City: Tampa Bay, FL

Category: Spectator Sports

Telephone: (800) 813-3294

Address: 3837 Northdale Blvd.

Description: Before there was football in the Tampa Bay area, there was futbol—soccer, in American-ese. Yes, the Bucs were awarded a franchise in 1974, but they didn’t actually play their first game until 1976. The Rowdies, on the other hand, played their first game in1975. Not only did the Tampa Bay Rowdies play in 1975, they won the North American Soccer League title in the 1975 Soccer Bowl—not bad at all for a brand-new team. From there, it gets complicated. The Rowdies played NASL indoor games at St. Petersburg’s Bayfront Center Area in 1975 and from 1979 to 1984, winning the 1980 NASL indoor championship. They played outdoor NASL games at Tampa Stadium from 1975 to 1983. Then the NASL went out of business. Cornelia Corbett became sole owner of the Rowdies and the team played as an independent for two years before joining the American Indoor Soccer Association for the 1986 to 1987 season. Then—keeping track of all this?—the Rowdies joined the American Soccer League. Not the 1921 to 1933 or the 1933 to 1983 versions of the ASL, but the 1988 version, an eastern counterpart to the West Coast Soccer Alliance. In 1990, the ASL merged with the Western Soccer League and they formed the American Professional Soccer League. Between 1975 and 1993, when the team disbanded, the Tampa Bay Rowdies played in four different leagues and played independently for a couple of years. This time around, the new Tampa Bay Rowdies will be part of the United Soccer Leagues, playing in the USL First Division. The United Soccer League has several divisions designed to develop new players—similar in concept to the minor league system in baseball. Currently, there are 11 first division USL teams with 3 more, including the Rowdies, scheduled to begin playing in 2010. There’s no mascot at this point, no team, not even a coach. But the owners have committed to building the team its own soccer-friendly stadium somewhere in northwest Hillsborough County. Already they’re selling season tickets. And they ran clinics at area summer camps in 2009. Will they succeed? Two thoughts: First, the last time the Rowdies were here, they spawned an incredibly strong youth soccer movement that still fills fields around the Tampa Bay area. Second, soccer is the game in much of the rest of the world. Changing demographics in the United States would make it seem reasonable to expect a larger fan base this time around. Tickets: You can email the Rowdies at tickets@tbrowdies.com or call (888) 757-6934. We’d love to give you a box office location, but one hasn’t been built yet. Parking: None yet. Owner: Andrew Nestor, Hinds Howard, David Laxer, Jeffrey MacDonald Mascot: None yet. Pre-season training: First they need a coach and a team. After that, our guess is that they’ll start at the Ed Radice Sports Complex where the Tampa Bay Hellenic play. Amenities: Watch for the Rowdies to develop the Tampa Bay Rowdies Academy—a premier youth soccer academy designed to feed players into the USL system.