“It’s Going To Be Football”
May 13th, 2020
Football is football. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)
Part of the NFL’s appeal is raucous fans (fueled by alcohol?) urging a defense to lock up an opponent and seal a win, or the chance to party with a complete and total stranger after a Mike Evans game-winning touchdown catch.
Oh, this year Evans may very well catch a game-winning touchdown pass or Sean Murphy-Bunting may win a game with a pick-six.
The roaring crowd? That may not happen.
With The Sickness all but shutting down our way of life and, just as important, revenue streams, nearly every aspect of living has changed.
And one of those is sports. While Florida governor Ron DeSantis embraced the return of sports, that doesn’t mean gates will fling open for fans.
The NFL has contingency plans to play before empty stadiums, or partially-fill them adhering to social-distancing standards (not to be confused with how disgraced former Bucs defensive coordinator Mike Smith used cornerbacks).
Today in a Zoom conference call, Bucs corner SMB admitted it would be weird playing before only coaches and teammates but it’s still football, just without the noise or support (or hate).
“Fans are definitely a big part of the game,” SMB said. “We have some of the best fans in the country. It is definitely going to be different. But at the end of the day, it is still football. It is still competitive. You have to do your job and go and have fun with it.”
The keyword, Joe believes, was SMB saying “fun.” There won’t be any way to lean on fans for support. Players will have to provide that energy on their own.
“It’s not like we are going to go out there and having a practice,” SMB said. “It’s going to be competitive. It’s going to be fun. There are going to guys flying around. It’s going to be football at the end of the day.”
The Bucs are going to have to adapt and adapt quickly, as will the 31 other teams. Joe senses this lockdown/empty stadiums thing may hurt the Bucs worse than many teams.
Patrick Rishe, a sports economist at Washington University in St. Louis, calls the revenue lost in sports due to The Sickness “carnage.”
Why is Joe scared? Well, the NFL could lose billions if teams play in empty stadiums. The salary cap is based on the NFL making money. If the NFL loses money, the salary cap would go down, which was unthinkable just a few months ago.
The Bucs are already up against it with the salary cap. If it goes down, the team would have to make very painful decisions.
So this Bucs window to win may only be just one year. This year.
May 13th, 2020 at 3:02 pm
I don’t see why it isn’t feasible to consider at-the-gate testing and/or admit recovered fans. Limit attendance, sure. Spacing. But allow some fans in.
May 13th, 2020 at 3:14 pm
allow some fans in…..25% capacity….
pump a little crowd noise thru the speakers and play music if fans cant be allowed….
GO BUCS!!!
May 13th, 2020 at 3:22 pm
With no fans I’d like them to at least turn on the speakers loud so it is still harder to call an audible. Maybe they can record all of the actions made from the NFL last year and play them at the proper moments. Even though there would be no one in the stands. Wonder what that would be like.
May 13th, 2020 at 3:29 pm
Just a thought… There is a multitude of people who are not worried about “the sickness”! I believe a public service announcement about safety and staying home if you have underlying health issues will suffice. There is inherent risks in many things we do daily. Why not leave attending the games up to the people considering going? I think u will be surprised at the amount of people that do attend.
May 13th, 2020 at 4:07 pm
“So this Bucs window to win may only be just one year. This year.”
At least we have a window now!! Got out of the padded room of irrelevance.
May 13th, 2020 at 4:12 pm
I may be in the minority but I believe there could be at least temperatures taken at the gate……
Individuals should be able to choose to attend or not….wear a mask or not and attendants (after the game begins) should let people spread out to empty areas if they wish…..
Perhaps limit to 50% capacity…..but let fans attend.
May 13th, 2020 at 4:15 pm
This is the type of concern that’s influenced by an inept Dr. Fauci. The man, along w/ Dr Birx has been wrong at every single turn. He’s relied on two OUTSIDE models that have been proven to be wildly inaccurate. Truly, anyone doing a google search could have come up with same models he has then passing it along to the Oval Office and recommending a nationwide shutdown. A simple look at the numbers and it’s painfully obvious the overwhelming deaths are accompanied by underlying conditions and fall within the demographic of the elderly. Time to dump Fauci and Birx and get this country back on track. Enough of this scare mongering bullspit.
May 13th, 2020 at 4:17 pm
Where is NDog ? Did he change his username ? Did he forget to pay his phone bill ? Did he catch the Rona ? After getting dominated on here so Hadley recently , I’m fearful for his health . I hope and pray that none of the above are true and that he is on all of those garbage Saints websites telling their fans how Winston is better than Brees . NDog , let us know you are OK broseph.
May 13th, 2020 at 4:19 pm
Would someone please explain this away?
Conservatively, between players, staff and office personnel there are approximately 200 people (probably more) involved with each NFL team. That’s a total of 6400 people “in” the NFL.
Currently, there around 330 million people in the US and almost 1.5 million of them have been diagnosed with the Coronavirus.That’s one in every 220 people or the likelihood that 29 NFL players should have the disease.
Granted, younger people are more immune and have a better chance for survival, but three months ago there were only a handful of cases in the entire United States.
The current ruling in this matter is: if you test positive you and all those you made contact with are confined to a 14 day lockdown.
Under that scenario, if only one player in the NFL tests positive during the season, his team and the teams he played the past two weeks will go into lockdown and the season will be gone. And the next two weeks are gone as well.
I’m telling ya, unless they get a vaccine I believe there will be no season. I want football as much as anybody here. But facts are facts.
So please, explain my comment away without the false bravado that echoes through these comments. Give me science.
May 13th, 2020 at 4:22 pm
Carnage is extreme I just looked it up and in 2018 16% of revenue came from ticket sales with concessions maybe 20% so it’s not the end of the worjd
May 13th, 2020 at 4:31 pm
Why not shut down two the 3 seat in between people to be 6 feet away and a row above stagger in between. Have fans wear masks it’s not ideal to say the least but I believe the stadium would be about a 3rd full. That’s better then nothing. How it’s decided who gets seats maybe season pass gets automatically in then people can enter a lottery system that guarantees you win you get in. If they end up not wanting to pay it goes on the next guy or gal. Maybe it’s a dumb idea maybe not. I’m just spitballin here.
May 13th, 2020 at 4:32 pm
2 to 3 seats apart whatever gets to 6 feet
May 13th, 2020 at 4:36 pm
If cap went down duh would be the main casualty which he should not be depended on next year anyway with having a one year contract. Having a partially filled stadium or no fans at all is no disadvantage for the Bucs who play away games at home nd if your going to make fun of their home loss record why try to pretend this will affect this team more than say saints or Seahawks? For those who just decided they are sick of covid and wished it away, testing won’t matter going into a stadium if you come out with the sickness. Last thing I honestly care about is the nfl’s revenue
May 13th, 2020 at 4:42 pm
How bout we not let them take our temperature and quit bending over to our freedom getting taken away? Oh and don’t worry about the toilet paper crisis. As long as the New York Times keeps printing we are just fine.
May 13th, 2020 at 4:51 pm
JJ – You are right about the NYT.
May 13th, 2020 at 4:55 pm
NScared. I see your point. However, the risk of an unconcerned, asymptomatic, yet virus carrying fan, has the chance of unwittingly spreading the virus to others. Have to think about that social respsonsibiity.
May 13th, 2020 at 5:34 pm
JA
Very well posed and thought out questions.
I’m not sure about the science. Of course that is only part of it…politics will play a large role as well.
As for the science…if your hypothesis is correct..then the league will have to resort to some extreme protective measures eh? Short of placing players and their families…and the coaches and team staff in quarantine I do not know how you keep it totally out.
Politically however is a different matter. They will downplay any infections and talk about all the mitigation they are doing. They will then view Covid players as guys on injured reserve and park them the same as if they are in concussion protocol or any injury.
I absolutely do not know how all of this turns out. I don’t believe anybody really does…it’s all uncharted waters. One thing does seem clear to me. There are NO easy answers! Sadly I also believe there are no immediately gratifying answers until at minimum we have a treatment if not a vaccine.
May 13th, 2020 at 5:46 pm
St. Pete – Well stated. Off topic a bit; but related to your last comment: There are over 300 international ongoing clinical trials. Nearly all are evaluating therapies. A few on prophylactic measures. I suspect that a few of these will lead to promising new (better than Dr. Fouci’s touted Resdemsivir) therapies. I am almost certain of this. And this (these) will profoundly suppress the pandemic’s fears and effects. A useful treatment! This is more important, and will well supersede the development of a vaccine – a year or two away.
May 13th, 2020 at 5:54 pm
If the Bucs attendance numbers from the past few years is exactly the same, all the fans can sit 6 feet apart and still all fit in the stadium. 🙂
May 13th, 2020 at 6:22 pm
Only Two face fans
May 13th, 2020 at 6:32 pm
The NFL has contingency plans to play before empty stadiums, or partially-fill them adhering to social-distancing standards (not to be confused with how disgraced former Bucs defensive coordinator Mike Smith used cornerbacks).
Lol, that Line about Smith is awesome.
May 13th, 2020 at 7:30 pm
St. Pete––
Agreed, but with the current amorphous thought releases from the NFL higher-ups, I do not see the season coming to fruition.
From you: “I absolutely do not know how all of this turns out.”
Neither do they.
JimmyJack––Are you advocating for the “right” to infect others without culpability?
Just curious …
May 13th, 2020 at 7:32 pm
I agree that we will likely have a treatment before we have a vaccine…….I we can get this to where the virus isn’t fatal…..we will be able to get back to some normalcy……like the flu…
Persons do die from flu complications……..but that is simply a hazard that most can accept.
I am in the “high-risk” group and am very careful and will continue to be….but I plan to live life to the fullest that I can and that means attending a game…..
May 13th, 2020 at 7:37 pm
Casual observer. I completely agree. I am very confident we will have multiple effective treatments by the time the season starts. Assuming that happens, the fear level should plummet. On a lighter note, no fans at games could work to our advantage early on in games like the Saints and Bears who play in front of raucous crowds every game.
May 13th, 2020 at 7:59 pm
Casual Observer
Agree completely. A vaccine is not required but at minimum a treatment is needed.
I think of another Virus that was a scourge to the world back in the 80’s…HIV led to the AID’s epidemic. There is still no cure, no vaccine but there is a simple hassle free treatment. Take a pill a day. Doesn’t kill the Virus but it does suppress it to undetectable levels as long as you continue the pill.
Once people believe Covid is not a death sentence or some horror show with intubation but something medicine can address things will truly change.
May 13th, 2020 at 8:00 pm
Dr. F. Thanks. Hope we’re right. And Ha about the early games with the Saints and Bears. Hold off on the treatments until those games. A bit like the Rays games – if the policy in in effect when baseball resumes. The Rays will have the advantage – they’re used to that atmosphere.
May 13th, 2020 at 8:07 pm
As far as I’m concerned if I’m not there this year didn’t happen.
May 13th, 2020 at 8:14 pm
Not Scared…What you propose is what 98% of people probably agree with, however we live in a world with brain washed sheep (Realist, you there?) and the inability of people to think for themselves will keep this thing dragging out. Its sad that they cannot see how much of a load of b.s this all really is. People get sick, people get beter, and people die everyday. If your scared stay home, if not go out and consider who.you live and interact with daily before making your decisions daily. Our goverment needs to be fired and rebuilt from the ground up
May 13th, 2020 at 8:17 pm
I mean we do have a senior citizen playing QB now so we should be more cautious than most teams.
May 13th, 2020 at 8:28 pm
Ndog you really are a tool listen to yourself. You are truly a 🤡 if I’m not there it didn’t happen ok ndog go back to sleep now.
May 13th, 2020 at 8:31 pm
Ticket sales makes up a small portion of total revenue. Those TV deals give more money to a game with 0 fans than a team would make selling just the tickets.
May 13th, 2020 at 8:59 pm
They piped in boos for Roger Goodell at the draft. Pipe in Buc fans cheering through the speakers at Ray J. Heck. They can show cheering Buc fans on the jumbotrons around the stadium. 🤔
May 13th, 2020 at 9:06 pm
Vaccine, hopefully within the next 12 months…reproduction and duplication, likely another 6 to 12 months, unless some company wants to profit off it and monopolize it…then another year.
You can test the players daily, and likely still have a season.
But for fans? Seems like a long shot to attend with less than social distancing and masks, as I don’t think it likely you could take the temperature of every fan. I think the teams should pressure the mask manufacturers to produce more, and provide every fan with a mask of the first order when they enter the stadiums to protect other fans and the players, and remove them if they remove the masks. Charge another five or 10 dollars if you must to ticket prices if necessary.
Frankly, the world is changing. We need to figure out strategies to keep the things we love, retrain workers for 21st century careers, and pray for that vaccine.
May 13th, 2020 at 9:13 pm
Apparently we got a lot of medical doctors on JBF .
May 13th, 2020 at 9:41 pm
SOE…some of us listen to the scientists and doctors. And have family in the medical research business. Just sharing.
May 13th, 2020 at 9:41 pm
Can you imagine Jameis as a senior citizen ?
I can. He would be so handsome
May 13th, 2020 at 9:55 pm
And I am a medical doctor. Just sayin’. Doesn’t make me 100% correct but I feel confident in my statements. Dr. Fauci said in January that he was confident that China was being transparent. He said masks weren’t necessary but now they are. His mixed messages are becoming tiresome. I believe that the infection rate is at least 5 times the reported positive test cases because the young and healthy have been exposed and had little to no symptoms. If that’s true, the death rate is far lower than the already low rate. Protect the elderly and at risk and get back to real life. 40% of US deaths are from nursing homes and the death rate of under 24 years old is 1 per million. By August, we will see a much more promising reality.
May 13th, 2020 at 9:58 pm
Thank you ^^^^
May 13th, 2020 at 10:09 pm
Agree^^^
May 13th, 2020 at 10:15 pm
There he is !!!! I knew you couldn’t resist . Bro, let’s smoke a J and talk about how we are going to be at Ray Jay,soaking up Bucs wins , while surrounded by a bunch bolt on boobies bouncing up and down as the cannons fire .
May 13th, 2020 at 10:22 pm
Dr. Feel-good… Bizarre…. Wonder what branch you practice in? The mask statement wasn’t true… But it was to protect medical professionals and leave them high and dry on equipment. China is as truthful and transparent as Trump… Beyond that, young cases of immunological repercussions are showing up now. The pros say we are being surprised continually regarding this disease. Many things we don’t know. I’m a senior in good health… Probability of only about 5% mortality. But my younger cousin… About 92%. So that isn’t insignificant. And don’t forget underreporting of death… Not just cases.
May 13th, 2020 at 10:25 pm
SmoothBayRider. If you’re talking to me, I’m all in brother.! If not, my bad.
May 13th, 2020 at 10:26 pm
My younger cousin has multiple pre-existing conditions.
May 13th, 2020 at 10:28 pm
Sure… J smoking MD covid expert.
May 13th, 2020 at 10:28 pm
And in a post about cornerbacks look who brings up the quarterback. The guy who says he’s never starting arguments.
And he calls Arians a hypocrite. Laughable.
May 13th, 2020 at 10:29 pm
Then he or she shouldn’t be exposed. If you have someone in your life that’s at risk, then don’t put them at risk. If not, be smart and live life.
May 13th, 2020 at 10:34 pm
My Mom has pre-existing conditions and I haven’t seen her in person for 8 weeks. She lives 8 minutes from me. Like I said, PROTECT THE ELDERLY AND THOSE WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS. C’mon dude. If I smoke MJ then I can’t have an educated opinion on this? Wake up to 2020.
May 13th, 2020 at 11:13 pm
Im not scared of dying or corona!
Im with Elon Musk!
Stop the fascist police state!
May 13th, 2020 at 11:18 pm
Hey SC it was a joke bro, lighten up. He clearly isn’t a senior citizen in case you didn’t know.
May 13th, 2020 at 11:20 pm
You guys are so freaking sensative. You know he has literally done nothing here yet right? You protect him like he’s the great historical figure in Tampa when he literally has not even thrown an official pass in a practice yet. Lighten up you will see your savior soon enough let’s just hope he is as crappy as he was last year.
May 13th, 2020 at 11:32 pm
There is literally no reason you can’t have fans in the stadium, at least in the south, at least until it cools down. Again, heat, humidity and UV all act to basically make the transmission rate of the thing at or near statistical zero. That is science — literally every single study shows the exact same thing. Once the temps get above 65 the transmission rate decreases, once you get above 80 it’s nearly zero, once you get above 86 it’s statistically zero.
Speaking of zeros, did you see the job Nike did with the awful new Rams jersey? Holy Jesus is it bad. The NFL needs to fire Nike, immediately. Not only are they anti-American trash, they suck at their job. The Bucs had to go back to the Reebok jerseys to get something that wasn’t complete trash — and even then the “new” jerseys still aren’t as good as the old ones — and all they had to do was copy and paste.
May 13th, 2020 at 11:36 pm
The “flu shot” that we are urged to get on an annual basis is not a vaccine for the flu. It is a concoction of three or four *weakened* strains of flu that the health department *guesses* will be the most prevalent that year. Considering that there are a very large number of flu viruses out there, it obviously does not prevent you from getting the flu.
There are no vaccines for the flu.
Herd immunity is what will give us some breathing room.
ST PETE Once people believe Covid is not a death sentence or some horror show with intubation but something medicine can address things will truly change.
This scenerio will not occur until the national media shows a little maturity.
Sadly, I see no indication of this ever happening.
Not a doctor, merely an observer.
May 14th, 2020 at 2:00 am
you gotta let the fans in…all or nothing…all the fans in…or nothing at all…
if playing at empty stadiums, the nfl might want to consider putting fans in seats, like digitally…make it look like fans are in all the seats…
and make it like a sitcom…have fan cheering tracks like laugh tracks…
make it sound and feel real…from a view on tv perspective…
because…
i have a friend who actually tunes into wrestling religiously…go figure…
and i was texting with him, early pandemic, so i turned it on to see as well, because he said there is no audience…
there were no fans and no noise…
it was completely weird and ridiculous…
truth is wrestlers and athletes are actually performing…
and no fans to perform for can get quite weird…
so they might have to simulate fans and cheering if watching on tv, to get it up to speed with the actual vibe…
just typing as i think…
i coud be way off here…just sayin’ some quick thoughts…
#DidCovidKillTheNFL
May 14th, 2020 at 2:04 am
It’s amazing how many people still don’t seem to grasp that you can infect other people (like your spouse, your parents, your kids, etc.) even if you’re “fine”.
Oh and they said you didn’t need masks because there was a huge shortage of PPE supplies at the time, so they didn’t want people hoarding what little were left. Definitely messed up to lie to the American people like that but hey that’s what this admin does best, and besides it was blatantly obvious to anyone paying attention that it was BS, given there was a mask shortage.
As for football, I think there will be games but sadly I don’t think there will be crowds. It sucks, but we are in very strange times right now.
A legit treatment would go a long way in making that possible though. Probably the only silver lining is that basically the whole world is trying to solve this, so a cure / treatment could come sooner than later.
May 14th, 2020 at 2:36 am
rod munch:
just read your post and wtf…?
do you literally think fans who come from green bay can sit next to you and you don’t huff in their “breath cloud” ?…as they noise it up and cheer away?…
while spitting and spewing beer as they yell and cheer?…come on bro…
do you really thing the “beer here” guy isn’t human and doesn’t release a breath cloud at people as he freely walks around yelling to the crowd…while sweating and huffing as he carries a heavy box…
or that 10 people don’t pass money to the end of an aisle to pay, and then all 10 pass back the covid stained beer to the buyer?…
and doesn’t nike produce the jerseys??? and doesn’t some sort of art team working in conjunction with the rams franchise on designing the unis?…
it’s not like the rams say to nike:
“yo, just wing it guys, what ever you see fit we say yes to because you made air jordans in the 90s”
doesn’t some sort of art team have to create these in conjunction with the rams?…
but i do agree the jerseys do stink…
and i really do not think nike designed the alarm clock jerseys for the bucs…they produced them…printed them…distribute them…
the bucs and rams choose their jerseys, logos and designs…
nike is basically the printer, not the art team
May 14th, 2020 at 7:40 am
I think hearing the sounds of the game would be better then hearing screaming fans. The NFL might have to go on HBO with all that we’ll hear the players saying without crowd noise.
May 14th, 2020 at 8:08 am
Mark2001 Says:
May 13th, 2020 at 10:22 pm
“China is as truthful and transparent as Trump”.
Love or hate Trump, I don’t really care, but to make this statement shows you either haven’t been paying attention to actual news on China and the virus or you are a socialist at heart a complete idiot.
May 14th, 2020 at 8:36 am
Unbelievable…well said…and that is why I have to wonder what kind of a doctor Feel is. My 6’8″ cousin with pre-existing conditions can’t hide in a hole for years because they are high risk…they have to have contact with someone for food and necessities. And to increase the risk of any given person having it for reckless entertainment purposes, one maybe one not even showing symptoms, is fool hardy. And shows no compassion for the less fortunate.
Of course there are all kinds of “doctors”.
May 14th, 2020 at 8:50 am
Sierra…sure…it is down to zero, isn’t it?
He said it was just a political scam…another effort to impeach him.
Yeah…it will be gone miraculously overnight
All the hospitals can get all the protective equipment they need..over a month ago…and they still need more. What are they doing with all those masks? Anyone can get tested that wants one.
Nobody’s asking for ventilators. We have plenty of ventilators.
Yeah, we can all be sitting arm and arm in church on Easter Sunday.
Yeah, Chloroquine is the answer…lets spend multimillions on it.
Sure.. inject disinfectants like bleach, lysol, and put sunlight in the body.
LOL…you have to be kidding..right? The guy keeps shoveling it to you and you keep swallowing.
May 14th, 2020 at 9:02 am
Geez, can’t even come here to get away from the coronavirus.
May 14th, 2020 at 9:03 am
Sierra
We knew about it since January…and slept for months when we could have been preparing…now we pay the price with the most deaths in the world.
Now we are looking to put the blame on others. In fact, we are the only nation trying to do this, because we can’t admit that some like S. Korea handled it so much better, and we failed.
Glad the needless deaths aren’t on my soul.
May 14th, 2020 at 9:11 am
It’s hard to top (hardly emphasized in the mainstream press) Biden’s comment on Trump’s early ban on travel from China. He called it Xenophobic. How many lives would his policy have cost?
May 14th, 2020 at 10:38 am
Suffering – The Sickness is fundamental to the subject of this story.
May 14th, 2020 at 12:06 pm
So easily manipulated
Keep buying the mass misinformation and outright lies and we WILL be the last generation to know freedom
SMH
May 14th, 2020 at 12:40 pm
Casual… it was xenophobic, and had no effect on policies…heck, Ivanka had many business rights given by the Chinese govt for her line of products during the XI meeting. XI was his best buddy.
Yes, it started in China…because their populace eats things we wouldn’t dream of and lives a standard of living we wouldn’t dream of in our worst nightmare. But that didn’t mean he listened to Biden, kissed XI’s behind, and was afraid to take measures to protect our country from this pademic in January? Is there anything you guys wouldn’t give him a pass on?
And yes gp…he cares nothing about the constitution. He tried to steal states rights to make decisions for their own citizens when he made his pronouncement about opening the country up , and in fact said he could, until a constitutional believer pointed out to him that he didn’t have that power. He knows less about the constitution than he does the Bible.
May 14th, 2020 at 12:57 pm
Mark2001
Are you on the wrong site?
This is about football.
There are plenty of political sites and Twitter. I tweet about politics a lot.
Please go there if you don’t want to talk about football.
May 14th, 2020 at 6:07 pm
Nothing could make me happier than some miracle cure. I hope and pray for it, as well as the vaccine, as well as the country and all our leaders. But here,…yeah,.. I sure hope we have a season…we all need it. Go Bucs…
May 14th, 2020 at 8:59 pm
yeah you can’t go anywhere to escape the virus…facts…
until we control the virus, the virus controls us, the people and the world…
the virus dictates everything right now…just ask the scientists
May 15th, 2020 at 10:18 am
Welcome to the Jungle, Live and let Die, Don’t fear the Reaper, Knocking on Heavens door, In the court of the Crimson King.. Songs to live by and die bye. Just listen to the politicians.
Enough said….