The Bucs aren't relocating.

Contrary to a sentiment posed yesterday by Jayson Braddock on Opposing Views, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will not be moving anytime soon. As was pointed out by Tom Jones of the Times, Braddock opines the Bucs could be headed out of Tampa in the next few years.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see two of their franchises move out of state. At face value it appears that the young Buccaneers are finally turning it around, but then you realize that they play in the same division as the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons. Josh Freeman could very well be a top 10 quarterback in the NFL but Drew Brees and Matt Ryan are ranked higher than him on that list. The owner, Malcolm Glazer, seems more interested in spending money on his Manchester United Futbol team (I just threw up a little bit after calling soccer football), then his Bucs team. Then there are the character concerns we’ve talked about here on the site.

I’ll skip quoting the rest because it fails to be even vaguely relevant to why a team would move. Braddock seems to be applying football thinking to a relocation strategy which doesn’t make much sense in that context. Here’s where the possibility the Bucs could leave Tampa does hold some water, the Bucs attendance has been abysmal and looks to continue in that direction, and Tampa is never going to be a major market like an LA could potentially be.

Here’s where it falls apart, there’s a lot of legal maneuvering and non-football related details that need to be considered before you can move a franchise in the NFL. For starters the Bucs have a relatively new stadium that is still Super Bowl-worthy by NFL standards (something that apparently Sun Life Stadium in Miami is not). They also have a fairly airtight lease and the city of Tampa has done them many favors along the way, well-documented favors that would make it rather difficult for the Buccaneers if a court battle ensued.

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