Buccaneers resort to giving tickets away for free after 8-year low in attendance
Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans received a rare treat Sunday during a game against the San Francisco 49ers: the team’s second win in two months. Unfortunately, not many fans were around to witness it.
Per Greg Auman of The Athletic, the Buccaneers’ attendance of 40,682 was the team’s lowest mark for any home game since a November 2010 game against the Carolina Panthers. Per the Tampa Bay Times, the Buccaneers rank third-worst in the NFL in average attendance, sitting behind only the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Chargers, who play in a soccer stadium.
That is less than ideal for a 4-7 team that has encountered many less-than-ideal things this season. To remedy those attendance woes, the Buccaneers are reportedly taking drastic measures.
BREAKING: After the smallest actual crowd in more than eight years witnessed Tampa Bay beat the 49ers at Raymond James Stadium, the Bucs are offering season pass members two complimentary tickets each for Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers.
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) November 29, 2018
In order to fill seats at Raymond James Stadium, Buccaneers season ticket holders can bring as many as two acquaintances to the team’s game on Sunday. The system will reportedly work by having fans reserving tickets from a limited pool.
The “limited number of tickets are available,’’ on a first-come, first serve basis, according to a letter sent to season ticket holders Wednesday. But Bucs fans must reserve their two free tickets by Thursday.
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) November 29, 2018
There’s no word if the Bucs will do this for their remaining home games against the Saints and Falcons, but if they’re doing it for a game against one division rival, it makes sense they could do it for the others.
Obviously, the best way to get fans into seats would be for Tampa Bay to start winning a little more regularly, but that might be a tall order for a team that keeps alternating quarterbacks and play-callers, ranks in the bottom five in the NFL in points allowed and has a head coach very few expect to be with the team next year.
Then again, even giving a small fraction of Raymond James Stadium’s 65,618-seat capacity should at least guarantee the Buccaneers the honor of the most-attended team in their own stadium.
This is was a rare weekend where USF football outdraws Bucs at Raymond James Stadium. Announced attendance had USF-UCF at 57,626, Bucs-49ers at 50,436; and actual attendance per TSA shows USF at 47,104, Bucs at 40,682.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) November 26, 2018
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