Tampa Bay Bucs – Raymond James Stadium

Raymond James Stadium, also known as Ray Jay, is located in Tampa, Florida. The stadium is home to the NFL professional soccer team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the NCAA’s University of South Florida Bulls. The stadium has a capacity of 65,857 seats and has an expansion capacity of approximately 75,000 (this is for special events only), which puts it on the smaller end of the spectrum in the NFL and in the mid-to-lower end for soccer. academic.

Some popular nicknames

The stadium is also called by the name “The New Sombrero”, which comes from the nickname of the old Tampa stadium “The Big Sombrero.” In the past, Raymond James Stadium was also called CITS. The CITS name has been suggested by Chris Thomas, a local sportscaster. CITS stands for “Community Investment Tax Stadium”, in reference to the community tax that was approved to allow the stadium to be financed 100% with public funds.

Another controversial name given by Gene Deckerhoff’s play-by-play radio analysis is “Jesse James Stadium.” This refers to the leverage that Buccaneers owners used to get the public to pay for the stadium in full.

Events organized by Raymond James

Raymond James Stadium is home to the annual College Football Outback Bowl. The outback bowl game is played on New Year’s Day and matches the SEC’s third pick against the Big Ten’s third pick in what has resulted in classic matchups.

In addition to this, Raymond James Stadium also served as host for two Super Bowls. It hosted Super Bowl XXXV in 2001, which tied the New York Giants against the Baltimore Ravens. It also hosted Super Bowl XLIII in 2009, which was a classic matchup between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Why was Ray Jay built?

This stadium was built to serve as a replacement for Tampa Stadium, which was demolished in 1999, and is located almost adjacent to the site of the old Tampa Stadium. It is built on the location of the old Al Lopez field that was demolished in 1989.

The manufacturing cost of Raymond James Stadium was $ 168.5 million. However, the total cost was financed with public funds. The stadium was referred to as the “Tampa Community Stadium” while it was still under construction. However, St. Petersburg-based Raymond James Financial purchased the naming right to this stadium for $ 32.5 million in June 1988. The company extended its naming rights in April 2006 through 2015.

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