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Season ticket holders pick their seats at RayJay

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

At the 65,621-seat stadium on Saturday, between 2,000 and 3,000 seats were marked as available.

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By ROY CUMMINGS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 16, 2009

Updated: 05/16/2009 10:14 pm

Perhaps it was a sign of the times.

When the building's gates opened Saturday morning for the start of the Bucs' two-day Pick-A-Seat season-ticket drive, there were twice as many job seekers waiting to get into Raymond James Stadium for the Tampa Sports Authority's job fair as there were football fans waiting to buy Bucs tickets.

At least one group dealt with the issue of scarcity.

Though Bucs season tickets are available again for the first time in nearly a decade, there doesn't appear to be an abundance of them. At the 65,621-seat stadium Saturday, between 2,000 and 3,000 seats were marked as available. That represented most of the inventory the Bucs have for sale, according to team ticketing director Jason Layton.

"Sales have been going very well," Layton said as the initial group of about 60 potential customers breezed past him on its way into the stadium.

The initial group and those that followed were a mixture of first-time season-ticket buyers and existing season-ticket holders looking to upgrade their seats.

Cary Vavra and Ron Barksdale of Clearwater were in the former group.

"We weren't set on buying tickets," Barksdale said.

"But then we sat in the seats," Vavra concluded.

Barksdale and Vavra purchased a pair of tickets in the south end zone, Section 120, Row T. The cost: $801 per seat plus an $890 seat deposit payable through a 12-month payment plan that begins Oct. 1.

The cost of the season ticket itself also can be paid off over time, with the Bucs offering a five-payment option that requires the first installment due at the time of purchase and the others due on the first day of each subsequent month.

"That was a surprise to me," Barksdale said. "The payment plan really made it easy for us to buy."

The payment plan is the biggest reason John Shanaughy of Odessa decided to keep his tickets. He said he was considering giving them up but decided to upgrade after he learned he could pay off the balance over five payments.

Most of the seats available Saturday were in the end zones and in the upper deck, where no seat deposit is required and half-season packages are also available.

No seats were available in the lower bowl on the west side of the stadium behind the Bucs' bench, but some club seats are available in the lower bowl's east side.

All available seats are clearly marked with a white flyer that contains all the payment information pertaining to that seat as well as a tear-off sheet that can be taken to one of two purchase locations located in the end zones. Customer service representatives are available in every section in which seats are available.

The event continues today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Tampa Sports Authority, which owns and manages the stadium, was seeking ticket takers, parking attendants and event staff for the upcoming season. The job fair continues today from 2-6 p.m.

Reporter Roy Cummings can be reached at (813) 259-7979.

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