PaidContent reports that the Miami Dolphins hosted the publishers of 14 fan Web sites for a weekend the club hopes will become an annual event. A report from the South Florida Sun Sentinel suggests that “Dolphins executives, some of whom scan the sites, say they wanted to meet a growing group that reaches thousands of fans. Consider it something akin to political conventions awarding media credentials to people who run Internet Weblogs.”

The story also quoted phins.com Webmaster Curt Fennell, who said, ““I think they’re realizing we do influence a lot of fans, and it’s to their benefit and our benefit if they establish a good relationship with us.”

It’s a smart move on the part of the Dolphins, which isn’t the first organization to recognize that fan sites and other targeted communities can have an impact for good or ill. Macromedia’s Italian operation was blasted by members of a local Macintosh user’s group when the company announced the development platform for Flash was moving to Windows. The company’s PR agency identified the ringleaders and embraced them as media, putting a quick end to the crisis.

Of course, the Macromedia incident was reactive. The Dolphins were proactive. Expect to see a lot more of this as organizations recognize the influence wielded by Web publishers. Perhaps Apple will host a special weekend for owners of iPod and Macintosh fan sites. Then again, maybe not…