Bucs get city OK, will open training camp to public

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers received the necessary approval from the City of Tampa to open up this year's training camp to the public.

The Bucs needed to make a change to the development order for their new complex at One Buccaneer Place to allow practices to be open, and the city approved that amendment on Thursday, the team said in a press release.

The Bucs decided to bring training camp back to Tampa after the 2008 season, after seven years at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, near Orlando.

Training camp will begin on Aug. 1 with a morning practice at One Buccaneer Place followed by an evening practice at Raymond James Stadium. Training camp will conclude on Aug. 19.

"You've got to get a stadium practice," Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris said. "You want to get it on a Saturday. I want to kickoff this new regime, this new training camp, all these guys getting ready to go out in our stadium. Just a little kickoff deal for everybody so everybody can get a chance to see the new Buccaneers."

Tampa Bay will release its full training camp schedule and parking details in the upcoming weeks.

In March, the team said fans would be urged to park adjacent to One Buc Place 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 said it was pleased with Disney's hospitality.

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