Plant Field
Plant Field was the first major athletic venue in Tampa, Florida. It was built in 1899 by Henry B. Plant on the grounds of his Tampa Bay Hotel to host various events and activities for guests, and it consisted of a large field ringed by an oval race track flanked by a large covered grandstand on the western straightaway with portable seating used to accommodate a wide variety of uses.[1] Over the ensuing decades, Plant Field drew Tampa residents and visitors to see horse racing, car racing, baseball games, entertainers, and politicians. The stadium also hosted the first professional football and first spring training games in Tampa and was the long-time home of the Florida State Fair.
Former names
Pepin-Rood Stadium (1971–2002)
Tampa, Florida, United States
Tampa Bay Hotel (1899–1900)
City of Tampa (1900–1971)
University of Tampa (1971–2002)
Grass
1899
2002
Al Lopez Field opened in 1954 and Tampa Stadium opened in 1967, and they became the preferred venues for most of the events that had long been held at Plant Field. The adjacent University of Tampa gained ownership of the facility in 1971, and with Tampa Spartans football games moving to Tampa Stadium and the Florida State Fair moving to a much larger site east of downtown in 1976, Plant Field was primarily used for university events and student recreation.
The university began to gradually convert much of the venue's large footprint to other uses in the 1970s. Much of the seating areas and the race track were removed and several academic buildings and student housing facilities built in their place, while the last portion of the Plant Field grandstand renamed Pepin-Rood Stadium in 1983. The original grandstand was demolished and replaced with smaller modern bleachers in 2002, and much of the original playing field has been incorporated into multiple new venues for the university's athletic programs.[2]