Tampa is a United States city in Hillsborough County, on the west coast of Florida. It
serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County.6. The population of Tampa in 2000 was 303,447. According to the 2006 Census
estimate, the city has a population of 334,550[1].
Tampa is a part of the Tampa-St.
Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the "Tampa Bay Area". The four-county area is
composed of roughly 2.7 million residents, making it the second largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the state, and the third largest in the
Southeastern United States. The Tampa Bay Partnership and U.S. Census data
showed an average annual growth of 2.47 percent, or a gain of approximately 97,000 residents per year. Between 2000 and 2006, the
Tampa Bay market area has experienced a combined growth rate of 14.8 percent, growing from 3.4 million to 3.9 million and hitting
the 4 million people mark on April 1, 2007[2]. It is the
largest media market in the state of Florida and thirteenth largest DMA Market in the
United States.[3]
History
-
Origins
The word "Tampa" is believed to mean "sticks of fire" in the language of the Calusa, a
Native American tribe. Other historians claim the name refers to
"The place to gather sticks". "Sticks of fire" may also relate to the high concentration of lightning strikes that Tampa Bay
receives every year during the hot and wet summer months.Toponymist George R. Stewart writes that the name was the result of a miscommunication between the Spanish and
the Indians, the Indian word being "itimpi", meaning simply "near it" (Stewart, pg. 231).
Early explorations
Whatever its origins, the name first appears in the "Memoir" of Hernando de
Escalante Fontaneda (1575), who had spent 17 years as a Calusa captive. He calls it "Tanpa" and describes it as an
important Calusa town. While "Tanpa" is the apparent basis for the modern name "Tampa", archaeologist Jerald Milanich places the Calusa village of Tanpa at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor, the original "Bay of Tanpa". A later Spanish expedition failed to notice
Charlotte Harbor while sailing north along the west coast of Florida and assumed that today's Tampa Bay was the bay that they had
sought. Thus, the name was accidentally transferred north.[4]
In April of 1528, the ill-fated Narváez Expedition landed near Tampa with the
intention of starting a colony. After being told by the natives of better riches to the north, they abandoned their camp after
only a week. A dozen years later, a surviving member of the expedition named Juan Ortiz was
rescued by Hernando de Soto's expedition.[5]
A peace treaty was conducted with the local Indians and a short-lived Spanish outpost was established, but this was abandoned
when it became clear that there was no gold in the area, and that the local Indians were not
interested in converting to Catholicism but were too skilled as warriors to easily
conquer.
The Tampa area would be effectively ignored by its colonial owners for the next 200+ years.
British rule
When Great Britain acquired Florida in 1763, the bay was named Hillsborough Bay, after
Lord Hillsborough, Secretary of State for the Colonies. Britain was more concerned with the
strategically important Atlantic coast of Florida (especially St. Augustine)
rather than mostly empty Gulf coast, and the Tampa area was by and large disregarded again.
With the native population having died from disease long before and the Seminoles still
living to the north, the only (seasonal) residents of the Tampa Bay area were Cuban fishermen.
These visitors stayed in temporary settlements along the shore, catching a large haul of fish from the teeming waters of the bay
to take back and sell.[6]
Florida becomes a U.S. Territory
Spain regained control of Florida in 1783 as part of the Treaty of Paris at the end of the American
Revolution. Once again, the Tampa area was not a vital concern to its European owner.
The United States purchased Florida in 1821 (see Adams-Onís Treaty) to stem the tide of escaped slaves fleeing to the wilds of Florida from neighboring
states. In fact, one of the first official U.S. actions in the new territory was a raid which destroyed Angola, a village built
by escaped slaves on the shores of Tampa Bay.
Birth of a pioneer town
The Treaty of Moultrie Creek (1823) created a large Indian reservation in the
interior of the peninsular Florida. As part of efforts to establish control over the vast swampy
wilderness, the U.S. government built a series of forts and trading posts throughout the new
territory. "Cantonment Brooke" was established in 1823 by Colonels George Mercer
Brooke and James Gadsden at the mouth of the Hillsborough River on Tampa Bay, at
what is now the site of the Tampa Convention Center in Downtown Tampa. In 1824, the post was officially christened Fort
Brooke.
A few settlers soon established homesteads around the wooden fort, but growth was very slow due to difficult conditions and
the constant threat of attack from the Seminole Indian population, who lived nearby in an
uneasy truce. When the Second Seminole War flared up in late 1835, Fort Brooke
served as a vital military asset. After almost seven long years of vicious fighting, the war was over and the Seminoles were
forced away from the Tampa region. The tiny village of Tampa soon began to grow up.
The Territory of Florida had grown enough by 1845 to become the
27th state. The settlement of Tampa had grown enough by 1849 to incorporate as the "Village of Tampa", which officially occurred
on January 18. Tampa was home to 185 inhabitants, excluding military personnel stationed at
Fort Brooke. The city's first census count in 1850 listed Tampa-Fort Brooke as having 974 residents.[7] Tampa was reincorporated as a town on December 15, 1855, and Judge Joseph B. Lancaster became the
first Mayor in 1856.[8][9]
Tampa during the Civil War
Barracks and tents at Fort Brooke in Tampa Bay
During the American Civil War, Florida seceded along with the rest of the south to
form the Confederate States of America. Fort Brooke was manned by
Confederate troops and martial law was declared in Tampa in January of 1862. Tampa's city
government ceased to operate for the duration of the war.[10]
In late 1861, the Union navy set up a blockade around many southern ports to cut off the Confederacy from outside help, and several ships were
stationed near the mouth of Tampa Bay. However, blockade runners based in Tampa were able to
repeatedly slip through the blockade to trade cattle and citrus for needed supplies, mainly with Spanish Cuba.[11]
Trying to put a stop to this, Union gunboats sailed up Tampa Bay to bombard Fort Brooke and the surrounding city of Tampa. The
Battle of Tampa on June 30-July 1, 1862 was inconclusive, as the shells fell
ineffectually and there were no casualties on either side.[12][13]
Much more damaging to the Confederate cause was the Battle of Fort Brooke on
October 17-18, 1863. Two Union gunboats shelled the fort and surrounding town and landed troops, who found blockade runners
hidden up the Hillsborough River and destroyed them. [14] The local militia mustered to intercept the Union troops, but they were able to
return to their ships after a short skirmish and headed back out to sea.
The war ended in Confederate defeat in April 1865. In May, federal troops
arrived in Tampa to occupy the fort and the town as part of Reconstruction. They would
remain until August, 1869.[15]
The Lean Years
The years after the Civil War were difficult ones in Tampa. With little industry and land transportation links limited to
bumpy wagon roads from the east coast of Florida, Tampa was a small fishing village with poor prospects for development.
Then came yellow fever. Borne by mosquitos from the surrounding swampland, Tampa was hit
by wave after wave of yellow fever epidemics and scares throughout the late 1860s and 1870s. The disease was little understood at
the time, and many residents simply packed up and left rather than face the mysterious and deadly peril.
A telling moment occurred in 1869, when residents voted to abolish the City of Tampa government [16]. The population of "Tampa Town" was below 800 in the official 1870 census count
and had fallen further by 1880. (see demographics, below). The little village was dying.
Another blow was to come. Fort Brooke, the seed from which Tampa had germinated, had served its purpose and was decommissioned
in 1883. Except for two cannons displayed on the nearby University of Tampa campus, all traces of the fort are gone. In an odd nod to history, a large
downtown parking garage near the old fort site is called the Fort Brooke Parking Garage.[17]
Phosphate, Railroads, and Cigars
Then, out of the blue, Tampa's fortunes took several sudden turns for the better. First, phosphate was discovered in the Bone Valley region southeast of Tampa in
1883. The mineral, which is vital for the production of fertilizers and other products, was soon being shipped out from the Port
of Tampa in ever increasing volume. Tampa is still one of the world's leading phosphate exporters.
Henry B. Plant's railroad line reached Tampa and its port shortly thereafter,
connecting the small town to the country's railroad system. Tampa finally had the overland transportation link that had been so
sorely lacking. The railroad enabled phosphate and commercial fishing exports to go north
[18], brought many new products into the Tampa market,
and started the first real tourist industry: visitors coming in modest numbers to Henry Plant's first Tampa-area resort built
literally on Tampa Bay on stilts. (This was not the still-standing Tampa Bay Hotel, which came a few years later).
The new railroad link enabled another important industry to come to Tampa. In 1885, the Tampa Board of Trade helped broker a
land deal with Vicente Martinez Ybor to move his cigar manufacturing operations to Tampa from Key West. Close proximity
to Cuba made imports of tobacco easy by sea, and Plant's railroad made shipment of finished cigars to the rest of the US market
easy by land.
Since Tampa was still a small town at the time (population less than 5000), Ybor built hundreds of small houses around his
factory to accommodate the immediate influx of mainly Cuban and Spanish cigar workers. Other cigar factories soon moved in, and Ybor City (as the 40-odd acre settlement was dubbed) quickly made Tampa a major cigar
production center. To round out the town's population, many Italian and a few eastern European
Jewish immigrants also arrived starting in the late 1880s, mainly operating businesses and shops
that catered to the cigar workers. The majority of Italian immigrants came from Alessandria Della Rocca and Santo Stefano
Quisquina, two small Sicilian towns with which Tampa still maintains strong ties.
Franklin Street, looking North, Tampa c. 1910s-1920s
In 1891, Henry B. Plant built a lavish 500+ room, quarter-mile long luxury resort
hotel called the Tampa Bay Hotel among 150 acres of manicured gardens along the
banks Hillsborough River. The eclectic structure cost $2.5 million to build, a huge
sum in those days. Plant filled his expensive playground with exotic art collectables from around the world and installed
electric lights and the first elevator in town.
The resort did great business for a few years, especially during the Spanish-American
War (see below). But with Plant's death in 1899, the hotel's fortunes began to fade. It closed in 1930. In 1933, however,
the stately building reopened as the University of Tampa.
Mainly because of Henry Plant's connections in the War Department, Tampa was chosen as an embarkation center for American
troops in the Spanish-American War. Lieutenant Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders were among the 30,000
troops who waited in Tampa for the order to ship out to Cuba during the summer of 1898, filling the town to bursting [19]. Those months, while unpleasant for the troops wearing thick
wool uniforms in the oppressive Florida heat, were a great boon to Tampa's growing economy. It was also the only time when
Plant's Tampa Bay Hotel was full to capacity.
The founding of Ybor City, the building of Plant's railroad and hotels, and the discovery of phosphate - all within a dozen
years in the late 1800s - were crucial to Tampa's deveopment. The town suddenly expanded from sleepy backwater village to
bustling town to small city. Except for temporary bumps along the way, this growth has continued unabatted.
The Early 20th Century
During the first few decades of the 20th century, the cigar making industry continued to be the backbone of Tampa's economy.
The factories in Ybor City and West Tampa made an enormous number of cigars -- in the peak year of 1929, over 500,000,000 cigars
were hand rolled in the city.[20] As the market for
cigars began to wane during the Great Depression, other industries came to the fore, especially shipping and, of course,
tourism.
In 1904, a local civic association of local businessmen dubbed themselves Ye
Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla (named after local mythical pirate Jose Gaspar), and staged an "invasion" of the city followed
by a parade. With a few exceptions, the Gasparilla Pirate Festival has been
held every year since.
Bolita & the Mob
Beginning in the late 1800s, illegal bolita lotteries were very popular among the Tampa
working classes, especially in Ybor City. In the early 1920s, this small-time operation was taken over by Charlie Wall, the
rebellious son of a prominent Tampa family, and went big-time. Bolita was able to openly thrive only because of kick-backs and
bribes to key local politicians and law enforcement officials, and many were on the take.
Profits from the bolita lotteries and Prohibition-era bootlegging led to the
development of several organized crime factions in the city. Charlie Wall was the first
major boss, but various power struggles culminated in consolidation of control by Sicilian
mafioso Santo Trafficante, Sr. and his faction in
the 1950s. After his death in 1954 from cancer, control passed to his son Santo Trafficante, Jr., who established alliances with families in New York and extended his power throughout Florida and into
Batista-era Cuba.[21][22]
The era of rampant and open corruption ended in the 1950s, when the Senator Kefauver's
traveling organized crime hearings came to town and were followed by the sensational
misconduct trials of several local officials. Though many of the worse offenders in government and the mob were not charged, the
trials helped to end the sense of lawlessness which had prevailed in Tampa for a long time.
Mid-Late 20th Century
The University of South Florida was established in 1956, sparking
development in northern Tampa and nearby Temple Terrace.
There were four attempts to consolidate Tampa with Hillsborough County (1967, 1970, 1971, and 1972), all of which failed at
the ballot box with the biggest margin was 33,160 for and 73,568 against the proposed charter in 1972.[23]
The biggest development of the city was the development of New Tampa that started
in 1988 when the city annexed a 24-square mile (mostly rural) area between I-275 and I-75.
On January 5, 2002, just four months after the
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, 15-year-old amateur pilot
Charles Bishop stole a Cessna plane and flew into the
Bank of America Tower in Downtown
Tampa. Bishop died, but there were no other injuries (because the crash occurred on a Saturday, when few people were in
the building). A suicide note found in the wreckage expressed support for Osama bin Laden. Bishop had been taking a prescription
medicine for acne called Accutane that may have had
the side effect of depression or
severe psychosis. His family later sued Hoffman-La Roche, the company that makes Accutane, for
$70 million; however, an autopsy found no traces of the drug in the teenager's system.
Geography
Tampa is located on the West coast of Florida at 27°58′15″N, 82°27′53″W (27.970898,
-82.464640).1
Topography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area
of 441.9 km² (170.6 mi²). 290.3 km² (112.1 mi²) of
it is land and 151.6 km² (58.5 mi²) of it (34.31%) is water. The highest point in the city is only in the forties. Tampa bordered
by two bodies of water: Old Tampa Bay and Hillsborough Bay
, which both flow to form Tampa Bay, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The Hillsborough River flows out
into Hillsborough Bay, passing directly in front of Downtown Tampa and supplying Tampa with its main source of water.
Climate
Tampa's climate is subtropical, with hot summer days and a threat of winter frost only about every 2-3 years. Highs usually
range between 65 and 95 °F (18 and 35 °C) year
round. Surprisingly to some, Tampa's official recorded high has never hit 100 °F (38 °C) - the all-time record high temperature
is 99 °F (37 °C), recorded on June 5, 1985.[24]
In the winter, the low rarely drops below freezing (32 °F , 0 °C). But since the Tampa area is home to much agriculture and aquaculture, cold snaps are a major worry. The lowest
temperature ever recorded in Tampa was 18 °F (-7.8 °C) on December 13, 1962.[25] Usually, the highs are around 70
°F (20 - 22 °C) with sunny skies in the winter, with the occasional passage of a cold front bringing the temperature down for a
few days.
In the Great Blizzard of 1899, Tampa suffered its one and only known
blizzard, with "bay effect" snow coming off of Tampa
Bay.[26] [2] The
last measurable snow in Tampa fell on January 19, 1977. The accumulation amounted to all of 0.2 inches, but the city, unprepared
for and unaccustomed to wintry weather, came to a virtual standstill for a day. [27]
Temperatures are hot from around mid-May through mid-October, which coincides approximately with the rainy season. Summer days
usually have highs in the low 90s °F (32-34 °C) with high humidity. The summer nighttime
temperature usually drops into the mid 70s °F (21 - 23 °C).[28]
Thunderstorms are a common feature of summer in Tampa. These afternoon boomers can
sometimes become severe, bringing gusty winds, small hail, and torrential rain. Tornadoes are rare, but not unheard of. But the biggest danger they bring is lightning.
The Tampa Bay area is recognized as the "Lightning Capital of the North America". Every
year, Florida averages 10 deaths and 30 injuries from lightning strikes, with several of these usually occurring in or around
Tampa. [29] With each thunderstorm capable of unleashing
thousands of individual bolts, it's best to stay inside until the weather clears. [30]
The most common summertime weather pattern is for heat-produced thermals to turn puffy white
cumulus clouds into threatening thunderheads over the
interior of the Florida peninsula. The typical wind pattern usually pushes these storms slowly westward toward the Tampa area.
Sometimes they rain themselves out before making it to the coast; on many summer days in Tampa Bay, a stormy afternoon is
followed by a pleasantly clear and cooler (though not exactly cool) evening. But occasionally the storms survive to move out over
the Gulf of Mexico at night, where they can be seen from the beaches as spectacular light
shows.
A westerly or southwesterly wind flow, however, will bring even more humidity than usual into the air. On those days, rain and
thunder can strike anywhere at any time around Tampa Bay.
Because of these regular summer storms, Tampa has a pronounced wet season, averaging 20.6 inches (524 mm) between July and
September, but only 6.2 inches (157 mm) between November and January. The wettest month is August, which averages 7.6 inches (193
mm). (August and especially September rain totals are augmented by tropical systems, which easily can dump many inches of rain in
one day.) November is Tampa's driest month, averaging only 1.6 inches (41 mm). During the winter, most of the area's
precipitation is delivered by the occasional cold front. Yearly precipitation averages 44.8 inches (1137 mm).[31]
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Year |
| Avg high °F (°C) |
70
(21) |
72
(22) |
76
(24) |
82
(27) |
87
(30) |
90
(32) |
90
(32) |
90
(32) |
89
(31) |
84
(28) |
78
(25) |
72
(22) |
82
(27) |
| Avg low temperature °F (°C) |
50
(10) |
52
(11) |
56
(13) |
61
(16) |
67
(19) |
73
(22) |
74
(23) |
74
(23) |
73
(22) |
66
(18) |
57
(13) |
52
(11) |
63
(17) |
| Rainfall in. (cm) |
2.1
(5) |
2.9
(6) |
3.2
(8) |
2.0
(4) |
2.7
(7) |
6.6
(14) |
7.4
(18) |
7.9
(20) |
6.3
(16) |
2.3
(5) |
1.8
(4) |
2.0
(5) |
46.3
(128) |
| Source: Monthly Climate
Summary |
Cityscape
-
- See also: Neighborhoods in Tampa,
Florida
The city is divided into many neighborhoods, many of which were towns and unincorporated communities that were annexed by the
growing city. Generally, the city is divided into the following areas: Downtown Tampa,
New Tampa, West Tampa, East Tampa, North Tampa, and
South Tampa.
Some well-known communities of Tampa include Ybor City, Forest Hills, Sulphur Springs,
Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights, Palma Ceia,
Hyde Park, Tampa Palms,
College Hill and non-residential areas of Gary and the Westshore Business District.
Landmarks
Tampa Theatre, a major landmark in Tampa.
Tampa is also known for its significant landmarks. The Sulphur Springs Water
Tower, a landmark in Sulphur Springs section of the city dates
back to the late 1920s. Also during this time period was the construction of Bayshore
Boulevard, which parallel Hillsborough Bay from Downtown Tampa to areas in
South Tampa. The road has a 4.5-mile continuous sidewalk on the eastern end, the longest in the
world.[32] Babe Zaharias
Golf Course in the Forest Hills area of Tampa has been designated a
Historical Landmark by the National Register of Historic Places. It
was bought in 1949 by the famous 'Babe' who had a residence nearby and closed at her death. In 1974, the City of Tampa opened the
golf course to the public [33]
The Story of Tampa, a public painting by Lynn Ash, is a 4' x 8' oil on masonite mural that weaves together many of the
notable aspects of Tampa's unique character and identity. It was commissioned in 2003 by the City of Tampa's Public Art Program
and can be found in the lobby of the Tampa Municipal Office Building.[34]
Park Tower (originally the First Financial Bank of
Florida), the first substantial skyscraper in Downtown Tampa. Completed in 1973, it was the tallest skyscraper in Tampa until
the completion of One Tampa City Center in 1981.[35]
Future landmarks include The Tampa Riverwalk, a proposed continuous pedestrian walkway along the eastern end of the
Hillsborough River. The sidewalk will extend from the Channelside district to Tampa
Heights.[36] The schedule time for completion is
around 2010.[37].
Other landmarks within the city include theTampa Theatre, Museum of Science and Industry (which include the IMAX dome theater), Fun-Lan Drive-In
(drive-in theater), and Tampa
Bay Performing Arts Center.
Downtown Tampa boasts a number of landmark high rises, including the Suntrust Building, Sykes Building, SkyPoint Condominium,
Towers of Channelside, and the Bank of America Building.
South of Tampa, spanning the southern part of Tampa Bay, is the region's most endearing landmark. In much the same way that
San Francisco is recognizable world-wide because of its Golden Gate Bridge, the Tampa Bay area holds its massive steel-span
Sunshine Skyway Bridge in the same regard.
Culture
Nighttime hot spots include places such as SoHo District, Channelside, and Ybor City.
Some well-known shopping areas are the International Plaza and Bay
Street, WestShore Plaza, Westfield
Brandon, Westfield Citrus Park and Hyde
Park Village.
Events held annually in Tampa include the Outback Bowl (every New Year's Day), the Gasparilla Pirate Festival
(every February), the Sant'Yago Knight Parade, the Florida State Fair (mid-February), Guavaween (every October).
- See also: Famous people from Tampa,
Florida
Media
-
- See also: List of films set in
Tampa
Major daily newspapers serving the city are The Tampa Tribune and
The St. Petersburg Times. La
Gaceta is the nation's only trilingual newspaper, written in English, Spanish and Italian. There is also a wide
variety of smaller regional newspapers, alternative weeklies and magazines, including the Florida Sentinel
Bulletin[38] (which focuses coverage on the
African American community in Tampa), Creative
Loafing, The Oracle, Tampa Bay Business Journal (legal industry paper), and MacDill
Thunderbolt[39]. Centro Mi Diario is a free
Spanish-language newspaper published by The Tampa Tribune.[40] SyFy Portal, SyUniverse Group Inc., parent corporation,
based in Tampa as is its owner.
Religion
Tampa's first church was the First Methodist Church, founded in a cabin by circuit rider
J.C. Lay in 1846. The most famous church, however, is the Sacred Heart Catholic Church which was officially opened in 1905. The
city also contains St. Paul's A.M.E. Church which was founded by
Reverend Thomas W. Long in 1870 and is Tampa's oldest African-American congregation ,
and First Presbyterian Church which is housed in a Spanish mission style building from
1930. There are also many other churches such as St. Patrick Catholic Church and
Christ the King Catholic Church.
Sports
Tampa is represented by teams in four major professional sports leagues; the NFL, the NHL,Major League Baseball, and the Arena Football League. Three of the teams play in Tampa proper,
while the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of Major League Baseball play across the bay in
St. Petersburg. All of the teams are considered to represent the entire
Tampa Bay metropolitan area. The
Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the area's first major franchise in 1976, and brought the area its first major sports championship at the end of the 2002 season, winning Super Bowl XXXVII against the Oakland
Raiders. The NHL's Tampa Bay
Lightning was established in 1992, and currently play their games in the St. Pete Times Forum. The team won their first Stanley Cup
championship in Tampa in an ultimate game 7 against the Calgary Flames at the end of the 2003-2004 NHL season. The Devil Rays began play in 1998, but have yet
to be a major contender - finishing last in the American League's East Division in nine of the ten seasons they have played. The Tampa Bay Storm play in the Arena Football League.
Originally playing in Pittsburgh, the team moved to Tampa in 1991. The Storm won their first Arena Bowl championship in 1991, and have won four subsequent championships in 1993, 1995, 1996, and 2003, winning more than any other AFL
team. Since 1997, the team has played its home games in the St. Pete Times Forum, which is located in Tampa. The University of South Florida football program, only eleven years old became ranked for the
first time in school history after the team's week 2 victory in Auburn against the #17
ranked tigers. USF was ranked 23. After beating The University of North Carolina, they were ranked 18. Two weeks later on September 28, 2007,
#18 USF hosted #5 ranked and Big East rival
West Virginia University. The game was the first sell out in the university's
short lived football history, with 67,018. That day in Tampa was proclaimed "Green and
Gold Day" by the city's mayor, and the downtown Tampa skyline was illuminated green and
gold. University of South Florida won biggest game in their history 21-13,
and eventually be ranked 6 in the nation. After defeating cross-state rival, University of Central Florida soundly two weeks later, the USF Bulls would set another
school record - marking the first time ever that the school has placed in the BCS Polls. The first BCS Poll of 2007 ranked the
USF Bulls second in the nation, after Ohio State.
Other sports teams include:
- The Bay Area Krewe rugby union team who play at Skyview Park
- The Tampa Bay Titans rugby union team
Tampa has hosted several franchises of other professional leagues over the years. The first of these was the Tampa Bay Rowdies, started in 1975 as an expansion franchise of the
defunct North American Soccer League (NASL). They played their games at
Tampa Stadium. The Rowdies won the inaugural Soccer
Bowl in 1975, bringing Tampa Bay its first professional sports championship. The NASL folded
in 1984, while the Rowdies continued play in other indoor soccer leagues before folding in
1993. The Tampa Bay Bandits of the defunct
United States Football League (USFL) began play in 1985, and played three seasons in Tampa Stadium before the league and the team folded. Coached by Steve Spurrier, their crowd-pleasing style of play was known as "banditball". The Tampa Bay Mutiny of Major League Soccer began play at
Tampa Stadium in 1996, and continued through 2001 before folding.
