Winning isn't making a dent at Bucs' gate
December, 3, 2010
By Pat Yasinskas



TAMPA, Fla. -- Of all the people I know in the Tampa Bay area, a friend I’ll call “Dan’’ is the biggest sports fan.

Literally -- he’s 6-foot-7 and a former college basketball player. And figuratively -- he listens to sports-talk radio all day, reads the NFC South Blog and the rest of the sports internet world and still subscribes to two daily newspapers. He’s the only person I know under 50 who still subscribes to two daily newspapers.

He can name the full rosters of every pro sports team in Tampa Bay and every big football and basketball college program in the state of Florida. Heck, Dan even got emotional the other day when the Buccaneers cut Sabby Piscitelli.

So, when I talked to Dan the other night, I asked if he was going to Sunday’s game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons at Raymond James Stadium. He said no and I asked him why.

“I can’t afford it,’’ Dan said. “I’ll listen to it on the radio.’’

Like a lot of people in Florida, Dan lost his job because of an economic downturn that has hit Florida especially hard. He used to make very good money. But, even in those days, he didn’t have season tickets and he went to games only on rare occasions.

But what if things were still good? Would Dan buy a ticket for Sunday?

“Nah,’’ he said. “Maybe if it were a playoff game.’’

Well, guess what? Sunday essentially is a playoff game for the Buccaneers. They’re 7-4 and they need a win against the Falcons to have any chance to win the NFC South. They need a win to remain firmly in the playoff picture.

Even without Dan, you’d think the Bucs would have no trouble selling out this game. The game has been “flexed’’ to the 4:15 p.m. time slot, the Bucs will be inducting former coach John McKay into the Ring of Honor and will be wearing their creamsicle-color throwback uniforms. The game is being played in one of the league’s nicest stadiums.

But selling out is not going to happen. It’s not even going to come close to happening. I talked to a team official the other day and he said the Bucs are guessing they’ll be lucky to sell 50,000 tickets and actually get 45,000 to show up at the stadium, which seats more than 65,000.

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