2026 #MetLifeTakeover Recap
November 5, 2026The #MetLifeTakeover was maybe the best it has ever been back in 2023. The Dolphins were great, the game fell on Black Friday and everyone had off work for the holidays and we had a record 1400 people buy tickets with us. Our tailgate even ended up being featured on HBO’s Hard Knocks. It was a truly amazing day. But then the Dolphins fell apart and the season ended with such disappointment. The 2024 Takeover was played so late in the year it was actually a 2025 Takeover. Flights to NYC were insanely expensive because it was close to New Years Day, the day was freezing and vibes were low, but that was nothing compared to 2025. The game was once again played in the freezing cold, and the Dolphins opened the season 1-6. The Jets were also terrible and so tickets were basically free so we had our worst year financially ever (fortunately the nearly free tickets made for a fantastic tailgate and we ended up beating the Jets ass so that was nice.)
But in 2026 we are back baby! Yes the Dolphins have the worst roster in the NFL and are playing with the most rookie snaps in NFL history, but the vibes are strong. The tickets were cheap and the game was finally in October and the weather was perfect. There are a lot of Dolphins fans out there who are very unhappy with the team right but, but the kind of die hards that show up for the #MetlifeTakeover every year understand this is the beginning of something, we are building a strong foundation for future success. And with that, Dolfans NYC is building up again!
We had a great turnout, we dropped all new merch and once again the Dolphins beat the Jets ass. No Hard Knocks this year, but the Dolphins did post about our tailgate so that was pretty cool. Once again we had Dolphins alumni show up at the tailgate as well. Nat Moore and Joe Rose are regulars but we also had appearances from Kim Bokamper and Jimmy Cefalo. My math might be off but that’s like 50% of the Dolphins 1984 AFC Championship roster. Our boy Solo D couldn’t make it this year but we had music going all morning from DJ D Rell and our partners at Urban Tailgate absolutely killed it with the all you can eat and drink catering. It was a blast.
On top of that we had a great party the night before at Slattery’s and did two huge raffles. The Dolphins sent us signed jerseys from Malik Willis, Jacob Rodriguez, and Zach Sieler as well as a few other autographed prized and we ended up raising nearly $3000! We will be rounding up and making a $3000 donation split between the Miami Dolphins Foundation and the Dolphins Cancer Challenge. DolfansNYC is a non-profit organization and everything we do goes back into throwing events and our charitable giving. We of course need to our pay vendors and we are catching up a bit after the last two years, but on top of the raffle donation we are donating $500 split between three charities: 1) The Concern Foundation – a cancer charity for Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2) Disabled American Veterans for Salute To Service month and 3) World Central Kitchen to help with the Florida flood relief efforts. That won’t be the end of our giving this year, but we just wanted to give you guys and idea of where all the funds are going.
And finally, a wrap up wouldn’t be complete without some photos! Check out the gallery below!
