Kaseya Center
The in-game Sahara Arena is the Kaseya Center, the Miami Heat's basketball arena on Biscayne Boulevard in Downtown Miami. It is also the clearest example of how the game builds a location: the arena itself is only one part of the match, because the observation wheel to the north and the container cranes of PortMiami to the south are arranged in the game exactly as they are in the real city.
At a glance
- Address
- 601 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33132
- Coordinates
- 25.78115, -80.18788
- District
- Vice City
- Confidence
- Strong
- Where it is seen
- Trailer 2 (1:40)
How confident are we?
Confirmed by press reporting and by the matching arrangement of arena, observation wheel and port cranes around it.
The arena opened in 1999 on the site of the old Miami Arena, between Biscayne Boulevard and the American Airlines Arena footprint. It sits at the northern end of Downtown Miami, with the Metromover running over the top of the court and the Biscayne Boulevard transit corridor running east from its doors.
The three-object tell
When you match a single building in a game, you are guessing. When you match three landmarks in the right relative positions, you have a fix. In the trailer frame, the arena is flanked by the giant observation wheel and the port cranes behind it, and that arrangement only exists in one place in Miami.
| Object in frame | Real-world counterpart |
|---|---|
| The arena bowl | Kaseya Center, 601 Biscayne Blvd |
| The observation wheel | Bayside Marketplace, 401 N Biscayne Blvd |
| The gantry cranes | PortMiami terminals, Dodge Island |
| The overpass | I-395 / Biscayne Boulevard ramps |
| In-game name | Sahara Arena |
| District in game | Vice City |
What to actually look at
The arena's blank outer wall carries the large-format LED display that the trailer's neon pattern is modelled on. From the south side of Biscayne Boulevard, facing north, you can see the wheel and the port cranes in the same frame, which is the photograph to take.
Tours and event days
The arena hosts Miami Heat home games, concerts and major events. On a busy game night the surrounding streets are closed to traffic and the atmosphere in the plaza is worth seeing even if you are not going in. We do not include tickets; we drive past and stop for the photo.
Where it sits on our route
The arena is part of stop four on the Miami Vice City small-group tour, the Downtown and Biscayne Boulevard stop, where we pull up on the plaza side and get the frame with the wheel and the cranes behind it. The boat tour passes the same stretch of waterfront from the water, which is the other half of the shot.
Arriving: the plaza and the Metromover
The arena sits on a full block between Biscayne Boulevard and the Metromover tracks, so the plaza on the north side is the approach the game's footage uses. The Metromover itself is worth a ride: it runs on an elevated loop between the arena and the museums and gives the cleanest short view of the Downtown skyline, including the wheel and the arena together.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Sahara Arena the Kaseya Center?
Yes. The arena's position on Biscayne Boulevard, its shape and the placement of the observation wheel and port cranes behind it match the Kaseya Center in Downtown Miami. This one was reported by press coverage shortly after Trailer 2 and is not contested.
Can you go inside the Kaseya Center?
Yes, for a game, a concert or a tour on event days. Tickets are sold by the arena. On a normal tour we drive past the plaza and stop for the photograph.
Is it on the boat route too?
The boat passes the waterfront below the arena and PortMiami, which is where you get the cranes-and-arena angle from the water at golden hour.
See it on a Leonida Tours route.
Kaseya Center is one of the stops we drive past every day. Join a small group and see it in person, with a local guide who knows what to look for.
See this on the tour
Unofficial tours. Leonida Tours is an independent tour company. Our tours are not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored or licensed by any game publisher or their affiliates. All game titles, characters, place names and trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used here only to describe the real-world locations that inspired them. Every stop on our tours is a real, publicly accessible place. Photography via Unsplash.