World Cup

Miami International Airport has soccer fever – and soccer art

Miami International Airport – the major connecting airport for thousands of fans heading to the World Cup in Brazil – is deep into soccer fever.

The airport’s own ‘soccer season’ kicked off last Thursday with the unveiling of a soccer-themed art show called Show Your Colors that features original artwork by more than a dozen students from the Design and Architecture Senior High (DASH) located in Miami’s Design District.

Here’s a sample:

mIA SOCCER ART

Look for this and other artwork in the airport’s North Terminal, by Gate D30, which serves many of the American Airlines flights bound for Brazil.

In addition to Show Your Colors, during the coming weeks MIA will be hosting interactive pop-up soccer fields with professional soccer players, musical performances with a Brazilian beat and Nintendo Wii Soccer game stations. Fans will also be able to buy World Cup gear and find a variety of special soccer-related offers at the airport shops and restaurants.

I bet there are plenty of bars with big screens showing the matches as well.

MIA GATEWAY LOGO

At DFW Airport: play soccer, win soda

Miami International Airport has World Cup fever and it appears Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is sort of soccer-focused too.

DFW COKE MACHINE

A new-fangled Pepsi Interactive Vending Machine in Terminal D at DFW Airport is giving thirsty travelers willing to show off their soccer skills a chance to earn points and win a can of soda.

DFW Pesi can

No purchase is necessary to play with the machine, which makes use of Microsoft Kinect technology and challenges users to keep a virtual soccer ball in the air for 30-seconds while moving through a series of skills challenges.

There are twenty of these machines worldwide and, for now, this is the only one set up in North America.

Whales, sales & soccer at MIA airport

All sorts of news this week from Miami International Airport (MIA).

There’s a new exhibition of photography and video documenting the migration of whales from Alaska and Hawaii to Latin American, including Argentina, Columbia, Mexico, Panama and Peru.

Look for Giants/Rutas de Gigantes in the airport’s South Terminal international greeter’s lobby.

MIA WHALE Jason Isley

Jason Isley/Scubazoo/Fundación Albatros Media

This week MIA also opened an online store to sell caps and mugs with the airport’s classic logo.

MIA MUG“We actually got the idea from a celebrity we saw online wearing an imitation cap with our logo,” said MIA spokesman Greg Chin. “After we tracked down the store and took legal action against them to stop selling the merchandise, our Airport Director got the idea to sell the real merchandise ourselves!”

And, to celebrate the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, which kicks off June 12 in Sao Paulo, MIA has an ambitious line-up of activities for all the fans that will be flying to Brazil through MIA.

 

MIA GATEWAY LOGO

From late May through mid-July, the airport will be hosting interactive pop-up soccer fields with professional soccer players, soccer-inspired artwork by local students from Miami’s Design and Architecture Senior High, surprise musical performances (with a Brazilian beat) and Nintendo Wii Soccer game stations.  Shops will be selling soccer team souvenirs and gear and many of the shops will be having special offers.