Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office tells PC Gamer its GTA objection was about public property, not the Heat

The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office told PC Gamer that Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz's September criticism of Grand Theft Auto was aimed at the use of public property, not at private businesses such as the Miami Heat. PC Gamer published the statement on October 5, 2026.

In September, when the proposed marketing partnership became public, Cordero-Stutz called Grand Theft Auto "a videogame franchise built around criminal activity". She said its fictional world includes conduct her officers work daily to prevent.

PC Gamer asked about it after the Heat became directly involved in October through the "Night in Vice City" promotion, which rebrands the team and the Kaseya Center arena in Vice City style for one night. A sheriff's department representative replied that her comments were about the proposed use of publicly owned facilities and infrastructure to promote GTA 6, naming public transportation, transit stations and Miami International Airport. Her concerns, the representative said, were about the message those public assets would send, and were "not directed at promotional decisions by private businesses or organizations."

So the office did not object to the Heat campaign. The statement did not say whether the sheriff had changed her view of the game itself, and PC Gamer's report did not either.

PC Gamer also set out the wider picture. Miami Beach had voted in September to approve a campaign managed by Boucher Brothers, a hospitality company, with ads on its beach chairs and umbrellas rather than city property, and the Kaseya Center had put a "Welcome to Vice City" sign on its roof. PC Gamer's article carried no comment from Rockstar.

On October 28, Miami-Dade County announced its own $3.9 million GTA 6 advertising package, which our earlier story covers.