The St. Petersburg Renegades were a franchise in the defunct Sunshine Hockey League

Sunshine Hockey League

The Sunshine Hockey League was a low-minors professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 to 1995. The league was based in Florida and consisted of five teams in its inaugural 1992-93 season....

. The Renegades joined the league half way through its first season in 1992-93 and were the joke of the SuHL

Suhl

- Geography :Suhl sits on the south edge of the Suhler Scholle, an upthrust granite complex that is streaked by numerous dikes. This is part of the Ruhla-Schleusingen Horst that defines the southwest side of the Thuringian Forest...

. One of the team's biggest problems was its proximity to the NHL

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

's Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, in 2003–04. They are often referred to as the...

, which was an expansion club at the time. As a result, the Renegades drew an average of 889 people per game. The team played its home games at Bayfront Arena

Bayfront Arena

The Bayfront Center was an indoor arena in St. Petersburg, Florida that hosted many concerts, sports, and other events, holding up to 7,500 people. It was built in 1965 and demolished in 2004....

.