TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Bandits are back.
The United States Football League on Monday announced the eight teams that will comprise the reborn professional spring football league, which will begin play in 2022.
Tampa Bay is one of four teams in the South Division, along with the Birmingham Stallions, Houston Gamblers and New Orleans Breakers.
The North Division teams are the Michigan Panthers, New Jersey Generals, Philadelphia Stars and Pittsburgh Maulers.
Each team will play a 10-game schedule in one host city -- the location of which the USFL intends to announce in the near future.
The original iteration of the Bandits played three spring seasons from 1983-85. They were one of the most successful teams in the old USFL, as former Florida Gators quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier coached the team to three winning seasons and two playoff berths.
The late movie star Burt Reynolds, who was raised in Palm Beach County and owned a ranch in Jupiter Farms throughout the height of his Hollywood fame, was one of the team's minority owners.