{"id":12125,"date":"2025-10-20T11:31:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T11:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/12125\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T11:31:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T11:31:24","slug":"tampa-bay-area-sports-bar-voted-as-best-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/12125\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay-area sports bar voted as best in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill in St. Petersburg topped USA Today’s list as the best local sports bar.<\/p>\n

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 With football season approaching, Tampa Bay area residents won’t have to go far to enjoy the games at the best sports bar.<\/p>\n

Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill in St. Petersburg was voted as the best in the United States<\/a> for a local sports bar, beating more than a dozen other nominees across the country.<\/p>\n

The bar, which encompasses nearly two blocks, was named No. 1 by USA Today’s 10Best list.<\/a> It’s located right across from Tropicana Field in St. Pete’s Edge District, featuring inside tables, outside covered seats, an expansive patio and even an upstairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Writers called Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill a “juggernaut” within St. Pete’s drinking and dining scene, offering plenty of room to roam for visitors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“More than 90 TVs can be found around the space, and it’s also a top spot for classic pub fare, with dishes like chicken wings and potato skins available on the open-air patio or in the main dining room,” the company said, describing the bar’s indoor scenery.<\/p>\n

It opened in 1992, when resident and teacher Mark Ferguson transformed a Sunoco gas station into the bar’s first building.<\/p>\n

Since then, it has expanded to become an extremely popular spot and is often packed with sports fans on gamedays. It features a golf simulator, a stage with concerts, trivia nights and much more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Eleven separate areas can host parties and events. Ferg\u2019s Backyard can host 3,000 for concerts, pep rallies, ESPN\u2019s St Petersburg Bowl tailgates, fundraising activities, and more,” the website reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The only other Florida bar that was mentioned on the list was Flora-Bama Ole River Grill, which placed No. 3, and is in Pensacola.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill in St. Petersburg topped USA Today’s list as the best local sports bar.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-12125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}