Change is coming to the Buccaneers and we’re not just talking about the vacancy at head coach in the wake of Raheem Morris’ firing.
Bucs co-chairman Joel Glazer said Monday that the team has told the league they aren’t interested in making any more trips to play in London. The Bucs have played games at Wembley Stadium in two of the last three seasons, a move that many believe was fueled in part by the team’s difficulty selling tickets to their games in Tampa. And the Bucs always come up when discussion of moving a team to the U.K. bubbles to the surface.
“As you know, we played this year but we spoke to the league recently and informed them that we wouldn’t want to be participating in the foreseeable future,” Glazer said, via Rick Stroud of the recently rechristened Tampa Bay Times. “I think we were helping the NFL build internationally. We believe greatly in that. But for the foreseeable future, that is something we told them, that we want to focus on building our base here. The team had a good experience there. Unfortunately, it was a loss. But it was more a direction of the team and things we want to do here in Tampa.”
By virtue of their two recent games in London, the Bucs were virtually that city’s home team and, until Monday, it seemed they’d be regular and willing participants in the future. Now the league will have to find others willing to jump the pond if they want to keep growing their profile in the United Kingdom.