A Bar In A Football Stadium
June 15th, 2018
“Bar 76” is a sports bar that will open at the Den of Depression this fall featuring over 60 TVs and 76 beers. (Rendering courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)
Until recent years, Joe had always thought the Den of Depression was just an OK place to watch football (if you ignore the fact the Bucs have the worst home record in the NFC since Chucky was jettisoned).
There was nothing special about it other than the sight lines, which are very good.
The Bucs had analog scoreboards, the food was boring and there was no real destination point (aside from losing football). Since, the Bucs have added dazzling, state-of-the-art scoreboards, upgraded the food and beer choices and now have a real bar to go to.
Joe thought the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville was superior. Aside from the pools (that place changed its name again so it will always be the “Gator Bowl” to Joe) you could get to the games by water (no such option at the Den of Depression), the tailgate scene was much better with paved lots so you didn’t have to eat dust all morning and, with the interstate overpasses, tailgaters had shade. Oh, and the Bud Zone.
The Bud Zone was a bar in the end zone that was air conditioned and you had access to NFL Sunday Ticket to watch every game played, while you could also watch the game on the field. What a concept!
Well, now the Bucs have gone the bar route. Yesterday in a presentation by the team to highlight Round 4 of the upgrades to the Den of Depression, the Bucs announced the opening this fall of “Bar 76.” This watering hole will of course serve food as well as 76 different beers (including both macro and micro beers).
Per the Bucs, “Bar 76 will feature an upscale Buccaneer football-themed motif presented in an industrial-meets-modern interior design style. … More than 60 HDTV monitors and a third video wall will provide patrons with unprecedented access to all pre- and post-game programming as well as games from around the NFL.”
Joe has no clue why it took so long for the Bucs to have this at the Den of Depression. Better late than never and Joe applauds the Bucs for doing this.
So now club seat holders can go to watch the Bucs, and if the game goes bad — which has happened from time to time since 2009 — fans won’t have to leave the stadium to get good beer and watch good football.
Maybe Joe might have to drop the moniker “Den of Depression” before the Bucs can prove they can win five home games in a season?
June 15th, 2018 at 12:10 am
This article would have been great had you only said den of depression five or six more times. Oh well.
June 15th, 2018 at 12:38 am
The den of depression… ouch
June 15th, 2018 at 1:07 am
Joe thought one of the reasons the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville was so superior, aside from the pools (that place changed its name again so it will always be the “Gator Bowl” to Joe) was that you could get to the games by water (no such option at the Den of Depression), the tailgate scene was so much better (lots were paved so you didn’t have to eat dust all morning and with the interstate overpasses, tailgaters had shade) and the Bud Zone.
@Joe
That is more than one reason. Just sayin’.
😀
June 15th, 2018 at 1:19 am
“… featuring over 60 TVs and 76 beers.”
At the same time?? NIRVANA
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“Joe has no clue why it took so long for the Bucs to have this at the Den of Depression.”
I’m old enough to remember when the old man Culverhouse had to get the local blue laws changed before the Sombrero opened just so he could sell cups of beer legally. That’s why Sunday alcohol sales in the Tampa Bay area started at 1:00 pm for as long as I lived down there growing up. I figure it’s probably still the same.
Having an actual liquor bar in the stadium almost feels like something forbidden to me. Probably because it always was. I wanna come down and experience this now!
June 15th, 2018 at 1:22 am
I think I got carried away. You didn’t mention liquor, did you?
I think I need another shot. Ciao!
June 15th, 2018 at 1:30 am
Yes it’s time to drop Den of Depression.
June 15th, 2018 at 1:45 am
I think the tailgating here is one of, if not the best in the NFL and I’ve been to quite a few other stadiums to see the Bucs play. Where else can you buy a house across the street to park and tailgate in and have indoor A/C to cool off after playing cornhole and drinking in the back yard? Green Bay has a couple of them, not as many, and they’re further away. But definitely the food and drink situation inside needs a lot of improvement. Seems like they’re working on it.
June 15th, 2018 at 2:17 am
@TampaTown
Cornhole?
June 15th, 2018 at 2:59 am
Your taxpayer dollars at work
June 15th, 2018 at 6:32 am
Bar “76” because it will be $76 for two beers and a hot dog.
June 15th, 2018 at 6:41 am
Where will it be located? Will other than club seat patrons have access….will it only be open during games? If so, (hard to be a money-maker)
Would be a huge draw for east side nose bleed sun seats.
Nice addition but just one more thing to lure fans out of their seats.
June 15th, 2018 at 6:43 am
LOL@ Tom Edrington that’s the damn truth 🙂
June 15th, 2018 at 6:52 am
Oh those Glazer boys! Always thinking about how to make our fan experience better (errr bottom line).
June 15th, 2018 at 8:35 am
The bar is designed to be able to be used for private functions if so desired. They don’t have to open the whole staidum to rent out a “sports bar.” I’d have rather had a team store separate building from the lower West Club and something like this or a sitdown restaurant/buffet where the “Lower Galley” used to be. The team store is wasted space for West Club members. It should be “living space” not merchandize space. So at least this is on the other side. West Club members can go there since both clubs are renovated now. We have been asking for a while for craft beers…so this completes it. The stadium should be good, save for minor up grades, for another 15 years. Over $100M of this came from the owners…so the whining about them not putting anything into the stadium is old. It would be very generic had they foot the bill for all these renovations.
June 15th, 2018 at 8:43 am
@ Lucious:
Don’t get too excited. Cornhole is a bean bag toss game.
June 15th, 2018 at 8:56 am
Screw that how about something for the normal Bucs fan like shade!! All these club level renovations most of us will never even see.
June 15th, 2018 at 9:00 am
Grass lots over paved steaming hot lots everyday, are you crazy Joe?
June 15th, 2018 at 9:14 am
I’d rather see the stadium go dry.
June 15th, 2018 at 9:29 am
I see the normal whinning babies are out. Jesus, this was a 170 mil renovation so far. Only 28 mil is tax dollars. Boo hoo. Guess what, these updates the past 4 years were long overdue. Thats why tampa was out of the running for events like the superbowl which brings way more than 28 mil to a city in a weekend which adds jobs. You had a national championship due to the rennovations started, a superbowl coming up along with other prime time events. How can you moan about that? Some of you rush to be the first whinny comment on every d@mn thread. Brace yourself, there will be a 5th phase to the renovations next year. I rather the 170 mil renovations than the owners in a fight with the city for a new stadium ie chargers, rams, oakland. Stop the d@mn whinning about absolutely nothing.
June 15th, 2018 at 9:33 am
bonzai
dry stadium?…..shoot yourself!!!!!
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!….#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!
June 15th, 2018 at 11:24 am
Haven’t they had a full service bar in club level for some time? Also, sorry Joe, but who wants to tail gate in Florida on paved lots? Its already surface of the sun hot out there so why would you add pavement.
I’ve been to a lot of different venues and happen to think our stadium is quite nice compared to most.
June 15th, 2018 at 11:49 am
@ Webster: You hit the nail on the head.
@ Jaboo: Exactly. Paved lots $uck. I go to other places and feel sorry for the fans who live there. People in Tampa definitely don’t appreciate what we have here and more people need to get off their fat a$$ and go to a game. Nothing better IMO.
June 15th, 2018 at 2:25 pm
After seeing what the Lightning have done to the Ice Palace it made me wonder how far renovations could go at RayJay. The Ice Palace, when guilt, was a large, clean, but dull arena. But wow have they completely changed that building- it’s over 20 years old and is by and far in its best state ever. Opening up the lower decks, throwing out all seating and going with larger seats, adding a ton of food options – it’s just a great place to watch a game and feels like a new arena, and it was done on the cheap. If they did that with RayJay you’d have a stadium that might be around for 40-50 years.
June 15th, 2018 at 4:41 pm
This is more frustrating to me. What a thing to spend money on. Now only club members who pay good money for their seats at Raymond James, can not sit in those seats to watch the game and instead sit in a bar. Why? Why Wouldnt someone spend their own money going to a local sports bar and save all the money on the seats and parking too? And the fact that it’s only available to club seat owners, means the regular joes that have nosebleeds or roasting east end seats, can’t access it.
I mean I’m sure it’s cool and all, but we need to get more people coming to games. And a really nice full feature bar for club members doesn’t seem to be at the top of the priority list for me. Joe you said it with eating dust in those field parking lots. Roasting in that Tampa sun. Maybe some W’s can generate some revenue to improve what I think is one of the coolest and best looking stadiums in the NFL.
June 15th, 2018 at 8:09 pm
How about a dome ?! Who wants to bake your but off ?! Not me winning or not!
June 15th, 2018 at 8:21 pm
I never understood why someone would pay good money for everything associated with going to a game, and then sit at a bar.
Might as well go to a bar.
June 16th, 2018 at 8:47 am
Are they going to sell wine too? Ira wants to know.
June 20th, 2018 at 12:09 pm
The average price for a Club Seat at Ray Jay is $250-plus. The beers being offered here are gonna be $15ea. I don’t see any reason to be excited about any of this. The audio/video upgrades are tremendous, but the Bucs have done little else for the fans who pay sub-$100ea for their seats.