{"id":197365,"date":"2026-03-19T04:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T04:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/197365\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T04:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T04:09:11","slug":"tampa-bay-sun-unveil-championship-banner-during-womens-empowerment-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/197365\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Sun unveil championship banner during Women\u2019s Empowerment Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tampa Tampa Bay Sun honored for inaugural championship <\/a> <\/p>\n

A championship banner now hangs for the Tampa Bay Sun after the team unveiled it Wednesday night. It marks a historic moment for Tampa\u2019s first women\u2019s professional sports team. FOX 13’s Blake DeVine reports.<\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. – A championship banner now hangs for the Tampa Bay<\/a> Sun after the team unveiled it Wednesday night. It marks a historic moment for Tampa\u2019s first women\u2019s professional sports <\/a>team.<\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

Now in their second season, the Sun raised the banner to honor last year\u2019s title run. The ceremony was part of the team\u2019s Women\u2019s Empowerment Night.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Sun FC President and General Manager Christina Unkel says the moment reflects both the team\u2019s success and its future.<\/p>\n

“It has been an incredible accomplishment, and we\u2019ve only just begun,” Unkel said.<\/p>\n

The pregame tribute highlighted a championship run in which the Sun defeated higher-ranked teams. The team also hosted the first women\u2019s professional playoff game in the area.<\/p>\n

Big picture view:<\/p>\n

Unkel says the night emphasized the importance of women supporting each other.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve got women coming out and supporting other women,” Unkel said. “Not just in sports, in business, these are our young leaders.”<\/p>\n

Girl Scouts of West Central Florida were front and center throughout the event. They sold cookies, participated in pregame ceremonies and walked onto the field with players.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Six-year-old Girl Scout Brielle Green says the experience stood out.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

“My favorite part is selling cookies, making new friends and learning new things,” Green said.<\/p>\n

The Girl Scouts also led the flag presentation and honor guard. The opportunity gave them a close-up look at the players in action.<\/p>\n

Mariana Lynn Togado, a 12th-grade Girl Scout, says the night shows how women\u2019s sports are continuing to grow.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s amazing, especially when it comes to women in sports, you know, like as we\u2019re evolving\u2026 also, Girl Empowerment is evolving,” Togado said.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

The team also highlighted women-owned businesses with a marketplace around the stadium. The event was presented by BRANDT, one of the club\u2019s earliest sponsors.<\/p>\n

Sierra-Shae Brandt, marketing manager for BRANDT, says the partnership represents something bigger than soccer.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“As a woman, it\u2019s everything,” Brandt said. “Recognizing other strong women in the community and all their efforts, especially the Sun, as the first women\u2019s professional sports team in Tampa.”<\/p>\n

The celebration extended beyond the result on the field. The Sun fell 3-0 to Brooklyn FC.<\/p>\n

The Source: Information for this story came from statements from the Tampa Bay Sun FC, interviews with team president and Girl Scouts, along with previous reporting on FOX 13.<\/p>\n

Tampa<\/a>Sports<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Sun honored for inaugural championship A championship banner now hangs for the Tampa Bay Sun after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,629,110,135,137,136,628],"class_list":["post-197365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-fl","tag-hillsborough","tag-sports","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197365","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=197365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}