Miami HEAT at Kaseya Center: Home Games, Entry Rules and Who Owns the Arena

The Miami HEAT play at Kaseya Center, 601 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, FL 33132, an arena that Miami-Dade County owns and a private manager runs.

The arena lists that address and the phone number (786) 777-1000 on its HEAT schedule page (Kaseya Center). County records call it the County-owned Arena at 601 Biscayne Blvd. in the April 4, 2023 resolution that renamed it (Miami-Dade Agenda Item 5(O)).

The ownership arrangement dates to the 1990s. On April 29, 1997, the County and Basketball Properties, Ltd. (BPL) signed the original Management Agreement for what was then American Airlines Arena, together with a Development Agreement, a Team License and an Assurance Agreement. In 1998 the County acquired the Florida East Coast property on Biscayne Boulevard from the City of Miami to build the arena and supporting uses such as parking and retail. The building was completed in 1999 and is run under an Amended and Restated Management Agreement dated July 1, 2013 (Miami-Dade Agenda Item 8(F)(1), July 16, 2025).

In practice, BPL operates and maintains the arena, and the County pays BPL $2,000,000 a year under that agreement (Miami-Dade County Attorney memo).

The 2026 regular season home opener at Kaseya Center is the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 7:30 PM, followed by Detroit two nights later.

Start times vary from 6:00 PM on the November 22 Sunday game to 8:00 PM on most Friday and Saturday nights, so the listing is worth checking before planning dinner or a train ride (Kaseya Center HEAT events). The same arena listing shows concerts between HEAT dates, including a Chayanne show on Saturday, October 24, at 8:00 PM (Kaseya Center events).

Off the court, the arena runs All-Access Tours whose stops include the Miami HEAT locker room and training facilities, suites and lounges, with dates listed on November 1, 2026 and January 2, 2027 among others (Kaseya Center All-Access Tours).

Every HEAT ticket is digital and lives in the Miami HEAT App; no paper tickets are used at Kaseya Center.

The arena tells fans to transfer mobile tickets to each member of a party before arriving, because a ticket cannot be transferred after it is scanned, and screenshots and printouts are not accepted. Seats bought for HEAT home games can be resold on Ticketmaster's Resale Marketplace (Kaseya Center visitor guide). Staff in white A-Team polos help with mobile tickets at every entry gate, outside the Tissot Ticket Center and outside Section 115 during the game.

Timing matters on game night. For most events, doors open to the general public one hour before the start time, and re-entry is prohibited, so a fan who walks out cannot come back in for the same game (Kaseya Center A-Z Guide). All guests aged two and older need a valid ticket.

Accessible seating is sold in all ticket price categories, based on availability, with companion seats available for purchase. Assistive listening devices are free at Guest Experience 103 or 322 with a driver's license or photo ID as deposit, and sign language interpreters should be requested at least two weeks ahead through Guest Experience at 786.777.1237 (Kaseya Center A-Z Guide).

Kaseya Center allows only bags smaller than 10 inches by 6 inches by 2 inches, and it does not accept cash anywhere in the building.

Small bags are searched. Larger bags can go into rentable Binbox lockers, starting at $10, on the South Plaza above the Gate 7 steps and next to the Box Office near Gates 4 and 5, from one hour before doors until one hour after the show. Medical and infant bags are scanned through x-ray machines at Gate 3, and stroller check-in is only at Gate 7 for a $20 fee (Kaseya Center visitor guide).

Tickets, parking, merchandise and food are card or phone payment only: debit and credit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or NFC chip cards. Reverse ATMs that turn cash into a prepaid debit card sit next to the Box Office, in sections 109, 121 and 318, and inside Gate 1A next to the Miami HEAT Store (Kaseya Center).

The A-Z Guide adds a list of items that stay outside: noisemakers, outside food and beverages, coolers, bottles, cans or other containers, laser pointers and professional camera equipment with multiple lenses (Kaseya Center A-Z Guide). Signs, banners and flags are not permitted unless management specifies otherwise.

Rideshare drop-off for Kaseya Center is at the corner of Bayshore Drive and HEAT Blvd., using Gate 6, while buses, taxis and the primary disabled drop-off use Gate 3 on NE 8th Street.

Gate 3, on the north side next to the box office windows, has Elevators 1 and 2 to all seating levels; Gate 4, next to valet parking, is the secondary disabled drop-off with Elevators 3 and 4 (Kaseya Center Directions and Parking). On the west side, Gate 1 is closest to sections 119 to 124 and Gate 2 to sections 101 to 106 (Kaseya Center gates by seating location).

Parking is digital too. A pass for Bayside Marketplace, the P2 Parking Garage or the World Center garage loads like a ticket in the Tickets area of the HEAT App and is scanned on entry (Kaseya Center visitor guide). The venue's directions page adds that a number of lots directly beside the arena have been permanently eliminated and advises fans to consider alternative flat-rate lots within walking distance; the visitor guide says a limited number of P2 Garage passes are sold online per game, first come, first served (Kaseya Center directions; Kaseya Center visitor guide).

Kaseya's payments to Miami-Dade County for the downtown Miami arena name rise over the 17-year term, from $3,700,000 in contract year 1 to $8,740,000 in year 17, and the 2026 installments total $6,000,000.

The County does not keep the whole amount. After the $2,000,000 annual payment to BPL and one-time costs, including a $45,000 finder's fee, the memo projected net revenues of $83,275,000 over the term, deposited in the Anti-gun Violence and Prosperity Initiatives Trust Fund, which helps fund the County's Peace and Prosperity Plan (Miami-Dade Agenda Item 5(O)). The memo text says the deal brings in $3,546,000 more than the canceled FTX contract would have over the same 17 years, while the memo's own payment schedule prints the total difference as $3,521,000 (Miami-Dade Agenda Item 5(O), Schedule 1).

The FTX deal, approved by Resolution R-238-21 on March 26, 2021, was a 19-year agreement worth $135,000,000 in gross revenue, and FTX paid $19,500,000 for its first two years. After FTX filed for Chapter 11 in November 2022, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved ending that agreement as of December 30, 2022, on January 11, 2023 (Miami-Dade County Attorney memo).

A July 2025 County item proposed rebuilding Dan Paul Plaza, the County-owned open space of about 2.76 acres at 400 NE 8th Street east of the arena, as a publicly accessible open space with community amenities.

The conceptual plan lists open green space, a playground, a waterfront promenade, a kayak launch, public art and expanded viewing areas, with the plaza also serving events held with Kaseya Center (Miami-Dade Agenda Item 8(F)(1)). The memo says that after approval the County Mayor or designee intends to negotiate a public-private partnership with BPL for the design, reconstruction and long-term maintenance of the plaza and bring it back to the Board.

Money is the open question. The same memo states that the fiscal impact has not been fully determined and that there is no County dedicated funding source, so the County intends to explore grants, public-private partnerships, sponsorship agreements and contributions negotiated with BPL or other private entities (Miami-Dade County Attorney memo). The item is a resolution for approval of conceptual plans (Miami-Dade Agenda Item 8(F)(1)).

Last verified: October 18, 2026, by rereading the two Miami-Dade County Attorney memos on the arena and plaza and the Kaseya Center schedule, ticket, bag and directions pages.