The St. Louis Rams come to Raymond James Stadium this Sunday, rekindling memories of some incredible late-season matchups with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a dozen years ago. But if December is about unforgettable football, it's also about families coming together in celebration of the holiday season.
Fortunately for Buccaneer fans, the team has found a way to combine both of those pastimes into an experience destined to become a holiday tradition in the Bay area. Fans who attend Tampa Bay's Dec. 23 game against the St. Louis Rams at Raymond James Stadium are invited to stick around after the contest for the inaugural "Faith and Football" event, featuring a free concert by the Grammy-nominated band, Newsboys.
The Faith and Football event series has proved extremely popular at a variety of sporting venues, as well as such amusement parks as Disney World and Universal Studios. The Kansas City Chiefs held their fifth annual "Faith and Family Day" after their August 10 game against Arizona, and similar events have taken place in Florida after games by the Jacksonville Jaguars and the NBA's Orlando Magic. Similar events have also entertained fans at such MLB locales as Philadelphia, Arizona, Houston and Kansas City; at NHL arenas in Anaheim, Los Angeles and Columbus; and following NBA games in Indiana, Phoenix, New Orleans and Sacramento. The Buccaneers have added one more appealing element to this trend, scheduling their inaugural event for the holiday season.
The Faith and Football event is part of the team's ongoing efforts to reinvent the game experience, creating additional entertainment that makes a trip to Raymond James Stadium a thoroughly enjoyable outing for the whole family. Other game themes in 2012 have included the extremely popular Throwback Game, Kickoff Weekend, Ring of Honor ceremonies and, most recently, the reunion of the 2002 Super Bowl team for the Week 14 Philadelphia Game.
Tickets for the Dec. 23 Bucs-Rams games are still available and start as low as $30 for adults and $15 for children under 16. Additional promotions are available, such as one that allows groups of at least 10 to receive a free youth ticket when purchasing an adult ticket. For more information on Sunday's event and to purchase tickets, please click here.
Regardless of seat locations for the game, fans with season tickets, club tickets and group seats will be given wristbands to allow them field access for the Newsboys concert. All fans attending that game will also receive as special collectible holiday ornament that, like the Faith and Football event, will become a tradition for Buccaneer fans.
DJ 52 will join the program to provide entertainment between the end of the game and the start of the Newsboys concert.
Newsboys is a Christian pop rock band originally from Australia that has produced 16 albums, including six that have gone gold. The band was nominated for Grammy Awards in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 2003 and has also received 24 Dove Award nominations. Newsboys owns five Dove Awards in categories ranging from Rock Album of the Year to Song of the Year to Short From Music Video of the Year.
