Tampa is a major city in, and the county seat of, Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. It is on the west coast of Florida on Tampa Bay, near the Gulf of Mexico. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area. With an estimated population of 399,700 in 2019, Tampa is the 48th most-populous city in the U.S. and the third-largest city in Florida after Miami and Jacksonville. The bay's port is the largest in the state, near downtown's Channel District. Bayshore Boulevard runs along the bay, and is east of the historic Hyde Park neighborhood.
Tampa Stadium was a large open-air stadium located in Tampa, Florida which opened in 1967 and was significantly expanded in 1974–75. The facility is most closely associated with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League, who played there from their establishment in 1976 until 1997. It also hosted two Super Bowls, in 1984 and 1991, as well as the 1984 USFL Championship Game.
Amalie Arena is an arena in Tampa, Florida that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, arena football games, and concerts. It is home to the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League and is the temporary home of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association.
The USF Track and Field Stadium was built in 1978. The stadium is currently home to the men's and women's track and field teams from the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. It also hosted the school's men's and women's soccer programs through the end of their 2010 seasons.
The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, minors, pre-professional programs, and certificates.
Eckerd College is a private Presbyterian liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
The Yuengling Center, formerly known as the USF Sun Dome, is a multi-purpose facility on the campus of the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida. It was built, starting in 1977 and was completed on November 29, 1980. It is located in USF's Athletics District on the southeast side of campus and is home to the men's and women's basketball and volleyball teams, as well as USF's commencement ceremonies. The center hosts approximately 300 different events each year, including sporting events, concerts, home and garden shows, trade shows, religious services and conventions, ethnic festivals, rodeos, bull riding competitions, youth sports camps, professional wrestling, boxing, taekwondo tournaments, gymnastics and cheerleading competitions, commencement ceremonies, lectures and political rallies among other corporate, community and university events.
The Stephen C. O'Connell Center, also known as the O'Dome, is a 10,133-seat multi-purpose arena located on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida. The facility is named for the sixth president of the university, Stephen C. O'Connell, who served from 1967 to 1973. The facility is located on the northern side of the university's campus, between its football field, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field, and the James W. "Bill" Heavener Complex athletic training center.
The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university in Tampa, Florida. It is part of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1956, USF is the fourth largest university in Florida and seventh largest public university in the United States, with an enrollment of 51,646 as of the 2019–2020 academic year. Previously identified as a university system from 1965–2020, USF is now one university geographically distributed across three campus locations: Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee. The university is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. USF is home to 14 colleges, offering more than 180 undergraduate majors, graduate, specialist, and doctoral-level degree programs.
The Ice Sports Forum is the official practice facility of the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the Stanley Cup in 2004 and 2020. The facility contains two NHL regulation rinks and a state-of-the-art laser tag arena. It is located in Brandon, Florida. The ISF opened in the fall of 1997.
Curtis Hixon Hall was an indoor sports arena, convention center, concert venue, and special events center which was located at 600 Ashley Drive along the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa, Florida. It opened in 1965, and was the primary concert, indoor sports, and civic gathering place for the city of Tampa for about twenty years. The construction of newer and more specialized facilities around town during the 1980s gradually reduced the number of events held at Curtis Hixon Hall, and the opening of the much larger Tampa Convention Center in 1990 made it obsolete.
Bayfront Center was an indoor arena located in St. Petersburg, Florida that hosted many concerts, sporting and other events. Depending on the configuration, it could hold up to 8,600 people. The arena was opened in 1965 and demolished in 2004. It adjoined the Mahaffey Theater, which is still standing.
Hillsborough Community College (HCC) is a two-year community college in Hillsborough County, Florida.
The Tampa Bay Thrillers were a franchise in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1984–1987. They won back-to-back championships in 1984–85 and 1985–86. At the end of the 1986–87 CBA regular season the team relocated to Rapid City, South Dakota, and went on to win a third consecutive CBA title.
The Tampa Spartans are the athletic teams that represent the University of Tampa, located in Tampa, Florida, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Spartans compete as members of the Sunshine State Conference for all 20 varsity sports. Tampa has been a member of the conference since 1981.
The Tampa Bay Area is home to many sports teams and has a substantial history of sporting activity. Most of the region's professional sports franchises use the name "Tampa Bay", which is the name of a body of water, not of any city. This is to emphasize that they represent the wider metropolitan area and not a particular municipality.
Plant Field was the first major athletic venue in Tampa, Florida. It was built in 1899 by Henry B. Plant on the grounds of his Tampa Bay Hotel to host various events and activities for guests, and it consisted of a large field ringed by an oval race track flanked by a large covered grandstand on the western straightaway. Over the ensuing decades, Plant Field drew Tampa residents and visitors to see horse racing, car racing, baseball games, entertainers, and politicians. The stadium also hosted the first professional football and first spring training games in Tampa and was the long-time home of the Florida State Fair.
The South Florida Bulls men's basketball team represents the University of South Florida in NCAA Division I basketball competition, where they are currently a member of the American Athletic Conference. They have been coached by Brian Gregory since the 2017–18 season. The Bulls play their home games at the Yuengling Center on USF's campus in Tampa, Florida. USF has reached the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament 3 times in their history.
The Tampa Spartans football program was an intercollegiate American football team for the University of Tampa (UT) located in Tampa, Florida that began play in 1933. The program competed against other small college programs in the forerunner of today's NCAA Division II for almost forty years before moving to the top level of NCAA Division I as an independent in 1971. Successfully competing against top college programs as a much smaller school put an enormous strain on the university's finances, and the school decided to discontinue football after the 1974 season.
The University of South Florida athletic facilities are the stadiums and arenas the South Florida Bulls use for their home games and training. The University of South Florida currently sponsors 17 varsity athletic teams and has 11 facilities in the designated Athletics District on or adjacent to its Tampa campus, one on its St. Petersburg campus, and one elsewhere in Tampa.
