The Florida Suncoast Dome remains a historical footnote of baseball futility for Tampa Bay area residents, but the same stadium has formed its own valuable niche in another professional sport.
The Suncoast Dome, after being spurned earlier this year by the San Francisco Giants, traded its foul lines for blue lines and transformed itself into the largest arena in the National Hockey League.
The main benefactor has been the second-year Tampa Bay Lightning, who moved this season from the league’s smallest arena to its most spacious.
Last year Tampa Bay played at the antiquated 10,425-seat Expo Hall at the Florida Fairgrounds in Tampa. The new home in downtown St. Petersburg, renamed the ThunderDome, can house nearly 8,000 more than the league’s second-largest stadium, the 20,230-seat Olympic Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta.
The ThunderDome played host to an NHL-record crowd of 27,727 when the Lightning played expansion Florida on Oct. 9 in the home opener. The Lightning have drawn 144,686 fans in seven home dates – the low being 16,006 for Winnipeg on Wednesday – and are on pace to draw an NHL-record 800,000 for a season. Calgary holds the mark with 799,434.
“The advantages it has had for everyone, from the fans to the team to the players, has been very positive,” Lightning President and General Manager Phil Esposito said. “All the things have been done to make it the best possible facility given the limitations – from the reconfigured seating for better sight lines to the scoreboard to the fan activity center.”
The arena has drawn overwhelming praise from the fans, but the site is temporary. The Lightning plan to move to a permanent facility in either Hillsborough or Pinellas County in time for the 1995-96 season.
The ThunderDome is not an option because the city of St. Petersburg will continue to pursue a baseball franchise, but it has offered a site adjacent to the stadium. The other two sites are next to Tampa Stadium and in the downtown Tampa area.
A decision could come as early as today, with a Hillsborough site reportedly holding the edge.
“Everybody has been brainwashed that it’s a baseball stadium, but it accommodates hockey really well,” said fan Joe Favara of St. Petersburg. “I can’t think of anything wrong with here except the other night when the Zamboni went down.”
Orlando fans are faced with an additional 30- to 45-minute drive to the ThunderDome, but there are plenty of benefits to compensate for the travel time.
Because the stadium is so much larger, getting tickets is easy, and they are cheaper. Last season the Lightning filled Expo Hall to capacity for more than 96 percent of its games, leaving many fans left out or dealing with the inflated prices of scalpers.
With the ThunderDome, there are 16,000 seats available for $19.50 or less, and the average ticket price has dropped from $29 to $19.50. The regular-season ticket prices range from $12 to $50, with four seating areas available for $25 and below. The Lightning also offer $8 general-admission seating in the upper deck, which is the lowest ticket available for an NHL game.
It took the Lightning less than three months to convert the baseball stadium into a hockey arena. The rink runs lengthwise down the first-base line with seats from the main structure situated behind the team benches and one of the goals. Temporary stands sit behind the penalty boxes and the other goal with large blue curtains closing off the rink from the rest of the stadium.
The sight lines are vastly improved from the Expo Hall setup – where a lack of a vertical pitch posed the biggest problems – and nearly every seat offers a good view.
The one glaring exception is the group of $50 ice-level seats that are directly behind the team benches. The view is obstructed by the players and coaches, and those seats have gone unsold for the most part.
The Lightning also have added some special touches to make the ThunderDome more attractive than other arenas. The most noticeable is the scoreboard above center ice that has replay capabilities on four sides. It is one of 10 in the league and was able to broadcast Game 6 of the World Series between periods of last week’s game against Toronto.
“I was really impressed with the scoreboard, and overall it’s a nice facility,” said Jeff Houck of Palm Harbor, who was attending his first NHL game. “Everybody told me the fairgrounds were unaccommodating for hockey, but this place is perfect. The two entities are good for each other.”
The most talked-about addition has been the recently completed fan activity center located behind the curtains.
Fans can play sports-related video games; shoot baskets on regulation goals; hit golf balls into a driving net; play in a street hockey rink; kick field goals on artificial turf through a regulation goal post; pass footballs to moving life-size player targets; or take slap shots on NHL nets that record accuracy and speed. Some of the games are free and none are more than $1.
“It’s great if you get there early or the breaks between periods, especially if you have kids,” said Marie Baxter of Brandon. “The lines are a little long, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Nearby is the Lightning Club, one of two lounges available to specific ticket holders. The Lightning Club is a large tent inside the arena that serves as a restaurant, lounge and cocktail area for season-ticket holders who paid a fee to become members.
The other is the Lord Stanley Club, which is a three-tier lounge (formerly the baseball press box) that is available at no extra charge to fans in the 200-level mezzanine. The fans on that $25 level also have the luxury of waiter service at their seats.
The only complaints have been high concession prices and the sound system. The concession prices, however, are in line with the majority of stadiums, including Orlando Arena.
The sound system has been muffled at times and difficult to hear in some areas. Lightning officials said they are continuing to experiment with the system until it is corrected.
New fans such as Jeff Houck of Palm Harbor and Terry Cassidy of Winter Haven were impressed with the sport as well as the arena. The combination could have them coming back for another taste.
“I’ve never been a hockey fan – I’m more of a Magic fan – but this whole experience is worth it,” Cassidy said. “Everything is real nice. I’d come back.”
