Bucs Jump On Opportunity To End Blackouts
Friday, July 13th, 2012
Couch-potato Bucs fans can rejoice
Joe realizes cynical Bucs fans might say Team Glazer should have bought up every unsold ticket the past two seasons, like they did in 2009, so the Tampa Bay community could watch the Bucs home games on Sundays.
That didn’t happen, and if it had, it surely wouldn’t have been the wisest business move.
However, Team Glazer has been working to end blackouts the old fashioned way, slashing ticket prices, offering 10-month, no-interest payment plans and offering concessions and parking deals. But now the Bucs have moved all-in to seize the chance to get every home game on TV.
Today, the Bucs announced they will take full advantage of the NFL’s new rule to allow as few as 85 percent of non-premium tickets in Raymond James Stadium to be sold in order to get a home game televised. ProFootballTalk.com had previously reported that NFL teams had a deadline of this weekend to pick their new blackout threshold, as low as 85 percent. Teams like the Colts and Chargers and others hinted or outright said they wouldn’t budge to help curb blackouts, but the Bucs aren’t in that camp.
The penalty for selling more than the 85 percent or a team’s chosen threshold, per ProFootballTalk.com, is anything sold above that mark would require the home team to pay an additional 16 percent surcharge, per ticket face value, to the visiting team.
Joe’s glad that Team Glazer has adopted this fan-first opportunity. About 15,000 seats at home games are “premium” tickets, meaning club seats or luxury boxes. So given the new 85-percent mark for non-premium tickets and last year’s sales figures, Joe would be somewhat surprised if anything other than Bucs preseason games are blacked out.