Tampa Bay Rays Partner with Olympian Jake Ilardi to Connect with Skateboarding Community

Rays and Skateboarding Partnership

• 🤝 The Tampa Bay Rays are partnering with Sarasota-native and professional skateboarder Jake Ilardi to expand the franchise's brand and tell the story of the Tampa Bay Area.
• 💡 Skateboarding was a key inspiration for the Rays City Connect jerseys, highlighting a connection between the team and the local urban culture.

Telling Tampa Bay's Story Through Skateboarding

• 🛹 Ilardi aims to use this platform to share the rich history of skateboarding in Tampa Bay, mentioning landmarks like the Bro Bowl and Perry Harvey Senior Park, as well as the Vert Ramp culture in St. Pete.
• 🌍 The partnership seeks to introduce this lesser-known aspect of Tampa Bay's history to a national audience.

Community Givebacks and Inclusivity

• ❤️ The Rays support community initiatives like Boards for Bros, providing skateboards to underprivileged kids and organizing meetups at local skate parks.
• 🎡 Ilardi's nonprofit, Skate City SRQ, focuses on creating more all-wheeled plazas for skateboarding, bikes, scooters, and inlines, aiming to spread access to these activities across the community.

Merging Urban Culture and Mainstream Sports

• 🧩 This collaboration blends urban culture elements like tattoos, music, painting, and skating with mainstream sports like baseball, bringing diverse groups closer together.
• 📣 Ilardi has been seen sporting Rays gear, including a City Connect hat at the Jackaloupe Fest and other Rays merchandise at events like the Tampa Prom, making the partnership a natural fit.