Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be able to attend home games
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have real-life fans in the friendly confines of Raymond James Stadium for the first time during the 2020 season.
The Buccaneers, who played their first home game without any fans in attendance a couple of weeks ago against the Carolina Panthers, will welcome a limited number of fans into the stadium for the first time this weekend as part of reaching the next phase of their reopening plan.
I wouldn’t get too excited about having an opportunity to get in the stadium for the first couple of weeks, though.
The eventual plan is for the Bucs to welcome in 25 percent capacity for attendance, but this first weekend- a soft reopening, as it is being called- will have a crowd of less than 10,000 fans with the plan of ramping up to about 16,000 by the time the Packers come into town on Oct. 18.
Bucs' Brian Ford says the attendance for Sunday's home game against Chargers will have a crowd of less than 10,000 fans, ramping up to what should be about 16,000 for home games beginning with the Packers game on Oct. 18.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) September 29, 2020
Tickets to the game this weekend are being offered to families of the players and to a small contingency of Buccaneers fans who have been long-time season ticket holders.
Bucs are only saying fewer than 10,000 fans for Sunday's home game, but if seats are only even available to fans who have continuously had season tickets since 1998 or longer, can it really be that many? That would seem like an impressively high number.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) September 29, 2020
Masks will be required while in the stadium and concessions will be limited to cashless transactions.
This is a major victory for Buccaneers nation
Season tickets for the Buccaneers originally coming into this season were at an all-time high due to the additions of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski.
While it was originally not supposed to happen for several more weeks, the Bucs are already opening up the stadium to a limited amount of fans and that number is only expected to grow over the coming weeks.
That means if you’re looking to see Brady and Gronkowski in-person, hope is not lost yet.
Having fans back in the stadium- even if it’s not the normal amount- will at the very least help us feel and perceive some normalcy surrounding this football season.
The Bucs are scheduled to host the Los Angeles Chargers at 1 p.m. this Sunday in Raymond James Stadium. The Pewter Plank be providing complete coverage heading into and throughout the contest.