Tampa women's soccer team unveils name, logo

After months of speculation, Tampa’s professional women’s soccer team finally has a name and logo.

At an Ybor City event Saturday, team officials announced the club will be called Tampa Bay Sun FC. The team’s crest is a black sun on a bright yellow background with the name written in black.

The Sun’s president, Christina Unkel, says in a statement that the team came up with the name after meeting with groups of fans and community outreach. The idea was to “capture part of what we all love about the Tampa Bay area and find a symbol that’s full of energy, with the power to connect us all together.”

T-shirts, cups and other merchandise with the new name and logo are already for sale on the team’s website, though a note says items won’t ship until Nov. 13. Fans can also make deposits for season tickets.

The team will kick off its inaugural season in August playing at Howard W. Black High School across the Hillsborough River from downtown Tampa. The school’s stadium will serve as the its temporary home for the first several years as ownership looks for a permanent place to play. As part of an agreement with the Hillsborough County Public Schools, the team has agreed to make about $4 million in improvements to the stadium and around the school.

The Sun will compete in the just-formed USL Super League, which will begin play next year with 10 to 12 teams. In addition to Tampa, cities with teams will include Dallas, Charlotte and Washington, D.C.

Five other cities are expected to have teams starting play in 2025.