Tampa Bay Buccaneers need to brace for these three disappointing facts about the 2020 season
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking to break a streak of 12-straight seasons without a playoff berth, but if it happens, it’s going to come during an unprecedented time.
Despite the current pandemic, the NFL has continued to plan for its 2020 season to start on time and to be played as regularly scheduled.
Even with that being said, there are going to be differences in this season that we simply have never seen before.
Here are three disappointing facts about the 2020 season that the Buccaneers faithful need to brace for.
3. Fan attendance is going to be minimal, if at all
The Baltimore Ravens announced a couple of weeks ago that they would be playing their games with up to 20 percent capacity. The Jacksonville Jaguars announced that they would have up to 25 percent capacity this past week.
We should expect that the rest of the NFL franchises will follow suit rather quickly.
If the Buccaneers can get to 25 percent, that would mean a little more than 16,400 fans would be allowed to be in Raymond James Stadium on a given Sunday.
Despite the fact that Bucs tickets are selling for a premium and there have been more requests for season tickets this year than ever before, the truth of the matter is that we’re not going to see fans fill stadiums as we had hoped would happen.
2. Players will choose to opt out, at least in some places
If we can learn anything from Donovan Smith’s open letter that he posted on social media on Friday, it’s that there are many NFL players who have concerns about the season.
When it comes time for players to report to training camp, there are going to be some that truly don’t feel safe or want to be there. We’re going to have to learn how to live with that.
I believe the vast majority of players want to play the season and are hopeful that the NFL will develop protocols and safety guidelines with their health as the top priority.
That being said, there will be other players- maybe even some notable starters like a Donovan Smith (though we’re not saying that he is definitely going to opt-out)- that will choose to forego this season and not play.
1. The schedule may not go off without a hitch
As much as we all want to see a full season played with playoffs like normally scheduled, the fact remains that it may not happen.
We may very well have teams that have to forfeit a game or two at a time due to an outbreak. There may be franchises who can’t complete the season.
The NFL may start the season and then have to pause it at some point. Even if we’re able to play all the games at their normal times, there still will be teams who are affected by the virus after having a star player or two test positive and have to sit out that week.
That doesn’t mean we won’t play or that things won’t be worked out, but Buccaneers fans should plan to see this season have its own set of challenges, none particularly related to the football field.