Why did the NFL go with Tampa Bay vs. just Tampa for the Bucs? Isn’t the team named for the city?
I am imagining from reading this site that it is because it is the greater Tampa-area, and not just Tampa itself. I am betting that it includes St. Pete which is a whole different city, yet is definitely part of the Tampa area … but that is just a WAG…
If memory serves me correctly, Tampa Bay is the region, while Tampa is a city within that region.
Florida has many strange city/area naming conventions. For instance, there is a Panama City, and another city named Panama City Beach (they are right next to each other, but still considered separate).
And there is Dania Beach, which does not have a shoreline.
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays play in Tropicana Field which is in St. Petersburg.
The Buccaneers play in Tampa, but I assume that everyone in the area is placated by the choice of the name for both teams.
Presumably, there are Devil Ray fans.
Same reason there are teams in “Minnesota,” “Arizona,” “Florida,” etc.
My favorite is the Carolina Panthers … can you be any more vague?
Likewise “Jacksonville Beach”, comprising most of the coastline near Jacksonville, is also a separate municipality for some reason.
In the case of sports teams that play in urban areas with two or more significant municipalities it is common convention to name the team after the area or state, or after a neighboring city larger than the one they play in, in an effort to appeal to fans from the wider area. The names given pro sports teams are very calculated marketing movies. Some examples:
-
TAMPA BAY EVERYTHING. The Devil Rays, Buccaneers, and Lightning are all named “Tampa Bay” in order to appeal to residents of both Tampa and St. Petersburg.
-
ARIZONA Diamondbacks and Cardinals play in Phoenix, but are so named in order, presumably, to appeal to the whole state. Curiously, the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Coyotes don’t abide by this convention. I’m not sure why they called themselves “Arizona,” since there aren’t any really large cities anywhere else in Arizona I would think it’s important to appeal to, nor is there much pro sports competition.
-
The GOLDEN STATE Warriors of Oakland are so named in order to appeal to basketball fans in all of the Bay area. It would help, I suppose, if they could occasionally win the odd basketball game.
-
The MINNESOTA EVERYTHING: Vikings, Twins, Wild, and Timberwolves. Some play in St. Paul, others in Minneapolis.
-
The NEW YORK Giants and Jets of the NFL do not actually play in New York; they play in New Jersey, but call themselves that because they want to be identified with New York.
-
The WASHINGTON REDSKINS do not play in Washington, either. They play in Maryland (this is a recent change, though; they played in Washington up until last year.)
-
The CALIFORNIA/ANAHEIM ANGELS were originally called the Los Angeles Angels. Upon moving to Anaheim they became the California Angels in order to appeal to the wider metropolitan area. Then recently they became the Anaheim Angels because they felt (as part of the Disney stretegy) it would be wiser to specifically identify with that city.
-
The CAROLINA Hurricanes and Panthers chose a name that doesn’t even refer to a specific state, since they both hope to appeal to the entire area to draw fans. This makes sense for the football team; I’m not sure it’s wise for the hockey team.
-
TENNESSEE TITANS. Attempting to market to the whole state since no one city in Tennessee is quite large enough for a pro football team.
-
TEXAS RANGERS. The Rangers, truth be told, are Dallas’s baseball team, but they actually play in Arlington, so they’re trying to market to the whole area.
-
OTTAWA SENATORS. The Senators do not play in Ottawa; they play in Kanata. (They originally did play in Ottawa until their new stadium was completed.) For obvious reasons they choose to be associated with the capital city’s name.
-
The COLORADO Rockies and Avalanche have apparently tried to appeal to the whole state; the Denver Broncos and Nuggets apparently havent.
RickJay:
They might have done this to bump themselves to the top of the alphabetical listing of teams. This can make a subtle, but real difference, in marketing exposure.
In the case of the Coyotes, the Mighty Ducks already had them beaten either way, and the NBA wasn’t all that marketing-savvy back in the days when the Suns were founded.
The D-Backs chose the “Arizona” of their name immediately upon being awarded an expansion team, which was before the Angels switched from “California” to “Anaheim.” Even so, they’re alphabetically first in their league.
Just for the record, the AA franchise in the Rockies farm system is the Carolina Mudcats, so called because they are located in North Carolina but, because they were required by the Durham Bulls to play at least 35 miles from the Bulls’ stadium, are located in a non-contiguous region of the Town of Zebulon, NC, about 20 miles east of Raleigh and about 25 west of Wilson. Neither the Zebulon Mudcats nor the Out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-next-to-the-Southern-RR-tracks-and-across-the-road-from-the-Monarch-Foods-warehouse Mudcats seem to particularly fit.
– Poly (who lives 5 miles north of the Mudcats’ Five County Stadium)
When the St. Louis Cardinals moved to Phoenix in 1988, they were named the Phoenix Cardinals for six years before renaming themselves Arizona Cardinals in 1994 (cite).
The Carolina Panthers choice of a geographical descriptor was also needed because they played their first season in South Carolina at Clemson University.
Now they need a vague name so no one can find them.
Tampa is located in Hillsborough County. When the Buccaneers began I would have defined the Tampa Bay area as Hillsborough County (east of the Bay), Pinellas County (west of the Bay) and Manatee & Sarasota counties (both south of the Bay). Tampa Bay is the defining geographic feature (a series of bridges tie Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties together).
The main cities in this area are Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Bradenton and Sarasota. In the past 25+ years, since the Bucs were founded, there has been a lot of growth/expansion into Pasco and Polk counties, so I’ll include them here. I know people that live/have lived in each of these counties and commuted to the city of Tampa for work, so it’s fair to include them.
Hillsborough (Tampa) = 1,000,000
Pinellas (Clearwater & St. Pete) = 920,000
Manatee (Bradenton) = 264,000
Sarasota (Sarasota) = 326,000
Polk = 484,000
Pasco = 345,000
total is around 3.4 million. Of that under 1/3 is in Hillsborough which entirely contains the City of Tampa. Pinellas is also close to 1/3 of the region. People who live in Pinellas county would not consider them Tampans anymore than people in Oakland would consider themselves San Franciscans. Hence the area name for inclusion. Calling themselves the Florida something-or-others would have been considered arrogant, since there was already a very successful NFL franchise in the southeast corner of the state.
Another reason could be cadence. Tampa Buccaneers just doesn’t sound right. It’s lacking a syllable or has 2 syllables too many.
Yes, they’re called the New England Patriots. How many states make up the area called New England? Something like six.
Virtually all the cities in Florida have a “Beach” counter part.
Most people don’t realize very few Flordida well known cities lie on the ocean. I can think of only one off hand Naples (not counting the keys).
The rest of the well known cities lie on the mainland seperated from the Atlantic or Gulf by barrier islands. Thus you have Clearwater, Clearwater BEACH, St Petersburg Beach, Miami and MIAMI BEACH, Jacksonville, Jacksonville BEACH, Fort Meyers and Fort Meyers BEACH etc etc…
OK, then. Which pro team excludes as much geography as possible? I’d guess the Green Bay Packers. A tiny town.
Tho on second thought, Green Bay is kinda big. The body of water, that is. Takes in Sturgeon Bay, Marinette, Menominie, and even Fish Creek, IIRC.
Any other minimalist-named teams?
[hijack]
Why are there no football teams associated with France? New Orleans chooses the “saints”, which is not necessarily french in nature. Notre Dame: Fighting Irish. I though Notre Dame was in France. I guess it’s because the idea of an aggressive Frenchman is oxymoronic. Would the penalty flags be white? Would the team be rewarded for giving up ground as fast as possible?
[/hijack]
The Anaheim Angels and Anaheim Mighty Ducks represent a relatively small city by US pro sports standards (310, 654).
Anaheim is the 10th largest city in California however.
The Norfolk Admirals (AHL) used to be called the Hampton Roads Admirals when they were in the ECHL. Apparently that’s what the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area and such is called.
They changed to Norfolk Admirals? Hmm. I dont know why, they get good popularity in the area.
The Norfolk Tides used to be the Tidewater Tides when they played in Virginia Beach IIRC.
Oh and BTW Hampton Roads (SE VA) includes 7 cities, VA Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News. Each sizable cities in their own right. Hampton Roads is the largest metropolitan area without a (non-minorleague) professional sports team.