Looking At The Tampa Bay Lighting
One of the most successful expansion teams in the National Hockey League are the Tampa Bay lighting. They played their first game in 1992 and reached the playoffs only four years later. The Lightning story is full of drama including changes in venue, turmoil over ownership and of course, a championship. Here we will take a look at this unconventional, yet interesting team.
The NHL expanded their league by two teams in 1992, adding Tampa Bay and Ottawa. During the late 1980s two rival groups fought to be awarded the Tampa franchise. Adding to the drama was one of the group’s front men, none other than hall of famer Phil Esposito. Late in the evaluation process Esposito’s investment backers backed out. He did not give up.
At the eleventh hour Esposito was able to engage the financial backing of a Japanese consortium of investors. Not satisfied, he then was able to get George Steinbrenner, majority owner of the New York Yankees, to become a limited partner. With all of this financial muscle, the Esposito-led ownership group won the franchise rights for Tampa from the NHL.
The Lightening opening season was less than encouraging. But it was not as bad as many expected it would be. After the first month of the season, they were number one in their division. However, when the season came to a close, the Lightening found themselves dead last. However they did earn 53 points, the highest total for any expansion team’s debut year.
Part of what makes their bit of success that season remarkable is where they played. The team played home games at a tiny expo hall that seated fewer than 11,000 fans. And that as not the worst part. What was worse was that this expo hall was located in the Florida State Fairgrounds. This was not thought of as fabulous within the hockey world. In fact, it was a bit of a laughing stock.
Fortunately for them, that would be the only year they had to play in the hall. Unfortunately, they relocated to the Florida Suncoast Dome, which was later renamed the Thunder Dome. The dome, in St. Petersburg, was designed for baseball. Eventually they moved from there and the future baseball team the Devil Rays, moved in. The dome is now named Tropicana Field.
In addition to venue issues, the team suffered from ownership problems. By the mid-nineties the team was facing bankruptcy and was being investigated by the IRS. There was even talk that Japanese crime syndicates were involved in the money matters of the team. Finally, after a short-lived ownership by Art Williams, the club was sold to Bill Davidson, owner of the Detroit Pistons. It was at this point that Tampa’s fortunes changed for the better.
Maybe it was the new ownership, or perhaps the legitimate hockey venue the Lightning came to play in (The Ice Palace in Tampa, and now called The St Petersburg Times Forum) that turned things around. In 2004 the Lightning, against all expectations, prevailed. They defeated the Calgary Flames to win the Stanley Cup.
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