Additionally, the stadium has hosted a wide variety of non-football events, including soccer matches, equestrian sports competitions, monster truck shows, and large concerts.

Immediately upon purchasing the Buccaneers in 1995, new owner Malcolm Glazer declared that twenty-eight year old Tampa Stadium was inadequate to justify the record $192 million he paid for the NFL franchise and began lobbying local government for a replacement.

[5] The "Community Investment Tax Stadium" (CITS) proposal was heavily promoted by the team along with several prominent local officials, and as part of intensive public relation campaign, Malcolm Glazer repeatedly promised to pay half the cost of the new stadium if fans put down 50,000 deposits on 10–year season ticket commitments priced at $190 to $2500 per seat.

[10][11] Former Tampa mayor Bill Poe sued to halt the referendum, as he claimed that the tax violated the Florida state constitution's ban on public support for private companies.

[12] Public opinion polls indicated that support for the CITS proposal was still limited as election day neared, with the main reasons being a "negative reaction" to the Glazers' tactics and unwillingness to raise taxes to "help" owners who "overpaid" for an NFL team.

[14] After the vote, the season ticket deposit drive fell 17,000 short of its 50,000 goal at the team-imposed deadline, the Buccaneers' offer to pay half of stadium construction costs was withdrawn, and the facility was designed and built entirely at public expense.

[11][15][10][16] Before construction began on the stadium, the Buccaneers and the Tampa Sports Authority signed a lease in which local government paid the vast majority of operating and maintenance expenses while the franchise kept almost all of the proceeds from all events held there.

[16][17] Former Tampa mayor Bill Poe went back to court to challenge the legality of the lease, again citing the state's constitutional ban on using tax dollars to enrich a private business in claiming that the "sweetheart deal" should be voided.

[31][32] After a nearly two-year legal battle, the Tampa Sports Authority came to a settlement with popular sports-seating and telescopic platform/bleacher company Hussey Seating of North Berwick, Maine.

Spotting this obvious defect, the Buccaneers organization pleaded to the TSA to sue the seating manufacturing company for the cost to replace the affected chairs in 2003.

Reportedly, the seat-fading occurred due to a manufacturing error by Hussey, as a UV inhibitor – a sunscreen-like component for the plastic – was forgotten in the mixture used to create the seats.

[citation needed] In December 2015, the Buccaneers and the Tampa Sports Authority reached an agreement to complete over $100 million in improvements and renovations to the stadium.

[35] Each time the Buccaneers score points, enter the other team's red zone, or win a home game, the replica cannons on the ship are fired off.

[36] The pirate ship's sails, which for NFL games usually shows Buccaneers logos and sponsors, are often changed to suit the event that it hosts.

'Buccaneer Cove' in the north end zone features a weathered, two–story fishing village facade, housing stadium concessions and restrooms.

Temporary bleachers were erected in the end zones for Super Bowl XXXV, which set a then-record stadium attendance of 71,921.

The stadium attendance record has since been surpassed by the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship, which also made use of temporary seating.

Before the 2022 season, some of the temporary seats used for Super Bowls and other special events were set up in the south end zone, bringing the capacity to 69,218.

In June 1998, prior to its opening, the naming rights were bought by St. Petersburg-based Raymond James Financial for $32.5 million in a 13–year agreement.

[58] Major League Soccer returned to the stadium on February 14, 2025 for a preseason game between Orlando City SC and Inter Miami CF, the two current MLS teams in Florida.

[60] WWE planned to host WrestleMania 36—the 2020 edition of its flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view—at Raymond James Stadium on April 5.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE subsequently filmed it at its training facility in Orlando instead, behind closed doors with no audience and only essential staff present.