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Bucs Moving Training Camp From Disney To Tampa

Tribune file photo (2003)

Bucs fans could attend training camp practices at Disney’s Wide World of Sports and interact with players. The team is moving training camp to its new facility in Tampa beginning this summer after eight years at Disney.

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By IRA KAUFMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 13, 2009

Updated: 03/13/2009 12:32 pm

TAMPA - After seven years of spreading pewter power to Central Florida, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are returning to their training camp roots.

The Bucs announced today that they will train at their Tampa facility this summer, ending a productive run at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista. The move has prompted the organization to apply for an ordinance from Tampa officials that would allow fans to view the workouts.

"The Bucs are working with the city of Tampa to request a change in their current developmental approval to allow practices to be open to the public,'' said Brian Ford, the Bucs' vice president of business administration. "Under the current developmental approval, the Bucs are permitted to hold training camp at the facility, but the team must seek an amendment to that approval for the public to attend.''

If the city grants the club's amendment proposal, as expected, fans will be urged to park adjacent to the facility on the site of the old Tampa Bay Center mall.

The Bucs shifted training camp from the University of Tampa to the Orlando area in 2002, shortly after Jon Gruden was hired as coach. That 2002 club went on to win the Super Bowl, and Gruden said being sequestered at the Celebration Hotel helped to bond players and staff into a cohesive unit.

While the annual Interstate 4 excursion to Lake Buena Vista proved to be a chore for Buc supporters in the Bay area, the move to Central Florida expanded the club's fan base and the team was pleased with Disney's hospitality.

"We'll take a lot of the experience we enjoyed in Disney and apply it in Tampa,'' Ford said. "We expect the fan experience will be equivalent to our state-of-the-art facility.''

The Bucs used two fields at Lake Buena Vista, and there were enough vantage points to accommodate large crowds that gathered, especially on weekends.

Led by new head coach Raheem Morris and first-year general manager Mark Dominik, the Bucs will report in late July at their plush 4-year-old facility, just a quarter-mile east of Raymond James Stadium. Morris is already promising a tougher training camp, and club officials will need to determine the best way to handle fans that flock to team headquarters for grueling two-a-day workouts over a three-week period.

The return to Tampa offers further evidence of a league-wide trend that has seen NFL teams shift their training camp sites to club headquarters instead of a remote location. Last summer, 13 of the league's 32 clubs held training camp at team facilities.

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