Al Lang Stadium – stadium description

Sporting history of this place began beck in 1923, when first baseball game was held here. From 1947 it functioned as a professional stadium able to hold major games. In 1976 the existing main grandstand in the north was built and MLB teams were flocking here for their pre-season training games.

Thanks to these “exhibition tenants” the stadium gained quite a reputation for off-season baseball. This wouldn’t have happened with promotion efforts by Al Lang, who in return received patronage over the stadium.

But despite the reputation there was no solid tenant to provide constant use for the stadium until 2011, when soccer team FC Tampa Bay (later Rowdies) moved here. The second league club celebrated their first NASL Championship here and strengthened their position enough to force banning baseball from the building. Pitch conversion from baseball to soccer and back was negatively affecting the field’s state. In 2014 the stadium was converted to soccer-specific and equipped with temporary stands along the western side. Eventually building a brand new 18,000-capacity stadium might be possible here.