Expands Tampa Bay Professional Sports Scene
By Steve Traiman
The USL Super League is a professional women’s soccer league set to kick off in August 2024. Built for the future of women’s soccer, the USL Super League has committed to U.S. Soccer’s Division One standards, reflecting its collective vision to be a global leader on and off the field while providing more opportunities for more women in more communities.
The USL Super League will play on the “fall-to-summer” soccer calendar traditionally followed around the world, ensuring players are able to represent both club and country and allowing clubs to actively participate in the emerging global women’s transfer market. When the Tampa Bay Sun Football Club opens play in the new U.S. Soccer Division One women’s 8-team USL Super League inaugural season next August, it will join the Tampa Bay MLB Rays, NFL Buccaneers, NHL Lightning, and the USL Rowdies to expand the local major league sports scene.
The Sun’s team coach, Denise Schilte-Brown, joined the Super League Tampa Bay in November after completing her 17th season as head coach for the University of South Florida (USF Bulls).
Childhood friends and local Tampa Bay business leaders Darryl Shaw, David Laxer and Jeff Fox serve as co-owners of the new team. At the November announcement of the new club’s name and logo crest, Shaw said, “Creating a community-centered club has been our unwavering focus since day one! We invested months in engaging with and heeding the voices of our community across the region. In those conversations, this message stood out loud and clear.”
The team’s president – Christina Unkel, J.D, M.B.A – is an entrepreneur, legal attorney, multi-business owner, and sports TV analyst/journalist. As a past NCAA collegiate soccer athlete and former FIFA referee, Christina has spent the past 15 years working and performing at the highest professional, international, and collegiate levels of the soccer game among the elite players of the world. Said Unkel about creating the name and logo, “Through months of thoughtful discussions and meetings with fan groups, we turned directly to our local communities. We wanted to capture part of all we love about the Tampa Bay area and find a symbol that’s full of energy, with the power to connect us all together.”
The team got more than 2,500 entries from the public and nine suggested Sun(s). As one explained, “You can have Tampa Bay Sun FC and within an hour you can touch the beach, the city and the county.” All nine will get a prize pack with team merchandise and a ball signed by the new team roster. The club is also working with the fans on a new team mascot to be announced later.
In October, the Hillsborough County School Board approved a landmark partnership with Super League Tampa Bay to expand the waterfront stadium adjacent to Blake High School in downtown Tampa. The Club will invest more than $4 million in stadium enhancements for permanent upgrades that will remain with the school when the team later moves to its permanent Riverwalk area home.
At that meeting, Interim School Superintendent Van Ayres said: “This is a unique public-private partnership that creates fantastic opportunities for our students and the entire community.” Added Unkel, “As a fan this location unlocks an entire evening of fun, with so many hubs of activity around downtown Tampa. You can have dinner with friends, then hop on a water taxi or stroll to the Riverwalk and cheer for the Sun.”
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor put it in perspective: “The value of having a women’s professional soccer league here can’t only be measured in dollars and cents. The timing could not be better as women’s professional soccer has been exploding around the world. The Tampa Bay Sun will rapidly become part of the fabric of our vibrant community. The team holds a special place in my heart as a shining example of how girls and young women of any age can participate in sports at any age and sharpen the skills they will need to succeed in life.” Learn more at www.tampabaysunfc.com.
[Feature Editor Steve Traiman is president of Creative Copy by Steve Traiman and can be reached by email at traimancreativecopy@gmail.com]