Are The Bucs Cutting Too Many Corners?

In response to our post regarding the facially implausible contention from Buccaneers G.M. Mark Dominik that the team has spent nearly $60 million against an $80 million 2009 cap bulge, a source with knowledge of the situation tells us that the franchise has been consistently tightening the belt since the end of the 2008 season. “One Buc Place has become a ghost town,” the source said, who estimated that half of the non-football staff has been laid off. The source also said that the Buccaneers also have laid off their security guards. “Anybody can drive into the facility and walk inside,” the source said. “At OTAs there were fans that actually walked up and watched practice from a fence that was only 10-20 yards from the players. Public relations staff asked the fans to leave.” Folks, this isn’t good. We don’t care whether the Buccaneers spend their remaining cap space, or whether Dominik is exaggerating the amounts they’ve already spent. But they need to secure the premises, especially when players and members of the general public are present. Hopefully, they’ve kept enough money around to safeguard their employees and customers at training camp. And, hopefully, the league office and the NFLPA will ensure that they do.