TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 23 -- Super Bowl week is well on its way and the city of Tampa and NFL officials fear the week will be known more for the city's strippers than for football.
Concerns began Jan. 13 when two NHL players, Ted Donato and Tyler Bouck of the Dallas Stars, were arrested at the Mons Venus, a strip club near Raymond James Stadium where Super Bowl XXXV was scheduled to be played Sunday.
They were charged with violating a law that prohibits them from coming closer than 6 feet to nude dancers. Their case was still pending, but the maximum penalty is a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. The law is frequently ignored and occasional arrests are made of dancers and their customers participating in nude and semi-nude lap dancing when strippers rub themselves on patrons for $20 a song.
Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said Tuesday the last arrests made were last weekend of four people, dancers and their patrons, but he said the frequency of arrests is not as often as every week.
The NFL sent warning letters last week to all its players including Sunday's participants, the New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens. Giants Coach Jim Fassel issued his own admonitions shortly after the team plane arrived Monday.
"I've talked about all the ordinances, all the things that are going on down here," he said. "I've even told them the names of the places that are targets."
One of them is the Tanga Lounge, right across the street from the Ravens' hotel.
Community leaders in the Tampa Bay area are upset by all the attention directed at nude dancing.
"The real problem is that the police keeps asking the same questions," Tampa Mayor Dick Greco said.
He said the crackdown should be telling the United States that "Tampa is a nice city and we uphold all the laws."
Paul Catoe of the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau is equally as upset.
"It is tremendously unfortunate that of all the wonderful things we have here, that this one thing is what's getting all the attention of the Super Bowl," he said.
