What is A Night in Vice City? The Miami Heat's GTA VI game on 18 November

The night before GTA VI comes out, Miami's NBA team stops being Miami. For one game the Heat play as Vice City, the fictional Miami of Rockstar's games, and most of what fans will see that night is still under wraps.

Verdict: Confirmed by the Heat's own announcement and event page: on 18 November 2026, the night before GTA VI's release, the Miami Heat play the Milwaukee Bucks as "Vice City" at the Kaseya Center, at 7 p.m. Eastern, on ESPN nationally. They play on a court built for that one game, in a uniform never worn before. Rockstar Games is named as the Heat's partner, and the Heat's 14-piece Vice City clothing line has been on sale since 2 October. Not shown yet: the uniform, the court and the night's programme. Rockstar hasn't mentioned the partnership on its own Newswire.

The image above is the Miami Heat's own graphic for the announcement. The logos on it belong to Rockstar Games, the Heat and ESPN, and Vice Atlas isn't affiliated with any of them.

What happens at A Night in Vice City?

A Miami Heat home game, rebranded for GTA VI's launch. On 2 October the Heat announced "a historic partnership" with Rockstar Games, "centered around the highly anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto VI". On 18 November, the eve of the game's release, the Heat "will take the court as 'Vice City'" against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Kaseya Center, their home arena.

The announcement promises a special court, "a uniform never previously worn", and "unique game programming and live elements" that "will transform the Kaseya Center into Vice City". The Heat's event page calls it "a never-been-done-before event".

When is A Night in Vice City, and how can you watch it?

At 7 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday 18 November 2026. The game is on ESPN across the United States, on WPLG Local 10 in South Florida, and on the radio on 104.3 WQAM. Tickets are linked from the Heat's event page, HEAT.com/ViceCity.

For GTA VI players the timing is close. 7 p.m. Eastern is midnight in London, so on the console stores' current schedule GTA VI unlocks in the UK at tip-off, and it is already out in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Germany, France and Spain by then. In Miami it unlocks at midnight Eastern, five hours after tip-off.

What will the Heat wear for A Night in Vice City?

A new uniform that the Heat haven't shown yet. Their event page promises "a new, completely reimagined uniform for the night", shown only as a silhouette marked "Classified Jersey", with a sign-up for what it calls the Uniform Drop. It gives no date for the reveal and doesn't say whether the uniform will be sold.

The court is a one-off too: "One court, one night only: The HEAT play on special hardwood built for Vice City."

Is the Vice City uniform the Heat's old Vice jersey?

No. The Heat have worn pink-and-blue "Vice" uniforms, with a script wordmark and fluorescent accents, since the 2017-18 season, and have brought versions of them back in recent seasons. That look came years before the Rockstar deal. The 18 November uniform is a different one, "never previously worn". Until the Heat show it, any "Heat Vice City jersey" on sale is an older Vice design, not the uniform for 18 November.

What's in the Heat's Vice City clothing collection?

Fourteen pieces from Court Culture, the Heat's own clothing line, on sale since 2 October at Miami HEAT Store locations and online only at MiamiHeatStore.com. Prices run from $45, for a "Welcome to Vice City" tee and an "I love Vice City" crop top, to $110 for a "Welcome to Vice City" crewneck. In between are six tees at $55, a $100 hoodie and four New Era caps at $48 to $50, one of them a "Vice City Goodtime State" snapback. Four pieces are made with the clothing brand Duvin.

Don't confuse it with Rockstar's Collector's Box, which is also called the Vice City Collection. That is a $399.99 box of collectibles sold on the Rockstar Store, with no game in it. The Heat's line is clothing, sold only by the Heat.

Is A Night in Vice City part of Miami's GTA VI deals?

No. It's a deal between a basketball team and a game company, not a government decision. Miami-Dade County, Miami Beach and the City of Miami each made their own decisions about GTA VI marketing, in public votes and contracts, and the Miami briefing covers them.

The two meet in one place: the "Welcome to Vice City" sign on the Kaseya Center's roof. Miami-Dade, which owns the arena, signed the deal for that sign, worth about $975,000, and the Heat's announcement counts its lighting on 1 October as the start of the partnership.

None of it involves the airport. Rebranding Miami International as "Vice City Airport" is a county idea that hasn't been approved, and neither have the county's other ideas, such as Vice City trains or manhole covers.

Did Rockstar announce A Night in Vice City?

Only through the Heat. The announcement speaks for both, "The Miami HEAT and Rockstar Games today announced", and says "the two global brands will continue to share more news over the next few weeks". But as of 3 October Rockstar hadn't posted about the night on its own Newswire, where its latest GTA VI news was the Collector's Box and the album, and neither side had said what the deal is worth.

That matches the rest of the Miami campaign. Local governments and the Heat make the announcements, and Rockstar's Newswire stays on the game itself.

What happens next for A Night in Vice City?

More details, in stages. The Heat say special activities inside the Kaseya Center start on Opening Night, their first home game of the season, against the Minnesota Timberwolves on 21 October. The uniform and the court are still to be shown, and the partners say a guide to the game-night activations will appear at HEAT.com/ViceCity as details are announced. Then, on 18 November, the Heat play as Vice City, and a few hours later GTA VI unlocks.

What changes this: the Heat showing the uniform or the court, the partners publishing the game-night programme, Rockstar posting about the night on its own channels, or any change to the 18 November game.