The sports plate is filling up for Tampa

Posted Jan 25, 2010 by Tom McEwen

Updated Jan 25, 2010 at 07:00 PM

With the Super Bowl ahead in Miami, it is time to rally-around a Super Bowl push for another in Tampa at the first opportunity—2014 Raymond James Stadium. 

Paul Catoe again is heading the drive for us all. He is the chair and he has a small committee now at work which will be enlarged.  Rob Higgins of the Tampa Sports Authority is an active worker for this great purpose, as are Tampa area citizens, Dick Beard and Sandy MacKinnon.

Many more will be added, many more will be needed, for this never has been a slam dunk and is not to be now. 

News these days tells us of the Super Bowl ahead in Miami just ahead.  The 2011 Super Bowl will be played in Dallas, the 2012 will be played in Indianapolis and 2013 in New Orleans. The 2014 Bowl is next to be awarded.  Tampa is in that hunt. First presentations for this sports prize, for this sports jackpot, will be early this year. The Catoe—Higgins—MacKinnon—Beard task force is already at work.

It probably has never been so difficult, this competition, though Tampa in the past has prevailed three previous times and each Super Bowl has been hailed repeatedly as superiorly executed, winning the game in the past for old Tampa Stadium and for Raymond James Stadium.

The post mortems of those games were wonderful.  Tampa’s track record so far is just dandy and all of those on the committee, including Sports Authority Secretary, Barbara Casey, have been considered splendidly accepted.  All of the three were considered hits and came off with blue chip recommendations. Tampa is in good shape going in but Tampa has never had such competition as it has coming up.

The world these days is talking Super Bowl and when that happens, always, high plaudits go to this city of ours.  We have many supporters among the elite who make the decisions but we also have competition that was never so fierce. 

“We always have faced the toughest of opponents and competitors in this race.”  said Catoe, but then when we got our first one in old Tampa Stadium and it was largely done because of our friends in and out of the NFL.  Many of those great remembrances of Super Bowls in Tampa have left us but it is on record as a choice location that can do the job, Catoe and his committee are wonderfully experienced, have good friends in and around the NFL.

“We have a new and fierce competitor in this competition now.  New York City has declared it will seek a Super Bowl, and the NFL will accept a presentation from Gotham, waiving any restrictions imposed on areas because of weather,” said Catoe. “But you know what kind of competitor New York City can be in any competition. It will be formidable.

However, we are not backing off a lick. Yes, we are at work on our presentation now and we expect to make the first cut.

“By the way, the Tampa area is also actively pursuing the World Cup in soccer in the future,” said Catoe.  We have already made three cuts for the World Cup, we will be a lively competitor. Eighteen cities will be in the finals for the World Cup. We will be competitive,” said Catoe. “Remember we have some important soccer people among us here in Tampa including the Malcolm Glazer people, owners of the Manchester United Soccer Team and of the Buccaneers complex.”

So the Glazer sports plate is filling fast, with soccer, football and perhaps the Super Bowl on their mind adding to the backlog.  The truth is that these are heady times in Tampa with plenty filling up the plate and the sports calendar of the future, hopefully to include the best of football and of soccer and hockey and all of the other sports we can jam onto our calendar here. 

Babaloo!