Bucs May Still Host The Bears At The CITS
April 18th, 2011
Much was made last week of the announcement, which came by way of WMVP-AM 1000 in Chicago (props to Joe’s longtime friend, former co-worker and current Chicago multimedia star Dave Owen for helping filter through the BS), that the Bucs would move their home game with the Bears to London.
Many Bucs fans, many season ticket holders, were enraged at the thought of having a second home game in three years ripped from their clutches.
But this may not be a done deal.
In a sentence buried in a story on NFL.com about the 2011 NFL schedule being released tomorrow night live on the NFL Network (for the non-males in Joe’s readership who don’t have the NFL Network, will you just take off your panties and get the network and be a man for a change, huh?), if the current labor impasse lasts past Aug. 1, the game will be moved back to The CITS from Wembley Stadium.
Should the current labor situation be unresolved by August 1, the game will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Buccaneers season ticket holders will receive detailed ticket information from the club in the near future regarding team ticketing policy for this game.
Now Bucs fans are torn. Like all NFL fans, Bucs fans want this damned lockout to end, like yesterday. But if the lockout stretches into August, the Bucs will again play the Bears at home, in the stifling heat and sweaty humidity of The CITS.
What is a Bucs fan to do?
If the Legend of Sam Fuld continues to play like he is of late and the Rays are still within reach of a wild card race in August, it will help local sports fans wade through a non-NFL summer.
Of course, this is an NFL imposed deadline, likely a pawn in the CBA labor negotiations. Who is to say the NFL can’t move this deadline back a month?
(Hat tip Anwar Richardson)
April 18th, 2011 at 10:27 pm
I hope I am not the only one burning up the One Buc phone lines complaining about this theft. As a season ticket holdr I’m feeling violated. Losing a game in 09, I was willing to accept- since it seemed every team woud have to play in a rotation in “sconeland” – but facing it again two seasons latter is absurd. My family and I have had season tickets for 23 years. We’ve suffered through a lot of bad football, thunderstorms, and soul crushing heat, but this indignity has me fed up. I have defended the Glazers while they slowed the cash flow to a trickle, while raising prices all because I was grateful for the long awaited championship and mark of respectability- but if we are only going to be pawns in the Glazer boys man-crush pursuit of all things British- I’m done….. The ecoonomy stinks and sales have been slow- I get it. But wasn’t the CIT an investment in the community? Building that stadium was supposed to ensure that the much hyped and ballyhooed massive financial benefit of an NFL franchise would be enjoyed by this area. Instead 10% of this windfall will go to aniother city in another country. The visitors from Chicago spending their money on Clearwater beach, the parking revenue raked in by countless familys who open up their yards- all gone. In a time of 12% unemployment the Bay area deserves better return on our investment.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:32 pm
Really good point fanokit. As even Team Glazer has pointed out, the economy in this market stinks. Every dime counts these days.
April 19th, 2011 at 2:16 am
whats CITS stand for?
April 19th, 2011 at 7:50 am
Hi derek! CITS stands for Community Investment Tax Stadium. The Community Investment Tax was the name of the sales tax increase Hillsborough County voted on- and passed- in order to build the stadium. Many people still refer to Raymond James as the CITS stadium to recognize that the community paid it.
April 19th, 2011 at 8:42 am
Good to hear but honestly I’d rather they just get the damn CBA done even if it means one less game for me to attend.
April 19th, 2011 at 11:09 am
I’m a season ticket holder. I do not feel violated in anyway. I get a discount on my tickets this year. We get a home game on TV (which we may not have any other way) plus it would have been a mostly Bears crowd anyway. The heat and humidity are the only things that were working in our favor. Plus it’s going to be at the end of October so heat and humidity is a marginal option anyway. But none of that matters either, because we are gonna OWN the Bears regardless of where we play. That is IF we play. This CBA thing is a slap in the face of fans and neither side seems to care. Frustrating. The rich get richer. The poor and middle class get to fund it all. Sigh…
April 19th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Sunday, Oct 23 according to NFL Live