Glazer Rings The Blackout Bell
June 18th, 2010
The Bucs made the rounds to meet-and-greet events at local chambers of commerce today, and Bryan Glazer decided to entertain media following a gathering in Tampa, so noted St. Pete Times beat writer Stephen Holder.
Normally, the story would be Glazer breaking from the traditional family cone of silence, but it was Glazer’s words about ticket sales and the local economy that grabbed center stage.
“We’ve had increased ticket sales obviously, but it’s very rough time in the economy for all of us. Statistics have shown in the last five years, of all the NFL markets, this market has been hit by far the worst. It went from about 4 percent to 13 percent unemployment. That’s the biggest jump in any NFL city.”
Despite the increase in sales, the Glazer family continues to warn of possible blackouts.
“To give the honest answer to the fans, we have said there is a very high risk of blackouts,” he said. “I would expect that there will be some. I do.
“I think in the beginning of the season it’s very possible. I think people will come together as we hope and start to see the winning football and want to come more and more. But we are understanding of the economy and the people and our fans have to make choices and they have to make choices that are best for themselves.
Funny how Glazer says it’s a  “rough time in the economy for all of us.” Joe respects the Glazer’s tremendous accomplishments in the business world, but the populist masses don’t want to hear Glazer lump himself in with the “rough time.” (Joe gets a visual of Team Glazer lamenting their portfolio losses at Bern’s Steak House and driving home in a blacked out Escalade.)
Regarding Glazer’s comments about the “high risk of blackouts,” especially early in the season, Joe just hopes it doesn’t get too ugly.
The Bucs play four of their first six games at home. If the team is 2-4 in that stretch and those games are blacked out, Joe can’t imagine the Bucs will have anything televised locally all season long.
June 18th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
I will always think that the local TV blackout rule is one of the most awful rules in all of sports. If you field a competitive team with exciting players, people WILL start to buy tickets. But if you have a bad year or two, and you stop selling out games, doesn’t it seem counterproductive to the development of your fan base to black out televised games in the local area?
ALSO, as a fan of the Bucs who lives in Nashville (where Titans games ALWAYS sell out), it’s highly frustrating that the local game automatically causes the other network televised game to be blacked out. These are terrible, terrible rules.
June 18th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Aaron:
DirecTV my friend!
June 18th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
(Deleted for outrageous profanity)
Meanwhile , try putting a real product on the field.
**C’mon Radio, at least mix in something more than that. And Joe doesn’t publish profanity because many business computers block it out.**
June 18th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Poor Radio, takes rebuilding as a personal attack in his already undersiege life. The part about “Berns” and Escalades must have really drove the stake in his heart, as you could tell by the uncontrolled profanity.
Sorry mushhead, not everyone can be rich and sucessful:)
Joe, that trip down mental imagery lane made you sound a little bitter ,too!
It ain’t that bad, they don’t get call backs from Rachael Watson either:(
June 18th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Joe here,
Capt. Tim – Joe’s not bitter at all. Joe’s all in favor of making money. The Glazer family has earned its riches.
June 18th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
In 2007 and 2008 the economy was very bad also and the Bucs sold out all of their games.
Aaron is right. This team has a bunch of unproven nobodies and no exciting players on it. Too many people that haven’t played a single down yet. Bring in a couple of established, popular, and exciting NFL players and you’ll for sure sell more tickets!! And gain more respect and media attention! Also, getting rid of all the familiar faces around your organization doesn’t help you at all!!
June 18th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Patrick
“This team has a bunch of unproven nobodies and no exciting players on it.”
Just because the players are unproven doesn’t mean it won’t be exciting.
Its exciting to think of what GMC can become if he lives up to his potential and it willl be exciting to watch him progress.
It will be exciting to see if Josh Freeman can be the QB were all hoping he can be.
It will be exciting to see if the new WR’s can learn quickly and grow into elite players over the next few years.
It will be exciting to see if Aqib Talib can continue to grow into one of the leagues best CB’s
This is an exciting time to be a Bucs fan we could be witnessing the begining of some really special NFL players.
Of course they could also all totally suck which would not be so exciting. But I’m an optimist.
June 18th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Very simply, if the Bucs win, there won’t be any blackouts. PERIOD.
I predict the Cleveland game will be a sellout. ALL the apologists will be there in anticipation of a winning season. The next two games will also be sellouts, but Pittsburgh and New Orleans fans will out number Bucs fans — especially if the Bucs have a losing record at that point. The Falcons game will also be a sellout because of the throwback and Ring of Horror ceremonies.
The first potential blackout game will be the Rams (10/24). By that time, we’ll know how the season is going to shake out. If they’re competitive at that point, I don’t think there will be blackouts. If they suck, then there will be up to four blackouts.
June 18th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
d-money
I’m looking forward to seeing what the young guns are going to produce this season. But by “no exciting players” I’m talking about how there really just hasn’t been a spark around here yet. I’m talking about people who are really gonna get this place going, people that are gonna get tickets sold, people that are gonna make the fans feel confident finally, and people that are gonna at least give us a shot at decent season in 09, instead of just 5-11 or 6-10 like many are predicting. To me that is unacceptable. I’m not saying that the rookies won’t do that, I really hope they do. But they’re unproven. By a spark, I mean a big free agent signing. Something like that. During the offseason, if we had been able to pull off a trade for say….Anquan Boldin for example, that would’ve been a huge spark around here. Big difference maker on anyone’s offense and a guy we “know” is going to contribute and not just a guy that we “hope” is going to contribute.
Players like Kellen Winslow and Sean Jones are making me feel confident because they’re proven and experienced NFL players and I know that they’ll produce next season, or am at least “absolutely positive” that they will.
Once again I’m looking forward to watching the young guys this year. But I explained what I meant in my post above.
June 18th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Joe here,
Louie – The wild optimism is nice, but do you realize Mike Alstott Night still had good tickets available for a winning team? Lee Roy Selmon throwback Ring of Honor day had about 12,000 or so empty seats, we reported. …The blackouts are coming, and they’ll stay if the Bucs aren’t a winner. Economy + bad team + little star power = Blackouts. …Sad, but true.
June 18th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
The economy, especially in Florida, is very bad of course right now. But the product on the field is the main reason why the Bucs aren’t selling tickets. The economy?? Yes, it is playing a role. But back in 2007 and 2008 the economy was already in a crisis, and Raymond James Stadium was selling out back then. We had a good team+ star power on the field, unlike now. Hopefully soon, we’ll be back in the playoffs. But right now, me along with many of you other Bucs fans, just aren’t that confident right now and are disgruntled with what has been going on around here. From the staff, to the decisions they have made, the lack of proven talent, no urgency to win anytime soon, etc…. it’s been a nightmare as a bucs fan for the past year and a half.
June 18th, 2010 at 7:15 pm
Blackouts coming to Tampa? You mean the oil spill? 😉
June 18th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Joe wrote :”Joe’s all in favor of making money. The Glazer family has earned its riches.”
Hey Joe I imagine that after reading that Donald Penn just wants his riches too…!
June 18th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
@Joe: “The wild optimism is nice…”
Not really. I actually believe they will suck and there will be 4 blackouts — that’s half the regular season games. The more agressive ticket pricing the Bucs are pushing will “hopefully” help avoid blackouts in the other games. …OK, that last sentence is wild optimism.
June 18th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Not to rain on his parade, but Detroit definitely beat us in unemployment rate.
Tampa: 4% to 13%.
Detroit: 15% to 25%.
June 18th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
I dont feel sorry for the Glazers… they canned Jom Gruden only to replace them with Raheem Morris and Mark Dominick.
I dont feel sorry for them one iota. The Glazers brought this mess on themselves. The best they cam hope for is Rahaeem has a bad year so they wont have to re-new his contract.
I see no way that Raheem gets a contract extension in 2011…. and its all because of the CBA right JimBo?
June 18th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
The Buccaneers called the day of the draft… ticket office… trying to get me to buy season tickets… I said, well, if it weren’t for Raheem Morris I’d probably re-new… the girl on the other end replied, “Yeah, we have heard that a lot lately.”
True Story.
June 18th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Don’t they have to pay the visiting teams gate to avoid the blackout??? Think they still get shared tv revenue even while being blacked out. Either way the Glazers come out ahead. The still stickj you for 25 bucks to park, and they may get more of that . less cars people wont park far away and walk they will pay to park near the stadium
June 18th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
I don’t care, I have my tickets. It is my one major vice, Buc’s Games. In good times or bad times, them’s my times, and I can’t give it up.
Cigarettes will cost you more in a year than 3 or 4 season tickets.
June 18th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Coaches and GM’s will come and they will go, but if you don’t support the team, whether you agree with management or not, they will go too. You may hate Rah, you may hate the Glazers, but if you like having a football team in Tampa, suck it up and get to the games. We need sell outs and fan support at the games. You don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Be like Phili fans. They hate so much about their beam, they bitch constantly, but they are die-hard fans and go to the games religiously. Pay the price, then bitch about the problems loud and clearly. I don’t want to lose my team. That’s right, “My Team”
June 18th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
They have a lease they aren’t going anywhere.. They hold their renters to the letter of their leases. Slum lords
June 18th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Raheem sucks.
June 18th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-32-teams-in-32-days/09000d5d818ad273/32-in-32-Tampa-Bay-Buccaneers
Ronde says it all. Smart man.
June 18th, 2010 at 11:38 pm
Nice interview…. it’s sad that a player is far and away a better communicator than our head coach.
I would feel much much happier if Barber was the coach…… even though he pretty much is… didn’t Raheem walk over time and again asking Barber for advice at the end of last year?
I’m just saying, call it like it is, Raheem was a position coach with no resume… the Glazers just stuck him in there because he was cheap and the CBA is coming up… right Jimbo?
June 19th, 2010 at 1:50 am
D-Money is 100% correct. The only problem is he speaks for “us”. The hardcore Bucs fan that understands going through rebuilding and working towards something that probably wont be happening for another 2-3 seasons. The fringe fan is the one the Bucs need to sell out games. The hardcore fan unfortunately is out numbered in this market and it isn’t even close.
June 19th, 2010 at 6:04 am
great time to buy season tickets
June 19th, 2010 at 7:10 am
Look there are PLENTY of hardcore Bucs fans that dont buy season tickets… not everyone has the time or money to go to the games… period.
And since the Buc are piss poor right about now and since the Glazers ate ‘re-building according to plan’ there is no urgency to buy tickets to go see a piss poor event. Would you pay the money to go see a bad movie??? Even if it had your favorite actor? But you knew it was a bad movie?
Dont even pretend that you all are going to guilt people into buying tickets.
Besides, Gene D on the radio makes for more excitement than having to actually watch Raheem throw around chest bumps.
June 19th, 2010 at 9:43 am
I can only tell you how frustrating it has been the last few years with about 50% attendance. Even if the tickets are sold, so many people don’t go to the games, and then they don’t give them away either. You can go to Stubhub anytime and see the myriad of tickets for resale to every game. It’s almost endless and a complete joke in my opinion. We have the worst fans and we are lucky to have a team. Lackluster is a good description for them. Few fans even yell and cheer at the games any more. The season ticket holders that are loud, often offend the old tired rich, who on some occasions even wear ear plugs. No $h_t, ear plugs at an NFL game. The absolute worst for me was the Giants playoff game 2.5 years ago when their fans almost out numbered us and they were so loud. Having to listen to G-Man chants in your own stadium really effing sucks man. I had about 20 of them right around me, where season ticket holders were just too damn cheap to buy their seats or profited from the resale. Still most of the G-Fans around us were cool, we all got drunk, and kept asking “Why did Chucky stop running the football?”. What an idiot, we could have won that game. IMO our fans suck and for the most part don’t come close to deserving a Pro Football team any more. If you’re fair weather fans, what better place to be, it’s always fair weather here, and rain just cools you off, but most of the pansies (not calling out women) run for cover. They should change the name to the “Tampa Bay Pussies” to better represent our spoiled ass joke for fans. Rest assured that no Tampa Fans will head to a Superbowl in NY.
My big beef is still the $25 parking charge which I see as a total rip-off.
June 19th, 2010 at 11:00 am
How dare you even comment on the profanity I “allegedly” used on this board , Joe.
I made it clear that my comments were ” off the record”.
I think you owe me an apology.
June 19th, 2010 at 11:12 am
radio that is hilarious
June 19th, 2010 at 11:21 am
I think I like it better when the Glazers aren’t talking. Radio-That last post was funny.
June 19th, 2010 at 11:48 am
You have no right to complain if you aren’t contributing to the team by going to the games. If you do your just a whiny little fairweather bitch.
June 19th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Say all you want about “fair weather” fans, but I’m a Colorado native Bucs fan, and I’ve flown out on several occasions when finances allow to see games at RayJay. I will say the Philly game a few years ago, the Philly fans were very loud. I was kinda disappointed in our fans not being louder, but when we got the long FG at the end to win the game, that shut their fans up pretty quick. I also flew out to SD for the Super Bowl, paid $2k for one ticket to the game, and had a great time.
If I can do that as a fan, through good seasons AND bad, I think local fans can probably save a few bucks and get to a game locally. It costs a lot less for the ticket to the game than the airline ticket I gotta get to fly there. C’mon guys, I pay more for NFL Sunday ticket on DirecTV for the last 11 years so I can watch my Bucs play every Sunday than it costs for tickets to a couple games.
June 19th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Yeah ok… are you gonna buy tickets to a movie that sucks? You favorite director created it… why not wait till DVD? Are you going to eat at a restaurant that was once great but now has scaled back the menu so far that its worse than even McDonalds? For what? To keep the owners of the establishment in business?
If a plumbing company gives you sh1tty business, will you call them again for a repair? Painters, lawn service???
Get the hey out f dodge with the non-sense of being guilted into buying season tickets. The Glazers even said themselves that they dont expect sellouts. If anything, they will use all the fans who werent happy with a Super Bowl winning coach and winning 3 division titles and going 9-7 two years straight as the excuse to move the team. The fans who are pissed now are the ones who supported Gruden all these years only so the real b1tches cryed until he was fired….. and now you expect that group to get behind a position coach with no resume more benefit than Gruden ever got?
Yeah, until your savior wins……..
June 19th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Bigmacattack
righteous, righteous!! Travel all over America, never see as much hatered aimed at the home team! Not even in Friggin Philly, where they Hate everything! At least they (generally) support the Eagles, even if they don’t agree
RahDomdabest,
Yeah , he’s talking to you and the other “SlowSquad” haters. Ya fairweather pussies ! 🙂
June 19th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
What a freak’n crybaby…. RahDomDaBest Says…
the floor of the band wagon is wet with your whiny tears…
What a phony blowhard …..if you have cable…if you have Internet…if you have a cell phone….you can afford season tickets
step up a put your money where your mouth is….
being a sports fan is different than ,movies,TV shows,bad restaurants,all your lame analogies
June 19th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
We trucked it on up to fan fest. The vouchers sold out in 30 minutes so we missed out on that. They must of been afraid of rain because all the autographs were together in a long ass 3 mile line that after about 10 minutes, my $3.50 beer was gone and said forget this. It was hot as hell under those stands. No Breeze. They should have done autographs on the field with each player having his own individual tent. People on the field were in mile long lines just to get junk, the same crap they give away before games. The Ship was cool, my first time and my highlight was a 5 minute conversation with Brian Glazer, that’s right and it was excellent.
June 19th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
You fools want everyone else to join your mission to support Raheem Morris. I supported Wyche, Dungy, and our only Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden.
The ONLY people excited right now are the fairweather b1tches that chased Jon Gruden out of town. This is your team you freakin liberals. Make sure you come up with 20 more excuses for your Boy Raheem this season. You’re gonna need them.
So let me ask you this… if Raheem wins 6 or 7 and the Glazers don’t re-sign him, are all you lefty liberals gonna cry foul just like you did when Shaun King didn’t get another season to prove himself? I know for a fact that the goofs who like Raheem Morris are the SAME idiots who complained when Shaun King didn’t become the starting QB of the Buccaneers.
You fools are blind.
Buy tickets? For what? I ain’t gonna eat at a restaurant with sh1tty management and aweful food, I ain’t gonna pay box office prices to see a garbage movie because I feel sorry for the B rated actor, I ain’t gonna buy a Chevy if I find a higher quality, cheaper foreign car just because Chevy was made in America… Id like to buy American, but so long as the greedy corporations run their businesses into the ground, it is NOT my job to feel sorry for them.
The Glazers have taken tax money from Tampa for the stadium AND practice facility, they own a team represented by a community… if they don’t realize that putting a poor, poor losing product on the field will cost them ticket revenues then they are poor businessmen…….. but they do realize this… thats why they have low expectations… I dont appreciate the guilt by them though, with the woe is me attitude about black outs when they know damn well that is what they were going to get by replacing their product with McDonalds level quality players.
June 20th, 2010 at 12:57 am
RahDomDaBest:
That’s a beautiful blast.
June 20th, 2010 at 9:44 am
BigMac : I could have told you all that. That’s how every fanfest is…they suck.
Only worth the time if you’re a little kid who actually cares about obtaining the illegible signature of a player , which will never be worth the paper it’s written on , and be willing to wait in line 3 hours for it.
Other than that it’s hot , miserable , and generally a huge Bore Fest.
June 20th, 2010 at 10:24 am
@RahDomDaBest
Post of the the year, IMO.
June 20th, 2010 at 10:28 am
I did enjoy Bryan Glazer taking the time to talk to me though, and I can tell you this. They love the Bucs and believe what they are doing is the right thing. I think Raheem and Dominick still have plenty of rope left. After listening to his comments, I would say there is a snowball’s chance in hell of the Glazers ever selling the Bucs.
Rahdom, dude, kepp on bashing the liberals, but supporting your team, even when they are on the bottom, doesn’t make you a liberal. A dumbass maybe, but not a liberal.
I loved our previous coaches but I can’t stop being a Buc Fan because of the Coach/GM. Seriously it’s time to get real, but the post was funny.
June 21st, 2010 at 7:57 am
RahDomdabest,
Agree with you! If you think things have gone to he’ll, and the team is in a downward spiral, then you do the only thing a fan can do. You don’t go to the games, don’t buy merchandise, don’t watch. It’s the only thing a fan can do that sends a message.
I disagree with you opinion. I think the team got old, drafted poorly, and is now doing the right thing to fix it. But that’s Just my opinion, and I could be wrong. There’s still alot of things that need to be proven before I’m comfortable we are headed in the right direction.
The only thing that really bothers me, is all the really nasty insults thrown around. I do believe that every owner, coach, and player wants to improve this team. I think they are trying . I really do. Is some of the staff or coaches in over their head? Meybe! Time will tell. But I think they are doing their best right now. Might not be good enough, but I don’t think that warrants all the “idiot”, “moron”, etc B.S. The people we are talking about have done great work for the team in other capacities.
Been a Buc fan since I was 6, watched them their first year in the league. During the Culverhouse years, you KNEW the cost was much more important than the team. You didn’t have to read articles from some British scandal sheet. Believe me, it was obvious.
It doesn’t feel like that now. I believe they are really trying to turn it around. Again, just my opinion. But I’m willing to give them a chance.
You don’t have to agree, and I don’t blame you if you don’t. Being able to disagree us what makes America great. It’s the lack of basic human respect that’s a trend that kinda ugly.
All any of us can do is try our best. That doesn’t make us idiots