Mark Dominik Says Bucs Not Moving To London
October 21st, 2011
In between watching the Bucs practice and trying to avoid British cooking, Mark Dominik has been a busy guy. He had a full one-hour call-in show last night as part of Total Access heard on the Bucs radio network and broadcast on WDAE-AM 620.
But in his limited downtime, the rock star general manager has seen Internet reports from some colonists — NOT Joe — who tried to connect dots that did not exist speculating Team Glazer was going to uproot the Bucs and move the team to jolly old England.
As the Brits would say, Dominik called rubbish on the rumors, so reports Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.
“This team is never going to relocate from Tampa and go to London,” Dominik said during a team workout at the Pennyhill Park resort. “We’re the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I know there’s been some rumblings on ProFootballTalk and anywhere else saying we may relocate, but we’re very happy to be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and we will be going forward.”
As Joe mentioned in the comments section yesterday, people trying to claim the Bucs are moving to London are ignoring some very obvious facts. One is the Bucs have an absolute sweetheart of a lease at The CITS, which unlikely would be matched by moving the team to London or elsewhere. Second would be the millions of dollars Team Glazer invested to acquire land at the height of the real estate boom and then develop the land to build One Buc Palace, what once was a shopping mall.
And Joe’s going to stick up for the great Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com. He was hardly the only person suggesting the London Buccaneers were not a mirage.
As Cummings pointed out in his article, however, is that Dominik was less forward in denying the Bucs may be playing an annual “home game” in London.
October 21st, 2011 at 8:51 am
This is stupid to be discussing it’s not feasible and is not going to happen.
October 21st, 2011 at 8:57 am
Paul, You are right, but look at all the comments this topic brings in. Joe wrote a great explanation of why it is “rubish” in the comments section yesterday.
October 21st, 2011 at 9:15 am
The Bears O-line is rubbish, and Clayborn is going to have his first multiple sack game this weekend.
October 21st, 2011 at 9:33 am
I don’t think they’re even considering moving. Not going to happen.
If they were though, Dom would never admit it. None of them would.
October 21st, 2011 at 9:35 am
London would be culture shock for NFL players. You can get 1,500 sf of home for a couple million and warm beer is always nice……piccadilly sauce on lard…yummm! Constant cold, wet weather..oh yeah, everyone will want to go to a London franchise….
October 21st, 2011 at 10:24 am
The Bucs franchise is safe and secure in Tampa Bay. The NFL is interested in expansion , not addition by subtraction. Tampa is a proven and viable NFL city or it would not be a finalist for the Super Bowl. However it is entirely possible that the Glazers could decide to sell at some point. It is a mature product in it’s product cycle and has started to decline in value. When that happens, it may be wise to sell, purchase a new franchise that has growth potential in a new market and is early in it’s product cycle. It’s Warren Buffet 101. I am not saying that it’s a foregone conclusion, but the marketing facts speak for themselves. http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/venturebiz/content/forbes-value-tampa-bay-bucs-franchise-dips-again-now-no-19-among-nfl-teams
October 21st, 2011 at 11:21 am
Ahhh Bobby, glad to see you have followed Joe’s lead when it comes to enlightenment, knowledge and respect of other cultures, and willingness to embrace life outside of the US.
October 21st, 2011 at 1:06 pm
He said twice in the full article that he had not spoken to the Glazer’s about this subject. He is just trying to protect ticket sales.
October 21st, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Did anyone actually think the Bucs would move? I could see the Glazer’s selling the team to buy one in Europe before the Bucs moved to London and I can’t even see that happening.
October 21st, 2011 at 1:29 pm
This suggestion of the Bucs moving to London is stunningly ill-informed.
*IF* the Bucs were to move — PLEASE read their lease with The CITS and explain to Joe in great detail why Team Glazer would want to break that — the Bucs would be more inclined to move to Los Angeles than London.
FIRST, the league would have to approve a move. If you haven’t noticed, quite a few owners want nothing to do with playing in London.
SECOND, Los Angeles is about to have a state of the art stadium with revenue options that few stadiums have.
THIRD, Los Angeles is the second-largest market. Just the corporate sales options and the preseason TV package alone for Los Angeles market would make most owners salivate.
FOURTH, it’s entirely possible the Los Angeles market/new stadium may have two teams.
FIFTH, what will Team Glazer do with the land they bought at the height of the real estate boom that now houses One Buc Place? Team Glazer pumped millions into developing that land. Who the hell will buy that?
(For the tin foil hat crowd: The Bucs will move to London and One Buc Place and the surrounding land will be bought by Stu Sternberg for a new Rays stadium.)
October 21st, 2011 at 2:08 pm
LA has had two shots at the NFL, why arwe they willing to try again.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:06 pm
I think people would rather hear this from the Glazers themselves.