Red Bull Flugtag participants will challenge gravity on Nov. 9 at the Tampa Convention Center.
After a 13-year break, Tampa will host Red Bull Flugtag for the first time since 2011.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said that this event will be an exciting time for the Tampa Bay region and will draw over 100,000 spectators.
“The laws of gravity says what goes up must come down,” Castor said. “Flugtag is an example of an incredible event that tries to destroy that theory.”
Red Bull Flugtag is a challenge for participants to try and design, build, and fly a human-made and human-powered flying machine. Participants will then launch their flight machine and themselves off of a flight deck to see how far they can fly.
Registration for team selection opens on July 8, and 40 teams will be chosen. Registration closes on Sept. 19, and team selection is on Sept. 23.
Castor said it is events like Red Bull Flugtag that help the Tampa Bay community grow and thrive.
“It really brings out the entire community, and it’s so exciting and so entertaining to see the innovation, the ingenuity and the sheer madness of people that come out and really give it their all to entertain the audience,” Castor said. “It will bring visitors into our community, and that’s what it’s all about is celebrating our community and showing it off to the rest of the world.”
Tampa has hosted various events over the years. Some include the Royal Rumble at Tropicana Field, the Savannah Bananas at George Steinbrenner Field, the NCAA Women’s Volleyball championship and Tampa Bay’s own Gasparilla.
Santiago Corrada, the president and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay, said that Tampa Bay and Red Bull are a great marriage because of their unique qualities.
“We do Gasparilla about 300,000 people a year, but they’re spread out,” Corrada said. “Here we had 100,000 people right here in the basin, so we know that the Tampa region loves Red Bull and we know that the Tampa region loves Flugtag.”
Besides the large number of spectators the event will attract, Red Bull Flugtag is expected to produce an estimated $3,423,000 for the city of Tampa and surrounding areas.
“We’ve hosted Super Bowls, Final Fours, Wrestlemania, a lot of Stanley Cup and a lot of the large playoff events,” Castor said. “These events that really are so entertaining and bring our community, plus others from around the United States in to enjoy, are also part of what really fuels us as a community.”
