We Built It, Now Will They Come?
OCTOBER / 2016 ISSUE 41 WE BUILT IT, NOW WILL THEY COME? ast issue, we featured a story detailing what our community went through to build our baseball dome. We left off with the Florida LSuncoast Dome’s grand opening on February 28, 1990, but it had no baseball team to call it home. With no promise of getting one, it soon became apparent building the multi-million dollar building would be easier than getting a team. In 1987, while the stadium was still under construction, the area had come close to convincing the Chicago White Sox to relocate. The Florida Legislature approved a $30-million funding package to assist in outfitting the Florida Suncoast Dome and to help lure them to St. Petersburg. But at the last minute, the team announced they would stay in Chicago. Once open, even without a baseball team, the new dome would not sit idle. The first promoted event was the AAU’s Junior Olympics held July 28, 1990. Over 5,000 young athletes participated. In November, the dome hosted the Davis Cup Tennis Finals. Many concerts were also hosted inside the Suncoast Dome during that time. More major events needed to be booked or there would be no revenue. While, there was room for football and basketball games, ice shows, concerts and even trade shows, the building was built for baseball. In the context of domed ballparks, the Florida Suncoast Dome was considered “nice enough”, but still had no AstroTurf, center-field scoreboard or sky boxes. A year after it opened, in May of 1991, The Florida Suncoast Dome got a real sports team, The Tampa Bay Storm the arena football team.
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