Tampa Bay, FLSports Bars

This long-running downtown sports bar draws Tampa Bay Lightning fans with high ceilings, a wall of TVs and sports memorabilia covering the room. The staff has stayed friendly and familiar over the decades, the kind of place where regulars know the bartenders by name. Order a beer at the bar and find a spot early on a Lightning night, when the room fills fast. It sits on Franklin Street in the heart of downtown, an easy walk from the arena.

More than 40 TVs run inside this South Tampa institution, a neighborhood staple on Dale Mabry for decades. The room draws a loyal crowd that returns game after game rather than cycling through newer bars nearby. Order a round at the bar and settle into a room built for long stretches of watching, not a quick stop. It sits on South Dale Mabry Highway, a fixture of the strip.

A sprawling Irish pub compound on Howard Avenue, this SoHo bar runs a giant indoor bar with its own stage plus smaller side rooms, all tuned mostly to European football alongside the bigger American games. The crowd skews college-age, with an outdoor patio that fills up as fast as the rooms inside. Order a pint from the Irish bar and post up wherever the match you want is playing. It sits in South Tampa's SoHo strip.

A Westshore staple since 1995, this all-ages tavern runs NFL Sunday Ticket, so a fall Sunday means every game is somewhere in the room. The wings are the thing regulars keep coming back for, alongside a Philly cheese steak sub that holds its own on the menu. Order a plate of wings and the cheese steak, and settle in for a full Sunday slate. It sits on South West Shore Boulevard in Tampa's Westshore district.

Sixty HDTVs cover this no-frills sports pub, a straightforward room built for cold beer and a big slate of games rather than polish. The wings come with a dozen sauce options, and the rest of the menu runs sandwiches, pizzas, wraps and burgers. Order a plate of wings in whatever sauce sounds right and grab a seat facing one of the sixty screens. It sits on North 30th Street on Tampa's north side.