Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida, that opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college program. The seating capacity for most sporting events is 69,218,(4) though it can be expanded to about 75,000 for special events with the addition of temporary seating. Raymond James Stadium was built at public expense as a replacement for Tampa Stadium and is known for the replica pirate ship behind the seating area in the north end zone(5). Raymond James Financial, a financial service firm headquartered in the Tampa Bay area, had held the naming rights for the stadium’s existence.
Besides
service as the home field for the Buccaneers and the Bulls, the facility has
been the site of three Super Bowls: XXXV in 2001, XLIII in 2009, and LV in
2021, in the third of which the Buccaneers became the first team in NFL history
both to play and win a Super Bowl on their home field. In college football, Raymond James Stadium is
the home of the annual Tampa Bay Bowl (since 1999) and Gasparilla
Bowl (since 2018), hosted the ACC Championship Game in 2008 and
2009, and was the College Football Playoff National Championship in
2017. Additionally, the stadium has
hosted a wide variety of non-football events, including soccer matches,
equestrian sports competitions, monster truck shows, and large concerts. It was also the site of Wrestlemania 37
in April 2021.
Financing and construction
Immediately
upon purchasing the Buccaneers in 1995, new owner Malcolm Glazer
declared that the twenty-eight-year-old Tampa Stadium was inadequate to
justify the record $192 million he paid for the NFL franchise and began
lobbying local government for a replacement(6). A few months later, the city of Tampa and Hillsborough
County unveiled plans for a 168 million dollar stadium that was to be paid
for with a rental car surtax along with fees on items relating to
stadium events, such as ticket surcharges and parking fees. However, the Glazer family rejected the plan
within hours because it would reduce their revenue, and when local and state
government officials did not agree on an alternative taxpayer-financed plan
quickly enough for their liking, they threatened to move the Buccaneers
elsewhere and were soon meeting with officials from several other cities to
explore possible relocation sites.(7)(8)(9)
In early
1996, the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County proposed the establishment of a
“Community Investment Tax”, a 30-year half-cent sales tax increase that would
pay for various public improvements along with a new stadium for the Bucs. The tax increase would have to be approved in
a public referendum, which was scheduled for September(5). The “Community Investment Tax Stadium” (CITS)
proposal was heavily promoted by the team along with several prominent local
officials, and as part of intensive public relation campaign, Malcolm Glazer
repeatedly promised to pay half the cost of the new stadium if fans put down
50,000 deposits on 10-year season ticket commitments priced at $190 or $2,500
per seat(10)(11). Former
Tampa mayor Bill Poe sued to halt the referendum, as he claimed that the
tax violated the Florida state constitution’s ban on public support for
private companies. Poe’s objections were
rejected, and plans for the vote were allowed to proceed.(12)
Public
opinion polls indicated that support for the CITS proposal was still limited as
election day neared, with the main reasons being a “negative reaction” to the
Glazers’ tactics and unwillingness to raise taxes to “help” owners who
“overpaid” for an NFL team(13).
In response, stadium proponents launched a “media blitz” of television
and radio advertisements emphasizing the tax’s potential impact on local
schools and roads in an attempt to persuade residents who did not want to pay
for a football stadium to “hold their nose” and vote yes anyway(5). On September 3rd, 1996, the ballot
measure passed by a margin of 53% to 47%(14). After the vote, the season ticket deposit
drive fell 17,000 short of its 50,000 goal at the team-imposed deadline, the
Buccaneers’ offer to pay half of the stadium construction costs was withdrawn,
and the facility was designed and built entirely at public expense.(11)(15)(10)(16)
Before
construction began on the stadium, the Buccaneers and the Tampa Sports
Authority signed a lease in which local government paid the vast majority of
operating and maintenance expenses while the franchise kept almost all of the
proceeds from all events held there(16)(17). Former Tampa mayor Bill Poe went back to
court to challenge the legality of the lease, again citing the state’s
constitutional ban on using tax dollars to enrich a private business in
claiming that the “sweetheart deal” should be voided(10). A local court ruled in Poe’s favor, but upon
appeal, the Supreme Court of Florida ruled that the lease was
constitutional because the stadium provided a “public benefit”, and
construction continued as planned.(18)(10)(11)(19).
In 1998, a
13-year deal was agreed with Raymond James Financial, headquartered in St.
Petersburg, for naming rights to the stadium(20). The deal was extended for 10 years in 2006
and again in 2016, and the deal is currently set to expire in 2027.(21)(22)
Opening, further developments
The
stadium officially opened on September 20, 1998,(23) when the
Buccaneers defeated the Bears 27 – 15(24). The stadium hosted its first Major League
Soccer match on March 20th, 1999, after the Tampa Bay Mutiny
relocated from Houlihan’s Stadium(25); the Mutiny lost their
first match at Raymond James Stadium 5 – 2 to D.C. United with 16,872 in
attendance(26). The Mutiny
folded after the 2001 season after facing declining revenue due to declining
attendance and the Bucs’ lease at Raymond James Stadium, which saw the Mutiny
receiving no money from parking or concessions(27). They played their last home match on
September 9th, 2001, a 2 – 1 loss to the Columbus Crew(28). The team had an average attendance of 10,479
per match in their final season at Raymond James Stadium.(29)
In April
2003, the Tampa Sports Authority proposed passing ownership of the stadium to
Hillsborough County to avoid having to pay millions of dollars in property
taxes (the Bucs’ lease agreement dictated that they do not have to pay property
taxes). However, the Bucs had a right of
refusal and refused to sign off on the plan unless the local government paid
more of the cost for gameday security and increased the amount of
(county-purchased) insurance coverage for the stadium(30). The dispute continued for months until
December 2003, when the county legally declared the stadium a condominium and
took ownership. As part of the change,
the Bucs were given ownership of portions of the structure. To win the Bucs’ approval, the county agreed
to refund the team’s resultant property tax payments annually.(31)(32)
After a
nearly two-year legal battle, the Tampa Sports Authority came to a settlement
with popular sports-seating and telescopic platform/bleacher company Hussey
Seating of North Berwick, Maine.
Following the stadium’s opening in 1998, roughly 50,000
Hussey-manufactured seats at Raymond James Stadium began to fade from their
original color – a bright vibrant shade of red – to a shade of washed-out pink. Spotting this obvious defect, the Buccaneers
organization pleaded to the TSA to sue the seating manufacturing company for
the cost of replacing the affected chairs in 2003. Initially, in May 2004, after testing samples
of the seats, Hussey Seating did not find any cause for the fading, and thus,
found no reason to replace the seats at the company’s cost under the current
10-year warranty. After the TSA cited a
portion of the warranty which did, in fact, state that Hussey would replace
seats if any fading were to occur, Hussey president Tim Hussey admitted an
error in the research and eventually would come to a 1.5 million dollar agreement with the TSA to replace the problem seats. Reportedly, the seat-fading occurred due to a
manufacturing error by Hussey, as a UV inhibitor – a sunscreen-like component
for the plastic – was forgotten in the mixture used to create the seats. All of the problem seats were replaced by
new, non-pink seats in the spring of 2006.
In
December 2015, the Buccaneers and the Tampa Sports Authority reached an
agreement to complete over $100 million in improvements and renovations to the
stadium. The negotiations took months and were extended by Bucs’ lawyers demanding additional concessions after an
agreement was near in September 2015(33). In the end, the upgrades were paid with at
least 29 million dollars of public money, with the remainder paid for by the
Bucs in exchange for the right to play a home game at another site beginning in
the 2018 season and other concessions.
Renovations began in January 2016, and the first phase was completed in
time for the 2016 football season. (34)
Features
One of the
most recognizable features of the stadium is a 103-foot, 43-ton
steel-and-concrete replica pirate ship in the north end zone, making it stand
out from other NFL stadiums(35). Each time the Buccaneers score points, enter
the other team’s red zone (area on the field between the 20-yard line and the
goal line), or win a home game, the replica cannons on the ship are fired off. The cannons fire off once for each point
scored, and once for entering the red zone.
In addition, when the Buccaneers enter their opponent’s red zone,
stadium hosts hoist team flags around the perimeter of the upper deck. The cannons are also used during pre-game
player introductions. During various
times throughout the game, the song “Yo-Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)” is
played on the stadium public address system (taken from Pirates of the
Caribbean), which signals patrons on board the ship to throw beads, T-shirts,
and other free prizes to the people below.
The segment is also known as a “Mini Gasparilla” to most fans. An animated parrot sits on the stern of the
pirate ship. Controlled by radio and
remote control, the parrot picks fans out of the crowd and talks to those
passing by(36). The pirate
ship’s sails, which for NFL games usually show Buccaneers logos and sponsors,
are often changed to suit the event that it hosts.(35)
The two
“Buc Vision” 2,200-square-foot Daktronics video displays were among the largest
in the league when they were built. In
2016 they were replaced with 9,600-square-foot, HD video boards in both end
zones. ‘Buccaneer Cove’ in the north end
zone features a weathered, two-story fishing village façade, housing stadium
concessions and restrooms. All areas of
the stadium are ADA-compliant.
Temporary
bleachers were erected in the end zones for Super Bowl XXXV, which set
then-record stadium attendance of 71,921.
The stadium attendance record has since been surpassed by the 2017
College Football Playoff National Championship, which also made use of
temporary seating(37). Super
Bowl XLIII and Super Bowl LV used temporary seating as well.
In 2003,
the corner billboards in the stadium were replaced with rotating trilon
billboards and these were replaced in 2016 with new high visibility displays.
Raymond
James Stadium boasts the second-best turf in the NFL, according to a 2009
biannual players’ survey. (38)
In early
2016, the stadium was given an extensive facelift. The most notable improvement was the
replacement of the 2,200-square-foot video displays with the state-of-the-art,
high visibility 9,600-square-foot video displays in both the north and south
end zones along with the addition of a new 2,300-square-foot video tower in
each corner. Altogether, the video
displays cover more than 28,000 square feet, the third-largest video displays
in the NFL. The original sound system
and the stadium’s luxury boxes were also upgraded. (39)
Before the
2022 season, some of the temporary seats used for Super Bowls and other special
events were set up in the south end zone, bringing the capacity to 69,218(40). They were removed after the season, following
Tom Brady’s retirement.
Naming
During its
construction, the facility was known as Tampa Community Stadium. In June 1998, before its opening, the
naming rights were bought by St. Petersburg-based Raymond James
Financial for 32.5 million dollars in a 13-year agreement(41). Contract extensions signed in 2006 and 2016
have extended the naming rights deal through 2028. (42)
The
stadium is referred to as “Ray Jay”.
Somewhat derisively, it has been occasionally referred to as “the CITS”,
a name coined by long-time local sportscaster Chris Thomas which stands for
“Community Investment Tax Stadium”, referring to the fact that the stadium was
entirely financed by local taxpayers. (43)
References
1. 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is
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