Buccaneers vs. Raiders: Why the game was moved from primetime
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were supposed to play a game against the Las Vegas Raiders in front of a nationally-televised audience, but that won’t be happening after all.
The Buccaneers and Raiders were originally scheduled to kickoff at 8:20 p.m. E.T. as part of the Sunday Night Football national feature, but that game time has been moved according to a release from the NFL.
The Bucs and Raiders are still scheduled to play Sunday, but the game will now kickoff at 4:05 p.m. E.T. on FOX instead. The Seattle Seahawks at the Arizona Cardinals will now play the prime time game.
Buccaneers at Las Vegas Raiders game now shifted to this Sunday at 4:05 p.m. ET.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 22, 2020
Seahawks at Cardinals game now moved to this Sunday night at 8:20 p.m. ET.
The NFL said the move was made ‘out of an abundance of caution’ to ensure that there would be a game on Sunday Night Football. Raiders OL Trent Brown tested positive earlier this week and the entire Las Vegas offensive line has been sent home for the past couple of days as part of contact tracing.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the game will be played Sunday afternoon unless there are more positive tests in the next few days, but this move ensures a game will be played Sunday night and gives the two teams a little more flexibility moving forward.
More on the scheduling changes: The #Raiders-#Bucs game is on for Sunday afternoon (rather than night) unless there are more positive tests the next few days. This move gives flexibility in case it needs to be moved.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 22, 2020
What kind of flexibility does this give the Buccaneers and Raiders?
If there are more positive tests or if it’s deemed unsafe to play Sunday, the two teams could play Monday night or even Tuesday night and delay the matchup by a day or two.
Taking the matchup out of Sunday night protects the NFL and gives it a guaranteed viewing audience- in case things do turn for the worst.
This doesn’t bode well for Bucs fans who live outside of the Tampa market because the game will now be broadcasted based upon local coverage markets, rather than on a national scale.
Perhaps the one good thing that comes out of this for Tampa Bay fans is the fact that they won’t have to flip back-and-forth between the Bucs game and the Tampa Bay Rays’ World Series matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers Sunday night.
Whether or not the game will be played at its new appointed time will be determined over the next couple of days. We may not know anything definitive until Saturday- perhaps not even until Sunday- as the NFL continues to sift through its protocols and awaits testing results for the Raiders’ locker room.