The Tampa Sportatorium was a professional wrestling studio used by Championship Wrestling from Florida. The former television studio building may be demolished for a new building. [1]
Located at 106 N Albany Ave near downtown Tampa, Florida, the 7,500-square-foot stucco building was used for television tapings at 11am on Thursdays, which would air on the following Sundays. [2] Tampa native Hulk Hogan attended shows at the Sportatorium as a teenager and recalled that the studio could not fit more than 50 people in it and that it was not air conditioned despite Florida's often warm, subtropical, and humid climate. [3] To make the room seem bigger to the television audience, the walls were painted black. [4] Dory Funk Jr. praised the content to come out of the building, stating: "The Sportatorium was small, but the television it produced was so good." [4]
The upstairs of the building was used as an office by company executives Eddie and Mike Graham and Jim Barnett. [5] Championship Wrestling from Florida closed in 1987 and the Graham family sold the building a few years later. [2] A textile factory occupied the building for many years, until a foreclosure saw it go on auction in 2016. [4] [6] In 2020, it was purchased by a Miami-based development group. [2]
References
- ^ https://www.tampabay.com/life-culture/history/2024/07/08/tampa-sportatorium-champioship-wrestling-from-florida/
- ^ a b c "The Sportatorium, site of TV's wrestling from Tampa, will be leased for business". Tampa Bay Times.
- ^ Hogan, Hulk (2002). Hollywood Hulk Hogan. WWE Books.
- ^ a b c "The Sportatorium, an icon of Tampa wrestling, to be auctioned". Tampa Bay Times.
- ^ Backlund, Bob (2015). Backlund. Sports Publishing.
- ^ "TAMPA SPORTATORIUM, HOME OF CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING FROM FLORIDA, GOING ON SALE | PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com.