Will Tampa Compete For Another Super Bowl?
February 15th, 2013
A big part of the mid-1990’s sales pitch to the taxpayers of Hillsborough County for the C.I.T.S., aka Community Investment Tax Stadium, aka Raymond James Stadium, claimed that voting for the tax and building a stadium would bring valuable Super Bowls to Tampa and surrounding communities.
Super Bowls meant big and lasting economic impact, so the pitch went. Obviously, the tax passed, the stadium was built in 1998, and Tampa successfully hosted Super Bowls in 2001 and 2009.
But now Tampa has fallen completely off the Super Bowl map. They went hard after the game in 2015, with Bryan Glazer a leader in the charge, but lost out to Arizona. Tampa has since disappeared, and it has not jumped into the mix of cities — some with new stadiums — fighting for a 2018 Super Bowl.
Recently, the city of Charlotte and the Panthers, which have never hosted a Super Bowl, agreed to cough up about $200 million to upgrade their stadium, which is only two years older than Tampa’s. Part of the stated goal in Charlotte is a Super Bowl.
Voters in Miami will be called upon this spring to decide on ponying up about $200 million in public money for a $400 million upgrade to Joe Robbie/SunLife Stadium in order, you guessed it, help keep big events like the Super Bowl flowing into the region. In fact, the other day some South Florida officials talked about demanding the NFL deliver another Super Bowl, if they make the stadium upgrades.
Joe’s wondering where Tampa, and its rapidly aging 15-year-old stadium, is in all this.
There’s plenty of public chatter about building the Rays a stadium but nothing about what’s next for the Bucs and the future of Super Bowls in Tampa. Joe looks forward to learning exactly what it will take to bring Super Bowls back to town.
February 15th, 2013 at 12:24 pm
Not sure why this continues to be a big deal with Joe #1…..Other teams get a SuperBowl with a New Stadium (Miami will always beat out Tampa…WEATHER)
February 15th, 2013 at 12:27 pm
It’s almost like when I get in an elevator, before I press a button I look at everyone inside and say “Are you ready to take this $h!+ to a whole new level?”
February 15th, 2013 at 12:29 pm
If the suggestion is that the stadium should be upgraded to the tune of a couple hundred million at the public’s expense, then who needs a SuperBowl? Who benefits the most financially from a SuperBowl in Tampa? Those are the people who should pay for stadium upgrades. By the way, I’ve heard Joe refer to the stadium as “rapidly aging” on multiple occasions. I’m just curious where it’s showing its age. Where is the stadium deficient? I haven’t been to a game there in several years. I haven’t even lived in Tampa for many years, so I’m not aware of the condition of the stadium at this point. But, the idea that the public needs to foot the bill for upgrades of that magnitude every 15 years primarily to benefit private interests seems kinda screwed up.
February 15th, 2013 at 12:32 pm
@JPDRC
Did you just say Miami beats out Tampa because of weather? That’s a joke right? Miami will beat out Tampa because its a bigger market and bigger party scene.
February 15th, 2013 at 12:36 pm
“(Miami will always beat out Tampa…WEATHER)”
Is that why the NFL chose NY next year?
Also didnt realize Tampa and Miami were such opposites on the weather spectrum?
February 15th, 2013 at 12:44 pm
This whole point makes the CITS deal less and less attractive each year the stadium ages. Perhaps the Glazers are planning for this (move) too?
Maybe that’s why they haven’t been too interested in getting the games UN-blacked out?
Savvy dudes!
February 15th, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Go the the “field of schemes” site and you’ll be enlightened to the scam that professional sports entitites have been pulling for, uh, forever….Neil Demause does a great job of enlightening with his website.
“We would have no choice but to consider pursuing another option in metro Atlanta” if negotiations break down, Falcons President and CEO Rich McKay said. “Please don’t let anybody say that’s a threat. No, that’s just a reality of what we have to do as our lease is about to end.”
“Asked Wednesday why the team couldn’t pay its own way, Richardson said, in short, because they don’t have to. NFL teams, he said, “are so coveted, they don’t have to pay. There are only 32.”
“Miami Dolphins CEO Mike Dees said on Sunday when asked if his team’s $200 million public subsidy request for renovations to its privately owned stadium isn’t just “welfare for billionaires”:
“Just because somebody is wealthy enough doesn’t mean he should invest money in a way that is unwise,” Dees declared.”
February 15th, 2013 at 12:55 pm
The Georgia Dome is 22 years old, and ATL has plans to build a new stadium. The GA Dome gets some big college and basketball games, and I’m pretty sure its a bigger market than TB. Just say’in.
February 15th, 2013 at 1:00 pm
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Raymond James Stadium! Didn’t they just get a minor upgrade? The NFL makes BILLIONS of dollars each year. Why do taxpayers need to help them build their stadiums???
February 15th, 2013 at 1:35 pm
Upgrades to the video boards are coming. And I remember talking to different suppliers while bidding for security on their trailers in 09. They say Tampa is the best spot as far as functionality. The weather is always good in Jan/Feb. So it comes down to one thing…$$$$…smh
February 15th, 2013 at 2:30 pm
Hey guys, just for some background:
There are upgrades that were written into the voter-approved referendum. So they are coming, and yes, they are needed. “This Joe” always thought the CITS was very underwhelming from an overall fan experience compared to other stadiums. Just tailgating alone (not to mention the air-conditioned Bud Zone) Jacksonville is worlds better (though not as good as Pittsburgh and maybe not as good as New Orleans).
It will be a while before Tampa gets a Super Bowl. San Francisco has a new stadium opening in 2014 and it will get a Super Bowl soon as will Minnesota which is building a stadium.
We all know Atlanta is making major noise about a new stadium. Carolina, pppfffttt. Interesting they need upgrades but Joe would be shocked if Charlotte got a Super Bowl.
What is very interesting to “this Joe,” much more so than the Carolina situation, is what is going on in St. Louis. There, just two weeks ago, an independent arbitrator has deemed the 18-year old Ed Dome (just three years older than the CITS) unfit for an NFL franchise.
The place, once state of the art, is now deemed out of date. In less than two decades. Wow.
The NFL is in an arms race. And yes, this subject is important to Joe because any jolt to the local economy is a good thing.
(Talking with many NFL types, they prefer Tampa over Miami as a Super Bowl site, but of course, if the CITS is not upgraded to meet standards of other stadiums such as Miami, San Franciso and other cities, those sites will get a Super Bowl over Tampa.)
February 15th, 2013 at 2:55 pm
Weird how in this day and age many of us try to get 10 or more years out of our vehicles, but a 15 year old stadium that cost hundreds of millions of dollars is outdated? Not in my book. Raymond James is fine. If the Glazers or the NFL want something different, let ’em pay for it. Plus, there have been many studies about how communities that host the Super Bowl don’t reap anywhere near the rewards that the NFL big wigs claim it does.
February 15th, 2013 at 4:07 pm
Perhaps the next state-of-the-art stadium will have flying seats that pick up each person from their couch and then transport them to the air-conditioned open air stadium that domes up during bad weather?
February 15th, 2013 at 4:14 pm
Well played.
February 15th, 2013 at 4:46 pm
snubbed? ….No? …us?
If there is a bright side, be glad we don’t have to wait every 32 years.
February 15th, 2013 at 5:01 pm
Starting my ninth year as a season ticket holder. Raymond James is good. Yeah Jumbo Trons could be upgraded. Beer is cold, dogs are hot and football is on the field. I dont think we need to add a thing.