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Tampa Bay Sun FC to kick off inaugural season
Ariel Plasencia reports
TAMPA, Fla. - Construction to upgrade Blake High School’s riverfront stadium begins this week as the Bay Area’s first professional women’s soccer team prepares for its inaugural season this fall.
The Tampa Bay Sun Football Club will kick off its season in August and play games at Blake High School for its first few seasons.
"We are truly elated to welcome this historic first: A professional women's soccer team to Tampa on the campus of Howard W. Blake High School," principal Valerie Newton said.
On Monday, the Blake High School marching band and boys and girls soccer teams joined Tampa Bay Sun FC’s owners, including Darryl Shaw, for a pep rally to kick off the upcoming construction.
The renovations will cost more than $6 million and will elevate the high school stadium to professional standards.
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"Another crown jewel in the Tampa Bay area on the professional landscape," team president Christina Unkel said. "You already see a beautiful stadium that's going to turn into even a greater stadium.
Renovations include new fan zones, upgraded locker rooms, additional seating, a new state-of-the-art scoreboard, and FIFA-approved turf. Construction is expected to be complete before the season begins this fall.
"For us, this project is much bigger than us. And we look forward to bringing in the students, letting them engage in the construction process and figuring out ways they can be a part of the project and the process," Allen Greene II, co-founder of Envision Construction Services, said.
The plan is for math and engineering students to help with the construction process. Eventually, performing arts students will have opportunities to participate in the game day experience. TV production students will get hands-on experience with in-game broadcasting.
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"There's a lot in the business side that we are engaging the students with as well. From not just fan game day experience, fan host, but understanding how tickets work, understanding how you really do structure a sports team," Unkel said.
Tampa Bay Sun FC is owned by developers Darryl Shaw, David Laxer and Jeff Fox, all of whom grew up locally playing soccer together.
According to team officials, the upgrades will be at no cost to taxpayers and will remain in place when the team later moves to its permanent home, which is expected to happen in three to five years.
"We will stay in the heart of Tampa Bay. We'll be staying near the Ybor area specifically, is where we're looking," Unkel said of the team’s future, permanent home.
The USL Super League, which is what the Tampa Bay Sun will join, is a new professional women's soccer league that was just approved as a Division One league, meaning the new women’s soccer team will be competing at the highest level in professional sports.