Tampa Officially Awarded Super Bowl LV

TAMPA, FL -- It’s official: Tampa will host Super Bowl LV in 2021.

NFL owners officially awarded Super Bowl LV to the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the NFL Fall League Meeting in New York on Wednesday, Oct. 18. This will be the fifth time Tampa will host the NFL’s championship game.

The league awarded Super Bowl LV to Tampa conditionally in May. The league stipulated the city must meet certain requirements related to the bid before it would be considered official.

“The final approval of Super Bowl LV is a great source of pride for the Glazer family, the Buccaneers organization and the entire Tampa Bay region,” said Bryan Glazer, the Buccaneers co-chairman. “We have made substantial improvements in recent years to ensure that Raymond James Stadium could ultimately host the game for a third time and we appreciate that our fellow owners have recognized the stadium and our area’s long and distinguished history as a world-class host city.”

Tampa Stadium played host to the Super Bowl in 1984 and 1991. The latter, Super Bowl XXV, featured Whitney Houston’s memorable rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner just 10 days following the start of the Persian Gulf War.

Raymond James Stadium, which will host Super Bowl LV 30 years later, also hosted the Super Bowl in 2001 and 2009. The stadium is in the middle of a $150 million, four-phase renovation scheduled to be completed by the start of the 2018 NFL season.

Tampa trails only the Miami area, New Orleans and Los Angeles in the total number of Super Bowls hosted. The Miami area and New Orleans have hosted the championship game 10 times, while Los Angeles has hosted it eight times.

Minnesota, with its new U.S. Bank Stadium, Atlanta and Miami will host the championship game before Tampa will host Super Bowl LV.

Tampa is no stranger to hosting national championships. Aside from hosting Super Bowls, Tampa also has hosted the College Football National Championship game (2017), the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament finals (2008, 2015), the NCAA Frozen Four (2012, 2016) and the Stanley Cup Championships when the Tampa Bay Lightning won the cup in 2004.

Image via Jennifer Snyder, Flickr, used under Creative Commons

Video via CavBuffalo Soldier YouTube channel