Attendance Checks In About 24K Short
August 22nd, 2010
Joe did the buy-a-ticket-outside-the-stadium thing last night and, as always, that’s an adventure unless you want to overpay.
The quick-buy market was $20 in the parking lots of the C.I.T.S. (Community Investment Tax Stadium) up until kickoff. However, Joe was holding out for a $10 seat downstairs.
Amazingly, Joe, with his need-one finger in the air, was approached before kickoff by a Jamaican man with severe Michael Clayton hatred issues. He did the $10 deal with Joe, and Joe ended up sitting next to the guy about 10 rows off the goal line.
Nice seat. Joe thought he could smell the sweat dripping off the Bucs cheerleaders.
Plenty of empty seats all over place. The St. Pete Times reported tickets-sold attendance at 41,386, meaning Team Glazer fell about 24,000 short of a sold out crowd and live television for the game.
Yesterday, Joe had predicted a crowd of 44,000, so the blackout situation is far more grim than Joe thought.
It’s painfully clear now that if one living in these parts wants to watch the Bucs on opening day, then one will have to buy a ticket or grab a seat on The Blackout Tour to Fort Myers.
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:13 am
NOT GOING TO RIDE ON A BUS..LIKE HAVING MY CAR BUT ILL GO HANG WITH YALL ONE SUNDAY…but i still watch the game on pc live so screw the NFL…
August 22nd, 2010 at 5:53 am
Ticket prices are simply to high. Certainly not worth it for pre-season. More will attend the Browns game, I am considering going to that, but free tickets could not have got me to go last night.
But face value? Phooey on the ticket prices!
August 22nd, 2010 at 6:03 am
The official turnstile count of 30,413 by the Tampa Sports Authority.
Way way short of even the “ticket” sold attendance.
August 22nd, 2010 at 7:42 am
NFL is gonna sell a lot of Satellite contracts this year because of the blackouts.
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:20 am
It is sad what has become of this team.
Do you think that 30k would have showed up last night if Cowher or Holmgren or Parcells or Dungy were the coach?
This evidences the fan base true feelings about the state of the org.
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:24 am
ALOT of teams are having issues with ticket sales.
Economy, ticket prices, PSLs…….. They brought it on themselves with YEARS of increases and owners continuing to overpay athletes (in every sport). THis is the decade where it all catches up to them and they realize they are losing the average fan.
Blackouts are absolutely STUPID when I can just sit home with my 55″ HD Sony and watch any other game or choose between 400 channels, a round of golf or a day at the beach. The NFL better wake up to the reality that blackouts, in this day and age, will do nothing but cause a team to lose fans.
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:29 am
Looks like the fans are thinking “long term” also.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:04 am
The Jags sold 62K tickets for their game and the economy is just as bad there.
It’s a reflection of the horrific 3-13 year and the no-name jibbering head coach, FKA the Dream. Throwing 55 under the bus didn’t help.
Glazers, you made your bed, now lie in it. May not see a home game on the tube for the whole season. Continue on this path and u will destroy the fanbase for years.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
I am “building for the future” – saving my money for the 2015 season when we are finally good again.
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:52 am
Wow Joe, a 10 dollar ticket from the scalper. Looks like the scalper got scalped.
Very, very risky to be a scalper this day and age. Poor guys, I wonder if they can collect unemployment?
Well, the Glazers sure helped wipe out ticket scalping in the bay area. Thanks Glazers!
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:14 am
Come on down to Ft. Myers boys…Plenty of good sports bars to watch the game at and plenty of local “talent” to keep you company during!!
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:41 am
The Jaguar ticket prices aren’t as high are they?
The same seats that cost me $75 are (or were) $44 in Jacksonville. Top row 30 yard line.
If the Bucs had offered my tickets at $44 I would have bought them again. But alas all they offered was moving me to the sunnyside of the stadium. For me $35 baking in the sun (with it in my face) all day has no appeal.
Speaking of tickets, who owns all these tickets on Stub Pass, EBAY et al… looks like a bunch of ticket scalping/ clearing houses that have the same seats in the same sections trying to get near full price. What happens to those when they aren’t bought? Do they filter to local scalpers?
August 22nd, 2010 at 1:03 pm
If the Glazers don’t care, then why should you?
August 22nd, 2010 at 1:41 pm
WOW just saw some pictures posted on facebook taken at kickoff and pregame last night. WOW! the stadium was beyond empty.
Even the $35 section (which was the fullest UD section) was full of seats.
“The official turnstile count of 30,413 by the Tampa Sports Authority.”
Looked like a UCF game.
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Eric: I don’t usually bust on the doomsaying, I have been a fan since 1976…However, your prediction about the fan base is just wrong. We are as sad sack as Cubs fans. We will continue to show up, buy shirts, and say “Maybe this year!”
Maybe we will go back to the embarrassing times where games sold out on the strength of the VISITING team…Although that was more likely in the Norris division, because of all the people here from the north.
Nothing like going to Tampa Stadium, and being outnumbered by Detroit fans. Yeah, that was awesome.
But no…The Glazers know a sucker when they see one. Over time, with a few brief exceptions, we have shown ourselves to be among the premiere sucker crowds in American sport.
August 22nd, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Eric, it is because TWO Florida teams were playing eachother. You really should look into another hobby, this football thing seems to make you cranky or something.
August 22nd, 2010 at 5:43 pm
The turnstile attendance in Jacksonville for a preseason game delayed due to a lightning storm was 40,377.
August 22nd, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Mcbuc,
Well if that is the case aren’t we playing the Jags this week?
August 22nd, 2010 at 6:15 pm
All Eric said was that the Glazer’s made their bed with Raheem as the choice head coach, and now they should lie in it.
How is that FACTUAL STATEMENT paint eric into a bad guy?
So much venom about a true statement?
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:39 pm
I’m from Jacksonville, and I credit the jump in season ticket sales this year almost entirely to the fact that 7 of our home games were blacked out last year. Mr. Weaver and Winn-Dixie had partnered together in the past to buy up remaining seats and get the games on TV, but our attendance issues last year showed just how much good that did. After our embarrassing ’09 campaign I feel that the city has really answered the call and last night proved that. I think the Bucs will be more than fine and will just have to take one on the chin this year after a 3-win season. But make no mistake, blacking out home games may be the best thing to happen to your franchise in years. As far as Dolphins fans in Jacksonville last night, there were not many. Miami to Jacksonville is quite a long haul for a glorified practice. The people on this site are your true die-hards and you should take great pride in the fact that you are on board with the Bucs through thick and thin. Cheers from Duval.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:04 pm
I don’t care what the coach’s name is, just as long as he knows what he’s doing and produces consistent wins. Jon Gruden did that, no matter how much some people hated him. I do blame the fans, and I do blame the local media, because so many wanted Gruden’s head (after a 9 win season) and the Glazers chopped it off, by popular demand. So IMO, it is the fans fault. Many got their wish, and for all of us die hard Gruden Fans, we got the shaft.
Still, I choose to give Raheem more time because I think he can win with this team. He was right about Freeman, and I wonder what else he is right about. He called a couple of nice Blitzes last night and I loved when he lined up 5 D lineman on one play. KC got the better of them at times but they are improving.
August 23rd, 2010 at 12:11 am
Lets see, I have been a Bucs fan all my life. I was excited about Sam Wyche, Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden…… but as I saw what winning did to this bay area, I noticed the change in the fan base attitude. They became blind to reality.
They couldn’t realize that after the Super Bowl, that the Bucs were going to start sliding downward because the vets were starting to age. They didn’t want to believe that the Glazers trading 2 first rounders for Keyshawn then 2 first rounders and a 2nd for Jon Gruden would set us back several years. They forgot that Dungy’s teams got blown out in the play offs in Tampa, as they watched Tony coach Peyton Manning’s Colts to 10 win seasons. They glorified Dungy into a great saint, while villianized Gruden into the Great satan.
Even if the Bucs pieced together winning seasons, the fanbase complained. And for what? Because the former pro bowlers were getting old and the messages they were sending to the owners were mixed? Yeah, mixed!
Who cried when Meshawn was traded for Joey Galloway?
Who cried when Brad Johnson started off 0-5?
Who cried when Warren Sapp and John Lynch weren’t resigned? The fans. In a perfect world you could keep aging vets forever and ever with no salary cap and a place where players don’t age.
The fans of Tampa Bay, since they have never experienced winning and winning a super bowl, they had no idea how to let go an aging vet without blaming someone in the organization.
It got to the point that nothing was good enough for this fanbase. The fans wanted an instant franchise QB that was under 30 years old. Too bad those QBs didn’t exist.
The Bucs tried to make Chris Simms and Bruce Gradkowski the Buccaneer’s starters. Failed miserably. So they got a vet that could win. And win did Garcia. Not good enough. Ok, how about Brett Favre? Oh how could you do that to Garcia!
It was time to move on… but rather, the Glazers decided to give the Buc fans something to truely cry about as an answer. They the belt, and said “Tampa, you ain’t seen nothing yet!” and proceeded to spank the hell out of the fanbase with Raheem Morris as the answer. And to add insult to the 2009 wounds, they kept him for 2010, and are claiming that its all one big well thought out plan. Yeah its thought out allright, the Glazers wanted to layeth the whoop ass on the Buccaneer fanbase to remind them that they can take ALL THIS away with the hiring of a retard. And they did.
August 23rd, 2010 at 12:15 am
Oops, I said the R-word.
August 23rd, 2010 at 12:17 am
If the Bucs win and there is no one around to see it… is it truely a win?
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:30 am
I really underestimated the attendance problem. I thought for sure the home regular season opener would sell out. The Pitt game as well. Now I am not so sure. Not good. Still am not confident in Raheem’s ability as a head coach. This season will be telling. The Bucs should not lose to the Browns. It is as simple as that. It is imperative to get off to a good start. As I have said a few times on this site, I was not against Gruden being fired. They had not won a playoff game since the SB year. Something needed to be done to shake up the team. I just hated that they hired the very green Raheem to take over this team. The Bucs should double their win total. That is the minimum requirement.
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:43 am
The bottom line is what Eric said above. You made this bed, Glazers, now lie in it! Personally, I was sad to hear that 30,000 attended the game. Even though the Glazers receive “hundreds of millions” in shared revenues each year, I wonder how long the other owners and Goodell are going to put up with the Glazers when they aren’t providing their share of the fans.
You can bet there is a clause in there somewhere. And the NFL will not move the Bucs because that know the fans are here. Lets see who breaks 1st. THe fans, of the Glazers. My money is on us!
August 23rd, 2010 at 12:34 pm
At the Sombrero that seat that you sat in 10 rows back in the end zone, would have been about a $25 seat retail for home the home opener (against the 49ers — the game that changed franchise history for both teams), this year an equivalent against the Browns, retail price somewhere between $89-$115… That’s why the Bucs will have attendance problems…