If there’s excitement about the dawn of the Greg Schiano era, or an attractive divisional rival coming to town for the opener, it’s not translating into ticket sales in Tampa.
The Buccaneers home opener will be blacked out Sunday, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.
The Bucs were among the teams willing to reduce the number required to get on local television, electing an 85 percent threshold. They also had a number of promotions to try to get people in the stands, including free parking for some and reduced-price concessions.
They still didn’t make it, after saying earlier this week they were around 9,000 seats short of a “sellout.”
This makes the 14th blackout in the last 16 home games, a streak that extends back to a time when the Bucs were actually good at football.