With the Toronto Raptors playing their home games in Tampa Bay this season, one would assume we would get official Tampa Bay Raptors merch, wrong!!! But it’s all good, the 1771 Designs has got you covered for all your Tampa Bay Raptors and Tampa Bay Sports gear.
Instead of focusing on the actual raptor, 1771 Designs went with the teams current basketball and claw logo. I am a big fan of the red color way of this shirt. It would be dope to see a black and gold city edition of this shirt or even a purple throwback one.
The fans of the Toronto Raptors are called “The North”, so it’s only right that the official supporters group for the Tampa Bay base of fans would be known as “The South”. Right now a lot of “The North” won’t except us as fans but at the end of the day we both are here to support the Raptors. I feel that “The South” will play a crucial role in Tampa Bay finally getting our own NBA club, showing that our community will support NBA basketball despite not truly having a club of our own at the moment.
It’s important to make our newly adopted basketball club feel apart of the rest of the TB Sports community, so 1771 Designs to dress the raptor in some “Bucco Bruce” attire. 1771 Designs also offers a “Devil Rays” inspired raptors shirt that is next on my hit list. Fingers crossed for that Lightning/ Thunder Alley and Jurassic Park crossover the Bay Area has been waiting on.
Fans of all TB Sports teams will love these different takes on some of their favorite teams. I am all for exclusive merch but sometimes locals can add a different vibe than the big retail companies can. Support local and support NBA2TAMPABAY!