Some stadium news.
The Bucs may or may not have a new stadium at the end of the decade. But the current Bucs’ crib will be glossed with a new official name in a couple of years.
(No, Joe never types the official name of The Licht House because Joe reasons if the financial outfit based in St. Petersburg can easily cough up millions annually to have its name plastered on the Bucs’ crib, then they can surely afford to cut Joe a modest check each year rather than Joe handing out multiple pieces of free daily advertising 24/7/365. The least this outfit could do would be to give Joe a break on wealth management services. You know, something for the effort? So Joe only finds it fair that if they won’t give Joe the time of day, Joe doesn’t have to give them free daily advertising either. Fair is fair. Of course, Joe is easy to reach and is open-minded if someone from said financial outfit wants to reach out to Joe to discuss this matter.)
[This information](https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/03/07/unsettled-undertaking/) comes by way of Bret McCormick and Ben Fischer of the _Sports Business Journal_.
The piece really doesn’t answer a lot of questions on the future of the Bucs’ current stadium or a potential new home in the otherwise mostly dry article.
McCormick and Fischer did seem to suggest the reason why there are zero plans or efforts to build the Rays a stadium in Tampa is that officials in Tampa are loading their coffers preparing for what’s likely around the corner in a few years with the Bucs: Either a major stadium renovation or a brand new crib (also, the article notes, don’t forget about the almost 30-year old Ice Palace and the Lightning).
One item in the SBJ article noted that the NFL informed Tampa authorities that because the last Super Bowl the city hosted happened during the throes of The Sickness in February 2021, Tampa would likely be pushed to the front of the line to host another Super Bowl if the city put in another bid.
However, there is one major caveat to that wink-and-nod: The NFL will not consider the bid serious unless The Licht House is renovated.
And a second item also caught Joe’s attention: Apparently, the current stadium does not generate rivers of cash like many other modern stadiums (or for the English teachers out there, stadia).
> But it’s also a big story for the rest of the NFL, where the bar keeps getting higher for revenue and venue expectations. The Bucs are somewhere between the 16th- and 20th-most valuable franchise in the NFL, according to recent public estimates, despite playing in the 11th-largest media market — an incongruity that likely reflects Raymond James’ outdated revenue-generation potential and the Bucs’ hands-off approach to the stadium’s overall business.
The key element of this _SBJ_ story, for Joe, is that The Licht House will have a new official name no later than the 2028 season.
> The Raymond James naming-rights deal expires in 2027, too; the financial institution has already informed the team it’s not renewing the deal first arranged in 1998 and renewed in 2015. The Bucs control naming-rights revenue, receiving just over $3 million annually from Raymond James. It’s safe to assume a new naming-rights deal could see a significant upgrade on the annual payout.
So maybe, just maybe, whoever purchases the naming rights in a couple of years for the stadium will play ball with Joe? The financial outfit in St. Petersburg never has.
And Joe can assure you his rates are far more reasonable.