in early 1998
Tampa Stadium Tampa Stadium was the first large modern sports venue in the area, holding over 73,000 fans in its final configuration. It was built in 1967 for the
University of Tampa Spartans college football program with an eye toward future NFL expansion. "Tampa U" discontinued its football program in 1974, but Tampa Stadium was soon put back to use when the
Tampa Bay Rowdies began play in 1975 and the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicked off in 1976. In its day, the "Big Sombrero" was also home to the
Tampa Bay Bandits of the
USFL, the
Tampa Bay Mutiny of
MLS, and
USF Bulls football. It hosted two Super Bowls and a
Pro Bowl along with numerous special events and large concerts, such as a 1973
Led Zeppelin concert that broke the all-time record for the largest crowd to see a single artist and a 1977 Led Zeppelin concert that was cut short by a
thunderstorm, leading to an audience riot. Immediately upon buying the Buccaneers in 1995, new owner
Malcolm Glazer declared Tampa Stadium inadequate and demanded that a new facility be built at public expense or he would move the team. Local governments acquiesced, raising
sales taxes and constructing Raymond James Stadium directly adjacent to Tampa Stadium. The Big Sombrero was demolished in 1998.
Al López Field Al López Field was a spring training and minor league ballpark in Tampa situated at the current location of Raymond James Stadium. It was built in 1954 and named after
Al López, the
Ybor City native who went on become Tampa's first MLB player and, eventually, a
Hall of Fame manager. The ballpark was originally the spring training home of the
Chicago White Sox. Coincidentally, Al López became the manager of the White Sox in
1957 and spent several spring trainings at a hometown facility named after himself. The White Sox moved out and the
Cincinnati Reds moved in for 1960. The Reds would use Al López Field and the adjacent training facilities (nicknamed "Redsland") as their spring home for almost 30 years. The
Tampa Tarpons, the Reds' Class-A team, played in the ballpark during the summer, and several members of Cincinnati's championship-winning "
Big Red Machine" such as
Pete Rose.
Johnny Bench, and
Dave Concepción played some of their first professional baseball in Tampa. The Reds moved to new facilities in nearby
Plant City for spring training 1988. The Tarpons played one more season in the ballpark before it was torn down in 1989. To honor its still-living namesake, the city of Tampa changed the name of a nearby park from "Horizon Park" to "Al López Park".
Plant Field Plant Field was the first large spectator sports facility in the area. It was built in 1889 by
Henry B. Plant across the Hillsborough River from Tampa as part of his
Tampa Bay Hotel resort. As the only facility of its kind in
Central Florida, Plant Field hosted a wide variety of events, including auto and horse racing; pro, college, and high school football; and large political events. It was also the long-time location of the
Florida State Fair, and the route of the
Gasparilla parade would end on Plant Field's track while the fair was in session. Plant Field was the original home of the minor league
Tampa Smokers, the area's first professional baseball team, and was one of the first spring training sites in Florida, hosting several different teams over the decades. During one of the earliest ballgames in April 1919,
Babe Ruth reportedly hit his longest home run – a 587-foot blast that is memorialized with a historical marker at the approximate spot where it landed at the current site of the
University of Tampa's school of business. The University of Tampa took over Plant Field in the early 1970s and renamed it
Peppin-Rood Stadium after university benefactors. Since then, the school has built new facilities on its huge footprint, including a soccer field (Peppin Stadium), softball and baseball fields,
dormitories, and other academic and athletic facilities. While some of the original playing surface is still in use as part of newer venues, the last remaining portions of Plant Field's old
grandstand was torn down in 2002.
Phillips Field Phillips Field was a medium-sized stadium (maximum capacity approximately 20,000) located just north of Plant Field between Cass Street and the current location of
Interstate 275 on the west bank of the Hillsborough River. It served as the home for the University of Tampa's football team from 1936 to 1967 and was named after I. W. Phillips, a local businessman who donated the land to the school so that the Spartans would not have to share Plant Field. Besides "Tampa U" home games, Phillips Field occasionally hosted other football contests. It was the site of the
Cigar Bowl, the area's first college
bowl game, from 1946 to 1954, and the
Florida Gators scheduled several home games at the facility during the 1930s and 1940s. Phillips Field was also the site of several well-attended
NFL preseason contests in the mid-1960s that helped Tampa earn an eventual expansion franchise. And local
high school rivalry games which attracted crowds too large for the participants' smaller stadiums were played in Phillips Field until the late 1960s, when newly built Tampa Stadium took over that role. Phillips Field could also be configured for baseball, and the
Tampa Smokers of the
Class C Florida International League played most of their home games there from 1946 to 1954. When Tampa Stadium was completed in 1967, the city gave Plant Field to the University of Tampa, and Phillips Field fell into disuse. It was razed in the early 1970s, and
Tampa Preparatory School and
Julian Lane Riverfront Park were built at its former location.
Curtis Hixon Hall Curtis Hixon Hall was a multipurpose facility built in 1965 on the banks of the
Hillsborough River in
downtown Tampa. Along with many concerts. conventions, and special events, Curtis Hixon Hall hosted many professional and amateur
boxing and
wrestling cards and served as the first home of the
University of South Florida's
basketball programs and a series of minor league basketball teams. Curtis Hixon Hall was made obsolete by the construction of newer and larger facilities such as the
Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena), the
Sun Dome, and the
Tampa Convention Center. It was demolished in 1993 and replaced with Curtis Hixon Park. In 2010, a new
Tampa Museum of Art and the
Glazer Children's Museum opened on the site of the old hall, while a redesigned
Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park debuted in adjacent open space.
Bayfront Center The
Bayfront Center (also known as the
Bayfront Arena) was a multipurpose facility along the shores of
Tampa Bay near downtown St. Petersburg. Though a little larger than Tampa's Curtis Hixon Hall, it was built in the same year (1965) and hosted a similar mix of concerts, sports, and special events. The Tampa Bay Rowdies played most of their home
indoor soccer matches in the facility during the 1980s, and a handful of minor league basketball and hockey teams also called it home. Several nationally televised wrestling and boxing events were held there, along with annual
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus TV specials. The Bayfront Center also hosted some
USF men's basketball games throughout the 1970s. ==Traditions==