Downtown Miami Has Its Own GTA VI Banner Plan: $208,000 a Banner, October 15 to December 31 — Passed on First Reading

Reported — the terms are in the City of Miami’s legislative file, which now records the ordinance as “passed on first reading”, unanimously, on September 10 (moved by Commissioner Damian Pardo, seconded by Commissioner Rolando Escalona). Miami ordinances take two readings, and the file lists the next hearing for September 24, so it is not law yet. NBC Miami’s “commissioners approve” refers to that first vote.

Three Miami bodies, three different things. This is the third and easiest to confuse. Miami Beach voted 4–3 on September 10 to let its city manager keep negotiating a beach-side campaign (see our earlier story — still not a signed contract). Miami-Dade County and the Heat’s arena operator are reportedly finalising the Kaseya Center rooftop sign. And the City of Miami — the downtown municipality — has this: an ordinance from District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo authorising deviations from the city’s temporary-banner rules inside an Event Area bounded by Northeast 5th Street, the Miami River, Biscayne Bay and Northeast 2nd Avenue, for display “in connection with the release of Grand Theft Auto VI” no sooner than October 15 and no later than December 31 — a maximum of 56 days.

The terms as filed: no set number of banners — the ordinance does not give one (Hoodline’s early report, before the ordinance was filed, said up to six at $202,000 each); any banner permit over 5,000 square feet carries a $208,000 application fee; the event period is capped at 56 consecutive days and must end by December 31; each banner still needs its own city permit and Take-Two Interactive’s approval of the artwork; the money is earmarked for the Underdeck park along the Edward T. Graham Greenway rather than the general fund. The legislation’s own justification is that the release “is anticipated to generate substantial national and international media, consumer, entertainment, and cultural attention”.

What Rockstar has said about any of this: nothing. Every Miami item on this site is a city or county acting on the assumption that Rockstar will pay. When a contract or a Rockstar post exists, the label moves.

Corrected September 22, 2026: the city’s file now records a unanimous vote on first reading on September 10, with the second reading set for September 24; this story had said the file showed no recorded vote. It also listed “up to six banners” among the filed terms. The filed ordinance sets no banner count; the six came from Hoodline’s pre-filing report. The headline no longer says six.