Bucs could be U.K.-bound
The Bucs have confirmed they are one of four teams to have been approached by the NFL about possibly playing in the United Kingdom this fall, an opportunity Tampa Bay would welcome.
"The NFL has informed us that we are being considered as one of the teams to participate in next season’s international regular season game in the U.K.," team spokesman Jeff Kamis said. "With the NFL already having awarded Tampa next year’s Super Bowl, playing in an overseas game in the same season would provide even more worldwide exposure to the Tampa Bay area."
An official announcement is expected during Super Bowl week in Phoenix.
The other candidates, according to ESPN, are the Saints, Chiefs and Seahawks. The site of the game hasn't been announced, but the Dolphins and Giants played in London's historic Wembley Stadium in October. The Bucs would seem a logical candidate given the fact the Glazer family also owns historic soccer club Manchester United. But the Bucs could potentially receive a cold reception in England, where the Glazer family is disliked by many because the Brits don't appreciate an American family owning one of their most beloved soccer clubs.
The Bucs play each of the other three candidates in 2008, but it's unlikely the league will pair two division opponents in an overseas game. The Saints are also in the NFC South. Playing them overseas would create a scenario where one team will play one of the two games against that division opponent at home while the other played in the U.K. Thus, the Bucs versus Saints seems like an unlikley matchup. It's believed the game will be a AFC-NFC matchup.
It will interesting to see which team is designated the home team in this game and how season tickets will be dealt with. If a home game is moved overseas, it's not realistic to expect many local fans to be able to attend the game. Whether and how they would be compensated is something we'll likely learn later.
The NFL intends to continue to make a push toward globalization, and playing regular-season games overseas is a big part of the effort. It's expected the Buffalo Bills will play a regular-season game in nearby Toronto this fall.
If selected, this would be the Bucs' second foray outside the U.S. In 2003, Tampa Bay played the Jets in a preseason game in Tokyo.
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It'll be interesting to see how they deal with the game - if they're picked. It certainly doesn't seem to have affected the Giants season at all, so dealing with it shouldn't be that bad. I'd much rather be the road team in the game though. A neutral site game to replace a hostile NFL stadium road game wouldn't be all bad. Although, if the London crowd associates the Bucs to Manchester United (Glazer's other franchise), they might be cheering against them.
Posted by: John P | January 20, 2008 at 02:57 PM
As long as we're not the ones losing a home game, i'm cool with it
Posted by: vijay | January 20, 2008 at 04:36 PM
Is anyone surprised by this? Manchester Bucko's here...Puke!
Posted by: john | January 20, 2008 at 06:03 PM
Sounds like a done deal to me... What could be a better resource to allow Brits to act out their aggression towards the Glaziers? This could be a rivalry unheard of in football so far. Blokes against the Glazier's Manifest Destiny...
Posted by: Jimmy Mack | January 20, 2008 at 08:52 PM
The Glazers ought to get ManU to play a regular-season match at the RayJay to compensate.
Posted by: davey | January 20, 2008 at 09:06 PM
The way they dealt with it for the Dolphins this year was to charge for 9 home games instead of 10 (including preseason, of course). On the whole, not a bad year for a Dolphins season ticket holder to lose a home game...
Posted by: Clashny | January 20, 2008 at 10:43 PM
As long as it's not on the NFL Network, I'm ok with it.
Posted by: Jay | January 20, 2008 at 10:52 PM
anyone who sees this as a good thing especially if we lose a home game is crazy.. not to mention the whole glazer problem over there it seems like asking for trouble to me.. its the nfl pushing tampa and the 09 super bowl bottom line just like in 03 coming off the super bowl win and playing in toyko its the nfl just riding whatever is hot but at least that was just pre season
Posted by: derek | January 21, 2008 at 12:29 AM
The media is already making a big deal about the Glazer family's ownership of United, when in fact most United fans aren't at all bothered now, apart from a small sect of supporter's groups.
Posted by: Oliver | January 21, 2008 at 06:52 AM
The NFL playing any game overseas is a joke especially after a failed World League. What did the NFL's fan base in America do to deserve this type of disrespect? The NBA would have reason to go there because of the many international players they have, but I don't know of any NFL player that grew up in Europe. The World League didn't get the interest of people over there. European people are more interested in 22 players running around faking injuries for 120 minutes. They don't deserve the NFL. Football is America's game.
Posted by: DR | January 21, 2008 at 09:53 AM
this whole idea of playing a regular season game across the pond is crap. i can see an exhibition game but a regular season game? get out of here!
Posted by: aaron | January 22, 2008 at 05:58 AM