The Miami Heat play as Vice City on November 18, the night before GTA 6 launches

The Miami Heat will play one home game as Vice City. On October 2, 2026, the team announced “A Night in Vice City,” in partnership with Rockstar Games. On November 18, the night before GTA 6 launches, the Heat host the Milwaukee Bucks at Kaseya Center under the Vice City name. The team’s own line:

“For one night only, the HEAT trade Miami for Vice City.”

It also settles the question we left open in September. The pink and white lettering photographed on the ground at the arena was for the roof. The “Welcome to Vice City” sign was lit on October 1, a day before the announcement. The background is on the Kaseya Center sign story.

What is announced

The details below are from the Heat’s event page at nba.com/heat/vicecity and the team’s posts on X.


Date and time	Wednesday, November 18, 2026, 7:00 PM ET
Game	Miami Heat, playing as Vice City, against the Milwaukee Bucks
Venue	Kaseya Center, downtown Miami
Broadcast	ESPN, WPLG Local 10 and FM 104.3 WQAM
Court	”Special hardwood built for Vice City,” for one night only
Uniform	”A new, completely reimagined uniform for the night.” Not shown yet
In the arena	Activities “starting on Opening Night inside Kaseya Center,” with more on November 18
Merchandise	A Vice City apparel line from Court Culture, the Heat’s in-house label, on sale now

Ticketmaster lists the game as “Milwaukee vs. Vice City,” according to Inven Global. The merchandise is mostly graphic tees and caps. The Heat page prices the tees from $45 to $55, and one design riffs on “Went to Vice City and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”

What is not announced

The uniform. The only image so far is a blacked-out silhouette. Fans can sign up for a “Uniform Drop” on the Heat page. Coverage expecting pink is guessing from the marketing colours.
The court design. Promised, not shown.
What the activations are. “More details to come” is the whole of it.
Anything in the game. Nobody has said the night comes with an in-game item, a code or a Heat-branded anything in GTA 6. Do not expect one unless Rockstar says so.
A Rockstar statement. The partnership wording is the Heat’s. We have not found a statement from Rockstar itself.

The Heat have worn Vice before

The Heat did not need GTA to find this look. SportsLogos.Net counts a run of Vice uniforms going back to the 2017-18 City Edition, with a script wordmark taken from the old Miami Arena signage and fluorescent pink and blue trim. Black, pink, blue and gradient versions followed. The November 18 floor will be the team’s fourth Vice-themed court.

So the new part is not the colours. It is the name on the jersey. For one game, an NBA team plays under the name of a fictional city from a video game, on the eve of that game’s launch.

The arena is already in the game

Kaseya Center sits on Biscayne Bay, and its exterior has been in the trailers since December 2023. Coverage identifies the in-game building as Sahara Arena, from lettering on the virtual facade. The real one now carries a Vice City sign on its roof.

GTA Boom adds a basketball footnote: the game is Giannis Antetokounmpo’s first against the Bucks since Milwaukee traded him to Miami in the offseason. That is NBA news, not GTA news.

Where this sits in the Miami campaign

Miami has handled Rockstar’s proposals on several tracks, and most of them so far have been votes, permits and pitch decks:

Miami Beach voted 4-3 on September 10 to negotiate beach-chair and umbrella branding. See the Miami Beach vote.
Miami-Dade County pitched Rockstar on airport, seaport, rail and parks branding. See the county pitch.
Kaseya Center now has a lit rooftop sign and a named partner, and comes with a game night.

This is the first one with a date, a broadcaster and a ticket, and it did not need a commission vote. A Discord campaign found in test code points to the day before, November 17, for a launch-week promotion of its own. That one is not announced.