Bezos is in, Miami Wilds is out. What else is in and out in 2024?

What's in:

Lionel Messi: The Argentine soccer superstar sparked Messi Mania in South Florida when he pulled a David Beckham and joined Major League Soccer over the summer.

• Messi, playing for an Inter Miami club that Beckham co-owns, won the struggling franchise its first-ever championship and turned everybody in Miami into a soccer fan.

Sports betting: After two years of legal wrangling, the Seminole Tribe of Florida officially relaunched sports betting this month.

• South Florida — home to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood — could become a more enticing gambling destination with the addition of craps and roulette at Hard Rock casinos.

Jeff Bezos: The billionaire Amazon founder, who graduated from Miami Palmetto Senior High, announced in November that he was moving back to Miami after 29 years in Seattle. Now Amazon is looking for office space here.

Trains: Traffic driving you crazy? Brightline, the high-speed private train company, debuted its Miami to Orlando extension in September. It already offers routes from downtown Miami to West Palm Beach.

• The more budget-friendly Tri-Rail is expected to expand its train service to downtown Miami by the end of the year, though there is no official launch date.

New stadium names: The Miami Heat and the Florida Panthers got new arena names this year.

• FTX Arena, as the home of the Heat was briefly known, officially became the Kaseya Center in April after Miami-Dade County cut ties with the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange.
• FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, where the Panthers play, became Amerant Bank Arena in September.

What's out:

Alex Díaz de la Portilla: The former Miami commissioner, who was arrested in September on corruption charges, lost his re-election bid in November. (Díaz de la Portilla has denied the charges and pleaded not guilty.)

• The scandal-plagued city now has two new rookie commissioners — Miguel Angel Gabela and Damian Pardo — who are looking to shake things up.

Francis Suarez, the presidential candidate: The mayor of Miami dropped out of the 2024 presidential race in August after failing to qualify for the first Republican debate.

• He now faces calls to resign from Pardo and the former police chief following a Miami Herald investigation into his relationship with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.
• "The city's success during the Mayor's tenure speaks for itself," a Suarez spokesperson told the Herald in response.

Miami Wilds: Plans for a water park near Zoo Miami appear dead in the water after Miami-Dade County commissioners voted this month to withdraw a lease modification needed to build the attraction on public land.

• Conservation groups fought against the project, arguing that it would impact endangered bats in a nearby forest. The county-owned land was deemed environmentally sensitive by federal regulators, though Miami Wilds rejects claims of environmental harm.
• Miami Wilds and the county are now preparing for a court fight over the decision to scrap the project, the Miami Herald reports.

South Pointe drum circle: The popular sunset drum circle at South Pointe Park got shut down in November after the city of Miami Beach said the Sunday evening musical performances violated local rules.

Out, then in:

The Big Orange: Miami's iconic neon-lit sculpture, which has rung in the new year for over 30 years as it rises up the InterContinental Miami hotel, is coming back after a three-year hiatus.

• Initially, the artist behind the sculpture said the New Year's celebration had been canceled. But the city of Miami announced this month that the Big Orange will rise again.

Udonis Haslem: The Heat legend and three-time NBA champion retired in July, but was announced in November as the team's new vice president of basketball development.

Down, but not out:

Ron DeSantis: Florida's governor is still in the running for president, but polls show he is nowhere near as popular as former President Donald Trump.