Tampa Bay is a rare three-league town, and all three of its major venues are worth visiting even outside game day. Here’s the real rundown of where the Bay watches its teams play.
Raymond James Stadium, 4201 N Dale Mabry Highway, has been home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since it opened in 1998, seating 69,218 for regular games and expandable to roughly 75,000 for marquee events. It’s also where the USF Bulls play their home college football games. The stadium’s signature is the 103-foot pirate ship in the north end zone, which fires its cannons every time the Bucs score — a detail that makes even a preseason game feel like an event.
Downtown, right on the water at 401 Channelside Dr, Benchmark International Arena — still widely called by its former name, Amalie Arena, which it carried until an August 2025 rebrand — is home to the Tampa Bay Lightning, seating up to 19,092 for hockey. Its Channelside District location means you can walk to dinner and a dozen bars before or after the puck drops.
And every spring, baseball takes over at George M. Steinbrenner Field, 1 Steinbrenner Drive, at the corner of Dale Mabry and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Built in 1996 on a 31-acre complex, it’s spring training home to the New York Yankees and, come summer, the regular home of the Yankees’ High-A affiliate, the Tampa Tarpons — meaning the same field that hosts Yankees legends in March hosts hopeful prospects all summer long.
Football with cannon fire, hockey on the water, and a ballpark that swaps from the Bronx Bombers to the farm system every year — that’s the full spread of Tampa Bay sports, and all three are worth the trip even if your team isn’t playing.
Photo: Raymond James Stadium by Ozzy Trevino / U.S. Customs and Border Protection, public domain.