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Fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Raymond James Stadium is not a noticeable feature of the NFL arenas.
If the football team manages a touchdown in it, a pirate ship fires a cannon shot.
That’s it with special features.
Although it is only 22 years old, the stadium looks like it has fallen out of time.
And this building will be in the focus of millions of people worldwide on Monday night: Then the 55th Super Bowl will be played there.
The final for the American football title shouldn't actually take place in the aging stadium in Tampa, Florida, but in a magnificent new building in Los Angeles.
Because this was delayed, Tampa stepped in, as a kind of plan B.
This plan B could now lead to a special punch line.
For the first time in the history of the Super Bowl, the host team made it into the final (0.30 a.m. CET, TV and stream: Pro7 and DAZN; live ticker SPIEGEL.de).
A win against the reigning champion, Kansas City Chiefs - and the club would be champions for the first time since 2003.
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Raymond James Stadium: wide bowl with red seats
Photo: Dirk Shadd / imago images / ZUMA Wire
It would be the climax of an unusual wave of success for the city's three sports teams that has lasted for four and a half months.
Tampa is suddenly top - in ice hockey, baseball and American football.
"Tampa Bay as Titletown?" The New York Times asked, and the answer followed immediately: "That could well be so." Not long ago that would have sounded more absurd than a white Christmas on Florida's west coast.
The Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater area has a lot to offer.
But those who travel there mostly want to go to the beach, fish, play golf or the famous amusement park - and not to Tampa's sports teams.
The
Lightning
ice hockey professionals
have been a very good NHL address for many years.
With Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherow or Victor Hedman you have players of world class.
And they became champions in September.
But if you want to watch ice hockey games, you haven't necessarily flew to Tampa.
The
Rays also
played for the Major League Baseball title.
You have always been financially weaker than many competitors, but you could still often annoy or even defeat the big players.
The Rays were only stopped in the World Series by the Los Angeles Dodgers, they lost the final series 2: 4.
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Tropicana Field: »Horrible on the outside and worse on the inside«
Photo: Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images
But when you talk about Tampa's baseball team, it's not just about small budgets and big achievements, but also about ridicule and scorn for the stadium.
USA Today ranked Tropicana Field 29th among the 30 MLB arenas in a 2016 report. It was “terrible”, the structure was “terrible on the outside and worse inside” and the atmosphere was “nonexistent.” The assessment ended with the advice not to eat anything there.
An investigation would have shown that there were "100 percent of the sellers serious violations" of health requirements.
Although many places in "The Trop" have been covered with tarpaulin for years so that it doesn't look even more empty and bleak, the league's smallest arena with a capacity of 25,000 is never sold out.
And so there were already concrete plans a year ago to move the home games to Montreal in spring and summer.
But then Corona came.
The biggest surprise among Tampa's teams are the footballers.
The Buccaneers have been in town since 1976, but they are a symbol of defeat and failure.
Despite the five playoff appearances around the turn of the millennium and the Super Bowl victory in 2003, the Bucs are the club with the lowest win rate in North America's four major professional leagues.
Since its premiere in 1976, Tampa has won 278 of 708 preliminary round games.
That corresponds to 39.3 percent.
The bottom of the other major sports leagues are Minnesota Timberwolves (NBA, 39.6 percent), Arizona Coyotes (NHL, 47.8 percent) and San Diego Padres (MLB, 46.1 percent).
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The key to success: Quaterback Tom Brady
But now the Buccaneers (privateers) are reaching for the title in the NFL, the Vince Lombardy Trophy.
The current success is mainly associated with one name: Tom Brady.
In 2020 he ended the most successful chapter in NFL history after 19 years, nine Super Bowl appearances and six championships with the New England Patriots.
Brady brought his winning mentality to the winless Buccaneers and is now playing for the title again at the age of 43.
Florida, the retirees paradise.
Tampa even has an NBA team at the moment - but only for a limited period.
With the US-Canada border closed due to the pandemic, the Toronto Raptors play their home games in Tampa.
With an interim record of 9:12 wins, the 2019 champions are only tenth in the Eastern Conference.
But that doesn't have to mean anything.
Strange things happen in Tampa.
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