sound engineering, video-game development, and other creative programming, while reflecting the central role that music and radio play in the GTA experience, according to the proposal.

Other ideas for the city included Metromover cars wrapped in Vice City colors and logos, signage at key locations, and custom sewer or stormwater manhole covers.

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While the marketing deal has yet to be formally agreed, Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz has spoken out against the idea.

"Grand Theft Auto is a video game franchise built around criminal activity," Cordero-Stutz said in a statement (via the Miami Herald). "Its fictional world includes murder, robbery, drug trafficking, carjacking, violence against law enforcement, and other conduct that the men and women of the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office work every single day to prevent."

The publication writes that the comments were part of a news release issued by Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez, a Republican considered a potential candidate to succeed Democrat Cava as mayor in 2028. Cordero-Stutz and Cava are currently "courting votes on the County Commission for competing funding proposals for the Sheriff's Office in Miami-Dade's 2027 budget."

Cava has also been asked by the county's judicial system to leave the courts out of any GTA 6 promotional crossovers.

"We do not believe our courthouses should be incorporated into a promotional campaign for a video game whose central themes include criminal activity, violence, law enforcement pursuits and other fictionalized depictions of crime," wrote Chief Judge Ariana Fajardo and Clerk Juan Fernandez-Barquin in a letter to the mayor.

The letter did acknowledge, however, that a deal would offer "significant" economic opportunities that could financially benefit Miami-Dade County.

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