Winning Doesn’t Equal Sellouts
October 14th, 2010
There’s a quote running wild on the Internet and on talk radio that has morphed into the Bucs officially saying they don’t expect to sell out a home playoff game.
This really isn’t so. Here’s the original quote in The Tampa Tribune:
But it doesn’t end there, because team officials are bracing for blackouts of every home Bucs game.
“We are expecting a blackout for this (the Saints game) and the remaining slate of home games,” Bucs director of communications Jonathan Grella said. “Obviously, it’s a challenge we’ve been facing for awhile now.”
Grella said the team’s sales department is “understanding of the pace of ticket sales” and projected that the Bucs’ remaining home games will not sell out.
Joe read this initially and saw it as being very straightforward, simply meaning the Bucs are so far from selling out games with the current numbers of season tickets plus the pace of single-game sales, that it’s obvious it’ll take more than, say, a 6-4 record to fill the stadium.
The quote doesn’t say the Bucs don’t think they can sell out a playoff game.
In Joe’s opinion, the Bucs would have no problem selling out a playoff game following this season.
First, it would a miraculous football story of epic proportions if the Bucs made the playoffs, let alone get a home game. Second, there likely would be plenty of visiting team fans gobbling up those playoff tickets, unless the Bucs played a West Coast team.
October 14th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
I absolutely love your site and you guys do a great Job. But for what ever reason you highly support the PFT crew. All Mike Florio has done has bash the bucs even in when things are going good. That dorky weasel can not help himself even where cedit is do. I realize he did’nt write todays article but that’s the tone he pushes for there. Can you please do us a favor and stop posting that hilarious picture of him every other day. He is such a joke.
October 14th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
What a crock of bull…IF the Bucs were to make any playoff games they would sell out in a heartbeat!
I doubt that will happen [playoffs] this year but in 2012 and beyond…
(I expect a lock-out in 2011) 🙁
October 14th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
F£€k Mike Florio! Another uneducated tooL, writing Stupid B.S without doing his research, -LOSER!
October 14th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
” A winning team, Grella said, “is likely not a panacea for our problems. There’s just so much ground to make up.”
I took his comments to mean that even if the Bucs have a winnign season it wasn’t going to solve all of thier ticket sales problems. Meaning that just because they make the playoffs it doesnt mean that they are going to imediately return to the levels of ticket sales they had before.
I think it shows an understanding by the team that there is more at play than just the product on the feild. The economy being the main factor.
Nowhere in the article did Grella say he thought playoff games wouldn’t be sold out.
October 14th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
And….. Mike Florio is smug cocky prick.
Who along with the rest of the national “experts” prove over and over that they don’t know what the hell they are talking about.
October 14th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Joe here,
To be fair, Florio didn’t write that story. And Florio is a friend of Joe, so if you feel like it, you can be a little nicer.
October 14th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
I personally don’t like Grella saying that he doesn’t see sell outs the rest of the year. It just sounds bad. Announcing a black out on Monday was messed up. I would rather the team wait until Thursday to do that. It almost seems to me that the Bucs relish these black outs in some twisted way. I don’t see the upside in them, but maybe they do. I’ve given up trying to figure out the Glazers because they do something every year where I shake my head.
Been going to Florio’s site for a while now. I think I liked it better when he wasn’t affiliated with NBC, but it is still a good site. The perfect site would be one that isn’t beholden to anyone and free to speak their mind without fear of reprimand. Unfortunately few sites are like this because it isn’t economically possible.
October 14th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
i’m sorry but I would bet that if the bucs were to have a playoff sellout it would be thanks to the opponent’s fans. A la the Giants game a few years back when the team still had sell outs and businesses had lots of customers.
October 14th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
If I was Huey, Louie or Dewey Glazer, the first thing I would do is fire Grella. He is the Poster Boy for Negativity. He was hired to drum up interest for the team and get fans on the band wagon. There are still companies in the area that are doing well, but he needs get off his ass and find them, sell them and stop this negative trend. Now he is preaching doom and gloom far into the future. The guy as useless like tits on a boarhog. Someone shoot me please. I can only imagine how much they are paying this jackass to do nothing and say stupid $hit.
October 14th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
I honestly think it is the local Tampa Economy. We are very busy because many of our roof cleaning customers are deed restricted, and have no choice but to get their roofs cleaned. But most fellow business owners I know from the chamber of commerce are hurting financially. It is not cheap to go to a Tampa football game these days, and quite frankly, it’s kind of a hassle. Many pay 25 dollars to walk a mile, sit in 100 degree heat, and drink 7 dollar beers. This may fly in a good economy, but not right now.
October 14th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
If we actually get in the playoffs and get a home game, the people that attend and haven’t been to another home game this season, should feel ashamed.
October 15th, 2010 at 12:37 am
Sorry Joe i dont feel like it.
Whether Florio wrote it or not it’s still his website.