Tampa Stadium, NFL stadium in Tampa, US
Tampa Stadium was an open-air football stadium in Tampa, Florida, opened in 1967 with a pair of arch-shaped concrete grandstands and open end zones. Its 1974–75 expansion enclosed the end zones and gave the top a wave shape, highest at the two sideline grandstands and sloping down to rounded corners. Seating was on long backless aluminum benches in two tiers, reached by short tunnels from wide rear concourses.
Tampa Stadium opened in 1967 with two arch-shaped concrete grandstands and open end zones, seating 46,481 on backless aluminum benches. After the city was awarded an NFL expansion team, a 1974–75 expansion added over 27,000 seats, enclosing the end zones and raising capacity to 71,908, then the largest in the NFL. A 1980s renovation added luxury boxes and a larger press box, giving a maximum of 74,301 for Super Bowl XVIII in January 1984. The stadium was demolished in early 1999.
ESPN's Chris Berman nicknamed the stadium "The Big Sombrero" for the undulating wave shape created by the 1975 expansion, highest at the two sideline grandstands and sloping down to the endzone sections. From 1990, large flagpoles on the upper rim flew flags of each NFL team; after the Buccaneers' 1997 uniform redesign, oversized versions were hoisted whenever the team reached the opponent's 20-yard line.
Tampa Stadium stood on a grassy parcel between Tampa International Airport and West Tampa, land the city bought from the federal government in 1949. It was built just beyond the left field wall of Al Lopez Field, the Cincinnati Reds' spring training home, and the large plot left room for parking around the venue.
ESPN's Chris Berman nicknamed the stadium "The Big Sombrero" after the 1975 expansion gave its roofline an undulating wave shape, highest at the two sideline grandstands and sloping down to rounded corners. The name stuck, and when Raymond James Stadium opened nearby in 1998 it was sometimes called "The New Sombrero" in memory of its predecessor.
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