Monster Jam to return to Tampa in March

Monster Jam is returning to Raymond James Stadium next month, as the Tampa Bay-based company Feld Entertainment continues its return to touring one of the first big arena-sized entertainment shows.

The enormous trucks, such as Grave Digger and Zombie and Scooby-Doo, look the same, but the shows March 12-14 will have a decidedly different feel.

The audience will have to wear masks, and the merchandise and concessions will be contactless, allowing people to pre-order, and then pick it up later. The audience will be separated into pods of families and households at a much-reduced capacity of about 25 percent of the stadium’s normal crowd, Feld has said.

Feld is taking its safety protocol cues from the Super Bowl and other sports events. The company, which hosted the successful WNBA bubble in one of the two arena-sized rehearsal spaces at its Manatee County headquarters, has hired an epidemiologist as a consultant.

The giant trucks began flying over the mud last October when Monster Jam played AT&T Stadium near Dallas. It kicked off the 2021 season in Salt Lake City in January and has been touring in Texas. The show arrives in Orlando the week before the Tampa shows.

These events will use pod seating, the company said, to ensure social distancing. “Pods must be purchased in their entirety and may not be divided,” the show’s ticket site says.

There will be a limited capacity Pit Party before the show, which is when families typically tailgate and get their pictures taken with drivers and the 12,000-pound monster trucks. The only Pit Party on this tour will be Saturday March 13 from 4-6 p.m. where the guests can see the massive trucks up close, watch live pre-race interviews, ask the drivers questions and get pre-signed autograph cards.

Monster Jam is a family-friendly show of adrenaline using cartoonishly decorated trucks that measure 12 feet tall and 10 feet wide. Despite their size, they soar over ramps, do back flips and land on lesser vehicles like school buses and smash them to bits.

The show has been so popular in Tampa in the past decade that it usually schedules two visits, about five weeks apart, and sells well at each one. There isn’t a plan for a second Tampa show at this time, a spokeswoman said.

Tickets starting at $30 go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster. Visit MonsterJam.com for event and ticketing policies.