5 things you should know about WWE's new venue Tropicana Field

WWE has announced that they will be moving the ThunderDome from the Amway Center in Orlando to Tropicana Field beginning December 11th, 2020. Much like at the Amway Center, fans will not be allowed into the ThunderDome due to COVID-19 restrictions, and there is no word on how long the residency will last.

With that being said, let's look at 5 things you should know about the new home of the ThunderDome, Tropicana Field.

#5 Tropicana Field is home to the Tampa Bay Rays

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If you don't know baseball, you may not know exactly what Tropicana Field is. Located in St. Petersburg, Florida, Tropicana Field opened in March of 1990 under the name of the Florida Suncoast Dome. The stadium didn't have a tenant until 1991 when the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arean Football League (AFL) made its debut.

In 1995, Tampa Bay was named as an expansion team for Major League Baseball (MLB), and in 1998, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays would hold their inaugural season. From 1998-2007, the Devil Rays finished dead last in the American League East in 9 of its first 10 seasons. The team went through somewhat of a rebranding, dropping the "Devil" from their name, and became simply the Tampa Bay Rays.

Since the name change, the Rays have seen much better results than in their first 10 years and even made it to the 2020 World Series, but lost to the eventual Champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tropicana Field currently has a capacity of 42,735 but has had problems with fans not coming to the stadium. When fans are permitted back into MLB games, a recent World Series appearance should be enough to bring more fans to Tropicana Field.

#4 Tropicana Field was once named "The Thunderdome"

Tampa Bay Lightning honoring The Thunderdome with a patch on their jerseys

In 1990, the National Hockey League (NHL) announced it would be expanding its number of teams. Tampa Bay was granted an NHL team, and in 1992, the Tampa Bay Lightning played its first game in the NHL. Originally, the Lightning played their home games at Expo Hall in Tampa, but in 1993 they moved to the Florida Suncoast Dome (Tropicana Field) while their own stadium (Amalie Arena) was being built.

With the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL and the Tampa Bay Storm of the AHL playing in the same stadium, the Florida Suncoast Dome was renamed "The Thunderdome". The Lightning actually did well with The Thunderdome being their home rink. In their home opener in 1993, the Lightning set an NHL attendance record when 27,227 fans saw the team lose to the Florida Panthers.

The Thunderdome set another record later that year when the Lightning played the Philadelphia Flyers in the playoffs and 25,945 fans attended Game 3. That record lasted just two days, where Game 4 drew 28,183 fans, a playoff attendance record that still stands today.

#3 Tropicana Field's Rays Touch Tank

Tropicana Field actually has a "mini" aquarium just over the right-center field wall. Named The Rays Touch Tank, the tank is a 35-foot, 10,000-gallon tank that actually holds three different species of rays.

The tank in Tropicana Field is one of the top 10 biggest tanks in all of America and gives Rays fans the ability to see rays up close, and even learn about them. It's sponsored and maintained by the Florida Aquarium, a not-for-profit organization in Tampa Bay, Florida.

For every home-run that is hit into the tank by a Rays player, the Tampa Bay Rays donate $5,000 to charity. $2,500 goes to the Florida Aquarium, and the other $2,500 goes to that player's charity of choice. So far, only eight Rays players have hit home runs into the tank, the most recent being Yoshi Tsutsugo this September.

#2 Catwalk controversy

One of the biggest negatives about Tropicana Field is the catwalk. Tropicana Field's roof is slanted towards the outfield, which means that the catwalks on the dome that support the roof and the speaker system are extremely low the further in the outfield you go.

For years, many MLB players, managers, and critics spoke about what the rules for the catwalks should be. On numerous occasions, balls hit in Tropicana Field that would've been a home run struck the catwalk and were called either out, or a foul ball.

Currently, the Tropicana Field rules state that any ball that hits the lower two catwalks, in fair territory, would be ruled a home run. If a ball strikes the upper two catwalks, that ball is in play and could be caught by a fielder for an out. In 2016, a ball actually hit the catwalk, but got stuck and didn't come down. The rules state that the batter gets two bases in that instance.

#1 Tropicana Field concerts

Over the years, Tropicana Field has hosted many different concerts since its inception. One of the first large events held at Tropicana Field was a Don Henley concert in 1990. Since then, many big-name acts have held concerts at Tropicana Field, names like Eric Clapton, David Bowie, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, and Van Halen. The New Kids on the Block currently hold the record for the largest crowd at Tropicana Field when 47,150 concertgoers saw the group in 1990.

Since 1998, the number of high profile concerts at Tropicana Field has decreased due to the Tampa Bay Rays calling "The Trop" their home. Since an MLB season is 162 games (81 of which are played at Tropicana Field) scheduling concerts is quite difficult. Not to mention, the Amalie Arena and the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre have somewhat stolen big concerts from Tropicana Field.

Tropicana Field also used to hold the Rays Summer Concert Series. These concerts took place after Ray's baseball games starting in 2007 at no extra charge to ticket holders. Originally, the idea was for lesser-known and up-and-coming acts to showcase their talent to Rays fans.

After the success in 2007, the Rays booked some high-profile names to perform after baseball games - names such as The Beach Boys, LL Cool J, ZZ Top, Avril Lavigne, and even The Wiggles. However, citing the stress the concerts had on the artificial turf, Tropicana Field discontinued the series before the 2018 season.

Edited by Nishant Jayaram