Looking At The Tampa Bay Lighting

The Tampa Bay lighting is one of the most successful expansion teams in the NHL. Their first game was played in 1992, and it took only four years for them to play a playoff game. Their story is packed with drama surrounding venues, ownerships and a championship. This is a brief overview of some of the highlights in the history of this interesting, if not unconventional team.

The National Hockey League expanded in 1992 with additions in Ottawa and Tampa Bay. In the late 80s there were two groups seeking the franchise in the Bay area. Much of the drama began with one group front man, Phil Esposito, former player and member of the Hall of Fame. Late in the game, he lost his financial backers but did not let that get in his way.

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 Lightning's inaugural season was not exactly encouraging. But it was not an utter catastrophe either. Within one month of play they were atop of their division. However, the season ended in reverse. They finished the season in last place. They did manage to earn fifty-three points, a total which was the highest for any expansion's team first year.

Their little amount of success they did see was quite remarkable when you take into account where they were playing. Home for the Lightening was a little expo hall within the Florida State Fairgrounds that only seated about 11,000 people. This tiny venue at the fairgrounds created more than a few chuckles and sneers.

The good news was that they would move out of the hall the next year. Now for the bad news. They moved to the Thunder Dome (initially called the Florida Suncoast Dome). This dome was built to house baseball games and was in St. Petersburg. Luckily they did move out of there too and the new baseball team, the Devil Rays (now the Rays) moved in in 1998. The Thunder Dome is now called Tropicana Field.

Turmoil over venue was not the only trouble facing the team. In the 1990s the Lightening was being investigated by the IRS and looking at bankruptcy. Further, there were accusations that a Japanese crime syndicate was involved with finances. Art Williams owned the team briefly and then it was bought by Detroit Pistons owner, Bill Davidson. This is about the time that things started looking better for the club.

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.