Former Tampa resident weatherguru76 found a 1990 commercial for the grand opening of place, and posted it on YouTube.
While the Devil Rays play their home games at Tropicana Field, it wasn’t always that way. Before the Rays came along, the Tampa Bay Lightning had been occupants of the building (from 1993-1996), and it was called the Thunderdome. Before that, it was just a big empty shell called the Florida Suncoast Dome — former home of the Worlds Largest Yardsale.
Construction began on the Florida Suncoast Dome in 1986 and opened in 1990 with a Kenny Rogers concert. There would be no Major League Baseball team in town for another eight years, but the Lightning taking up residence inside the building from being mostly dormant and unused. In fact, the Lightning set several records for attendance at NHL regular season and playoff games — 28,183 fans in attendance during a playoff game versus the Philadelphia Flyers still stands as the NHL record to this day. The Devil Rays played their first game there on March 31st 1998.
(Hat tip to John for compiling research info on this post)
crack ho
3 years ago
baseball players strike (August 12, 1994–April 2, 1995) cost baseball team owners hundreds o’ millions o’ bucks. The owners needed major cash, or they would have to negotiate (gasp!) with the players union. TAMPA BAY STRIKEBREAKERS (see SOF post “protecting the city” 12-5-06 11:23 AM, also see replies) TO THE RESCUE! March 9 1995, Tampa Bay awarded a franchise, baseball owners get (i think about $200 million per franchise). less than a month later, strike broken, big business wins, organized labor (MLB players union) defeated.
our communities’ aspirations of having an MLB team were cynically used against organized labor. i’m tellin’ ya, this aint a good town for the workin’ man!
(was this the Payoff?: a few years later, Raymond James Stadium built real cheap with non-union labor)
full disclosure: i oppose raising minimum wage, so i am often pro-business.
crack ho
3 years ago
clarify: about $200 million was paid by each of the 2 expansion franchises, to be divided among the (28?) existing owners.
John
3 years ago
Forget the facts about the baseball team and the occupants of the arena. Watch the Youtube video that Tommy opens up the post with.
My god, is that some 1990 cheese! No WONDER people compare the Trop to a minor league park – we were treating it as such!
Mr. Bill
3 years ago
I was at the Suncoast Dome for the Big Opening Party. Was a very big deal. My ex even got the Suncoast Dome logo painted on her fingernails for the event. Neil Elsey was in charge then. Where did he ever go ?
Jeff
3 years ago
I love it when people try to use professional sports to discuss Big Business vs Organized Labor. There is a HUGE difference between a pro baseball player and the guy who welds the door onto your Ford.
crack ho
3 years ago
i guess the point i’m really trying to make is how that building, and our communities’ pursuit of baseball, was used by MLB to bust the union. I shoulda tied it in with how the owners used the building / our aspirations in negotiations with Seattle, San Fran, Chicago, who else? how many cities built ballparks in the late 80’s-mid 90’s under the gun of the threat: “if you dont build us a new baseball stadium, we’ll move to St Petersburg?”
i just got carried away tying it to the theme of the previous post. i would never seriously compare an MLB player to an average worker, sorry about that.
Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog » Blog Archive » it’s always philly
1 year ago
[...] Unfortunately, the Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the Philadelphia Flyers (4 games to 2) in the first round of the 1996 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Those games at Thunderdome versus the Philadelphia Flyers once held the record for fans in attendance at an NHL game. [...]