City: Tampa

Country: United States Of America

State: Florida

Zip: 33602

The St. Pete Times Forum is an arena in Tampa, Florida, that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, and arena football games, as well as concerts. It is home to the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League and the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League. The arena was built as a new home for the Lightning after the club outgrew the older, smaller Expo Hall at the Florida State Fairgrounds. Prior to the opening of the Ice Palace, the Lightning moved to the Florida Suncoast Dome, which was nicknamed the "Thunderdome," in St. Petersburg, Florida, joining the Tampa Bay Storm, in 1994. Upon the completion of the Ice Palace, both the Lightning and the Storm, moved in. The Thunderdome, now named Tropicana Field, is currently home to Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays.

Control of the venue has changed hands three times since the building's opening in 1996. The lease agreement ties the arena to the ownership of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Naming rights to the Ice Palace were sold to the St. Petersburg Times, a daily newspaper which circulates throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Other entertainment events occasionally held in the Forum include concerts, NBA exhibition games, USF Basketball and NCAA Tournament games, tennis, professional wrestling, boxing, figure skating, and rodeos (as well as stand-alone bull riding events; the Forum has hosted an event by the PBR's premier tour, the Bud Light Cup (renamed Built Ford Tough Series in 2003), annually since 1998.)