Blackout!
July 1st, 2010
You know it’s coming. Joe knows it’s coming. The only question is, how many?
That would be a blackout.
With the local economy in the dumpster, the Bucs coming off a nightmarish season and no real prospects for a playoff run this year, it’s only too obvious that Bucs ticket sales are struggling.
So for the first time in the history of the CITS, Bucs games are likely to be blacked out. Team Glazer has talked about it — twice.
Woody Cummings and Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune tackle the subject of home Bucs games being blacked out in this latest installment of a TBO.com Bucs vlog.
Late in the video, Richardson has a surprise offering for Cummings. Tell Joe what you think of Richardson’s suggestion.
After you have watched the video, it’s quite possible that the video below from The Scorpions will be the theme song of the Bucs 2010 season.
July 1st, 2010 at 10:49 am
Will someone please tell Woody, that you CAN’T watch a Bucs game from Orlando if they are blacked out.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:00 am
Funny, I just bought tickets to go see both the Scorpions and Seasons Tickets for the Tampa Bay Bucs. I don’t want to miss a game, and I too fear there will be a blackout, especially with the bandwagon Tampa Fans.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:05 am
Louie:
He admitted in the video he didn’t know. To be honest, the blackout rules as to what the blackout radius is is rather confusing.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:36 am
I am confused as well. Do blackouts only apply to the local market? I live in Arkansas, will the games be blacked out here?
July 1st, 2010 at 11:39 am
Brandon:
You are safe.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:45 am
What’s confusing or very clear is the broadcast radius. Orlando is over 75 miles away from Tampa, but Orlando TV broadcasts extend into the 75 mile radius. So, they are blacked out. Jacksonville is even further away, but Orlando is blacked out for their games when the Jaguars don’t sell out.
Maybe I misunderstood what Woody said, but it sounded like he was suggesting people could go to Orlando to watch the games. If anyone tried that, they would be very disappointed.
July 1st, 2010 at 11:56 am
Let’s make it simple for everybody. These are my guesses, based on the radius and the location of each station:
Call # Bucs Blackout?
WFTX-TV Yes
WOGX Yes
WAWS No
WSVN No
WOFL Yes
WPGX No
WALA-TV No
WTLH No
WTVT Yes
WFLX Yes
Basically, if you’re anywhere in central Florida, you’re screwed.
Miami, Jacksonville, or the pandhandle, you’re fine.
July 1st, 2010 at 12:03 pm
How about that the lightning trade meszaros to phily for a 2nd rounder wish they could get money on top of that deal!
July 1st, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Due to my recent relocation to Detroit and my connection to Direct TV, I will have no problem getting the Bucs on my NFL Sunday Ticket! Lions yes, Bucs no.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Matt:
It would help to list what cities those stations broadcast from.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Joe: I tried to put that in there too, but it got messy.
I’ll try my best:
City Call # Bucs Blackout?
Fort Myers WFTX-TV Yes
Gainesville WOGX Yes
Jacksonville WAWS No
Miami/Fort Lauderdale WSVN No
Orlando WOFL Yes
Panama City WPGX No
Pensacola WALA-TV No
Tallahassee WTLH No
Tampa/St. Petersburg WTVT Yes
West Palm Beach WFLX Yes
According to Wikipedia, those are all of the FOX stations in the Florida.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Louie:
Joe believes Cummings’ direct quote was, “People could go to Orlando to watch… I don’t know?”
Also, you have to factor in what the Glazers determine to be a secondary market. That could include Gainesville and/or Fort Myers. So basically you’d have to go to the outskirts of Lauderdale or southern reaches of Jacksonville (St. Augustine?) or perhaps scary Perry (Tallahassee?) to see the games.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Yeah, a little messy.
Also, oops, West Palm should be ‘no’ blackout.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:19 pm
West Palm would be blacked out???
July 1st, 2010 at 1:27 pm
If you want to get fancier about it:
http://i.imgur.com/CvQ1r.jpg
Note: The big circle in the middle is around CITS. The other circles are centered around where the stations broadcast, assuming a 50 mile radius. Each station has a different radius (depending on the power they broadcast at, so that’s just an approximation.
However, it seemed pretty clear that the Tampa Bay, Orlando, Gainesville/Ocala, and Fort Myers markets will all be blacked out.
(And no, sorry, West Palm would be fine.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Too much trouble. I’m just going to go fishing and listen to Deckerhoff on the radio.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Or get the Sirius NFL Application for your Iphone/Blackberry and listen to it anywhere… (What a great deal that is…)
July 1st, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Since the NFL has priced itself out of the blue collar market and now is trying really hard to price itself out of the middle class; they might want to make a package deal with direct TV to sell these blacked out games to the public. Tampa is just one of a half dozen or so teams that won’t be selling out this year. Next year (if there is football) it will be up to a dozen stadiums that won’t be able to sell out. I can see the future and it comes in the form of a movie Roller Ball. 2000 people in the stands 200 Million watching on TV.
July 24th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
I just contacted the General Manager of WFTX Fox in FT. Myers and the game will be broadcasted this year in Ft. Myers/Naples even if they are blackout in Tampa.
September 12th, 2010 at 8:08 am
The blackout is only supposed to be for a 75 mile radius around the effected metro area.
SEVENTY FIVE MILES.
Orlando is just under 80 miles from Tampa.
Ft. Meyers is over 93 miles from Tampa.
WFTX Ft Myers are idiots if they black out the Bucs game because they do not have to. They are as close to Miami as they are to Tampa…
September 12th, 2010 at 8:08 am
The blackout is only supposed to be for a 75 mile radius around the effected metro area.
SEVENTY FIVE MILES.
Orlando is just under 80 miles from Tampa.
Ft. Meyers is over 93 miles from Tampa.
WFTX Ft Myers are idiots if they black out the Bucs game because they do not have to. They are as close to Miami as they are to Tampa…