From the moment they arrive, Super Bowl fans returning to Tampa for the NFL title game in 2021 will see and experience an entirely new Tampa Bay region. Whether it's the expanded airport, the growing universities and thriving downtowns or the new entertainment destinations and incubators for business, visitors will feel and taste a livelier metro area that is attracting new residents and industry alike. As with any single event, the Super Bowl is not an end-all for the region. But it provides the area a yardstick for progress, and local leaders should use the next few years to fill some critical gaps.
NFL owners meeting Tuesday in Chicago voted unanimously to shift Super Bowl LV, which will be played in February 2021, to Tampa from Los Angeles. The decision came days after the Rams and Chargers announced that heavy rainfall in Southern California had pushed back the opening of the stadium they will share in Inglewood until 2020. The league prohibits stadiums from hosting a Super Bowl until they have been operational for at least two years. While Tampa must sort out several logistical details in the coming months, officials are confident the area will be prepared to host its fifth Super Bowl. Tampa last hosted the game in 2009.
The league was right to give Tampa its vote of confidence. The region has become something of a machine in pulling off not only Super Bowls but other marquee events in recent years, from the Republican National Convention and the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to the Bollywood Oscars. That's a credit to local tourism officials in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, who have put parochial interests aside and worked in concert to market the region. The good weather helps, but there's no denying that hard work and a solid track record helped the bay area to score again.
Even in the life cycle of Tampa Bay's Super Bowl history, the region has come a long way since its first championship game in 1984. The area's population has nearly doubled, from about 1.7 million to today's 3 million. Thousands of new residents have flocked to the downtowns of St. Petersburg and Tampa. Since the last Super Bowl here in 2009, the area's economy has grown 21 percent, to about $134 billion. The University of South Florida has expanded its presence across the region, with research increasing to about $500 million, an 80 percent hike since 2009. And millions more passengers are passing through Tampa International Airport, which itself is undergoing a $1 billion expansion. Tampa's port is welcoming new cruise ships. The region is moving forward and changing character. But there are still major gaps.
Pinellas and Hillsborough have both failed in their efforts to build a more modern transit system. With tens of thousands of commuters traveling across county lines to work every day, the lack of rail, express bus and other commuting options has left this region in the wilderness when it comes to moving people and goods. That creates a hassle for residents, an inconvenience for tourists and an added cost for business. While tourism leaders will bandage this deficiency by using charters, shuttles, private cars and other options for Super Bowl visitors, the fact remains that the transportation system is still stuck in the last century.
Several transit projects in the works could become a reality in the intervening years before the Super Bowl, as could a number of initiatives to remake Tampa Bay as a center for digital-driven millennials and start-ups. Leaders should view the Super Bowl as a chance to see the region through realistic eyes, warts and all, and honestly address what it would take to move Tampa Bay into the next tier, including improving a public education system in Hillsborough and Pinellas where only 56 percent of third-graders read at grade level. Fans watching the game in person and on TV should want to imagine living here. Good roads and transit, good schools and affordable housing are keys to that vision. Securing the game is a measure of what others believe this region can do. That same ambition should take light here.