No blackout for Patriots game

There's been some talk among some this week about whether the Bucs might be blacked out this weekend.

Not to worry. A team spokesman said today the game will definitely be shown locally on NFL Network with a local simulcast on Channel 38.

Ticket sales appear to be slower this year after steep increases of as much as 30 percent for some seats and the expiration of thousands of 10-year seat licenses whose owners chose not to renew their season tickets. And let's not even talk about the horrible timing of the increase, given the sluggish economy.

Regardless, games must be sold out at least 72 hours prior to kickoff for a local blackout to be lifted. What's not clear is whether the Bucs had to take any unusual action -- i.e. distributing the remaining tickets -- to ensure a sellout.

Here's the blackout policy direct from the NFL's broadcast guidelines: "To ensure an NFL club's ability to sell all of its game tickets, and to make televised games more attractive to viewers through the presence of sellout crowds, the following policy is observed by the NFL: For a home game to be aired locally in the franchised market and in any secondary blackout market(s), the game must be sold out 72 hours in advance of kickoff. If the game is not a sellout by the 72 hour cutoff, both the home franchised market and the secondary markets of the carrying network will air an alternate game."

Comments

[Mark]

the individual ticket preview on buccaneers.com is gone so does that mean all the games are sold out?

[Carmine]

well when they more then double the price of your tickets in 10 years,
gas triples in that span, food, ins. etc. all going up yet jobs and wages stay put or dwindle,

what do they expect?
Hell as a multi-billion dollar organization, the NFL should step up and show the game this year, sell out or not

[wizdomheard]

The Nfl Makes too much money to be considering a blackout of an NFL game. People do have other things going on in their lives other than football. We will support the tampa bay buccaneers but times can be hard for folks sometime, As Carmine stated in her comment.

[wizdomheard]

I hope to see more of the rookie defensive tackle Chris Bradwell against the Patriots on Saturday the 16 of August 2008. He tallied a sack his first play in the NFL, against the Miami Dolpinis. Hopefully he'll get more playing time come preseason game #2. Let's get it!

[tradewinds loser boy moser]

i cant see blacking out a preseason game ,the regular season is different, if you cant sell a game out then your fans are bandwagon winners.

[Dave]

I can't see any reason for a blackout. Greedy SOB's. Ticket prices have gone up but has the quality of play? No. For as much money this city and state have donated ( we're paying for ) the Glazers should buy out any remaining tickets if the game isn't sold out. It's time they gave back. Now isn't the time to increase the gouge.

[Fed up]

The Bucs have one of the sweetest stadium deals in the league. They make millions with the TV deal and are WAY under the cap. The price increase was ridiculous to many fans considering what the community has done for this team and the Glazers. This has been a turnoff for many Buc fans and many feel strongly about not financing the Manchester United deal by paying over inflated ticket prices.

Save the comparisons to other teams ticket prices and I'll save the comparison to how some teams, like the Redskins, pay for their own stadiums without penalizing people who have no intention of EVER watching a game on TV much less attend. MOST recieve no financial benifit from the Buc's presence so save those arguments too. Money spent on the Bucs is money NOT spent somewhere else, people have only so much disposable income to go around.

This Tampa Bay market's ticket prices should be veiwed realisticlly for what the area is. Saleries are lower than most of the country, unemployment is higher in Tampa Bay than Florida AND the rest of the country and we have many CHOICES for our sports dollar, The Rays, The Lightning and USF football.

The Glaziers are alienting fans and potential blackouts will not help matters.

[schlomo]

Does that NFL think that by blacking out a game it's going to make the fans go to the games. Personel i think it will be one the "out of site out of mind" type of things. If people can't afford to go to the Bucs game, then they can't see them play on tv, the interest in the team will wane. The NFL rules and policies don't make sense to me. The Bucs have priced me out of ever seeing a game, now if i can't watch them on tv then i will just watch the Rays and lightning, at least i can afford to go to those games and they just might be more entertaining. I think the NFL has gotten to big and really should take a new look at itself,the fans and the ecocnomy and come to a better understanding of it's situation.

[Jim]

Fed up,.. you're an idiot,.. it says clearly right there that this has nothing to do with the Glazers,( which is actually how you spell it,.. quit whining the Glazers have don literally TONS for this community,. they have been good owners and there's no reason to say otherwise. Take a look around, Einstein, everything's going up. There are a heck of alot of teams who charge alot more than the Bucs do,...get real.

[Malcom Glazer]

THIS REPORT IS FALSE. EITHER BUY A TICKET OR SUCK IT UP.

[Jim]

why the F, does anyone think the Glazers were handed anything? Do some research... the type of deal that was done for the stadium wasn't anything abnormal, cities do it all the time..for obvious reasons. Everybody hates the rich guy..losers.

[Jim's Alter Ego]

Jim, name calling and uninformed smack talk makes you look and sound as ridiculous as the people who are just mad they can't see the Bucs game on tv. Being someone who doesn't have enough disposable income to go to a game at RayJay does not make people losers, it makes them the majority of America and Tampa Bay. Go to the games, buy your overpriced t-shirt, hot dog, and mini-beer, and shut your mouth. And, the issue does have something to do with the Glazers, they are owners, and their vote counts along with all the other ownership groups in the league as to what the blackout policy consists of. Don't worry, they will buy the remainder of any tickets not sold, as they've had to do for much of the last 5 years. TB is a fairweather sports town, and they know it, I know it, and you know it. Fact is the only true sellout you can ever count on at Raymond James Stadium is for a playoff game, or a regular season game leading up to the playoffs, when the boys are playing well. And make no mistake about it, there are a lot of "rich" folks who aren't happy with Buccaneers season ticket policy, it's not just the people who have limited resources when it comes to paying for a couple of games a year. Losers aren't people with opinions, losers are those who aren't big enough to understand the plight of others.

[Jim]

what?
no losers are people who want something for nothing,.. or insist that they are always getting shafted ,.. when it's really just life, deal with it.

[Jim]

loser.

[Southern Pirate]

I have never heard fans whine so much in my life. Glazers need to give back? They should give you back the old uniforms and losing ways that were here before they bought the team. You are lucky to have owners like that, and a GM like Bruce Allen and a coach like Jon Gruden. God knows there are many towns that would kill to have just one of them and a chance at the playoffs. Damn Whiners!!

[Credence]

Whatever happened to that waiting list that included hundreds of thousands of people, alive and dead?

[Carmine]

Whatever happened to that waiting list that included hundreds of thousands of people, alive and dead?

Posted by: Credence | August 17, 2008 at 07:25 AM

smoke and mirrors, credence, smoke and mirrors.

[DR]

That waiting list is the biggest joke of all sports. There is no waiting list. The Bucs gave away a lot of tickets to the local base. Nothing spells rip off like a full priced preseason game. Anybody who supports the Glazers are morons. Just because the team got better when they were owners, more of a coincindence than anything else, doesn't make them great. It doesn't negate the fact that they took out a huge loan for a soccer team they are financially strapped for. You can't be happy to watch an average team that is $20M under the cap.
Somebody forgot to mention that the Tampa area is the foreclosure capital of america.

[Chris]

DR, you should stop reading so many football stats on the Dallas Cowboys and read news articles before you make a stupid statement. NV and CA have the highest foreclosure rates in the country. FL is third and Tampa isnt even the highest in the state....moron.

[Jim's mom]

Jim, You are one to call someone a loser considering you live in my basement.

The Glazers were given one of the best stadium deals in the history of sports. These type of deals ARE NEVER given anymore since economists revealed that sport franchises don't increase the economy of a community. How could they? People have only so much disposable income, money spent on the Bucs is not spent on OTHER local businesses.

Yours and mine tax dollars were used to INCREASE the value of the Bucs on the open market, their stadium deal makes them one of the highest priced sports franchises in the country. When the team gets sold, do we get a cut? Our tax money did make that possible.

Remember moron, this is a PRIVATE business. My business is private, so I'm on my own. I don't see the Gov paying for my location.

Considering these factors, a 30% price increase is ridiculous.

BTW, Fed up said don't mention other teams ticket prices, and you did. We ARE the forclosure capital of the USA with close to 7% unemployment, Jim you are an idiot.

[Chris is an idiot]

"The region’s real estate market has been among the hardest-hit in the nation. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area had 4,773 foreclosure filings in May alone, or one in every 271 households. That was up 15 percent from April and 29 percent from the same month last year. Nationally, the foreclosure rate is one in 483 households."

"The Greater Tampa Association of Realtors says there is a 15-month inventory of homes on the market in this area, compared with one to two months in 2004-05. One key to a housing turnaround would involve removing a big chunk of the 19,800 listings on the local market."

First or third, it is NO picnic in Tampa as the housing market stinks.

[DR]

I like the last post. Seriously, i'm so sorry that Tampa is only 3rd in the nation for foreclosures, no big deal. i guess they lost their lead from March 2008. I hope we get it back.
The main problem is they should put a product on the field that is worth the 30% increase. They haven't.