Bucs: All home games expected to be blacked out

The prospect of watching remaining Tampa Bay Buccaneers home games on local television is bleak.

A team that, not long ago, perpetually sold out the 65,000-seat Raymond James Stadium and had a waiting list for season tickets is struggling this year to fill the stands.

That's why the Bucs' game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday is expected to be blacked out, a team spokesman said.

But it doesn't end there, because team officials are bracing for blackouts of every home Bucs game.

"We are expecting a blackout for this (the Saints game) and the remaining slate of home games," Bucs director of communications Jonathan Grella said. "Obviously, it's a challenge we've been facing for awhile now."

Grella said the team's sales department is "understanding of the pace of ticket sales" and projected that the Bucs' remaining home games will not sell out.

After the Saints, the next game at Ray Jay is Oct. 24 against the St. Louis Rams, followed by a Nov. 14 matchup against the Carolina Panthers. The Bucs then face the Atlanta Falcons on Dec. 5, the Detroit Lions on Dec. 19 and the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 26.

The Bucs' two pre-season home games were blacked out. So were the regular season opener against the Cleveland Browns and a Sept. 26 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. "The Steelers game, our last home game, was our best-selling home game by a considerable margin," Grella said. "Obviously, we didn't reach a sellout even on game day."

Attendance at the Steelers game was 57,616, according to the Tampa Sports Authority; about 41,000 attended the Browns game.

Even if the team improves upon its 3-1 record and has a chance to make the playoffs, Grella said he's doubtful blackouts can be avoided.

Grella said that NFL analysts have told him that "there's a lag between on-field success and ticket sales." A winning team, Grella said, "is likely not a panacea for our problems. There's just so much ground to make up."

The team buying unsold tickets to prevent future blackouts, which the Bucs did in the past, is not a solution, Grella said.

"That's not a sustainable practice here or anywhere else," he said.

Chip Carter, the sports director for WTVT, Channel 13, confirmed in an e-mail Tuesday that the Bucs-Saints matchup was blacked out. Carter's e-mail said there will likely be no 1 p.m. game on WTVT, the Fox affiliate in the Tampa Bay area.

The only NFL game on WTVT this Sunday will be the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Minnesota Vikings at 4:15 p.m.

The closest stations scheduled to carry the Saints-Bucs game are WFTX-TV in Fort Myers, WOGX-TV in Gainesville and WPGX-TV in Panama City, according to Carter's e-mail.

Blacked-out Bucs games have pushed fans to the Internet, where links to live video feeds of NFL games are plentiful, if users know their way around search engines. Fans have also turned to social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook for advice on where to find streaming games online.

Several bars and restaurants in the Tampa Bay area have shown live feeds of blacked-out Bucs games to customers this year. The NFL sent cease-and-desist orders to five of those establishments, warning them to stop or face a $150,000 fine each time an unauthorized telecast is shown.

But the Bucs aren't the only team in the dark. Local television blackouts tied to slow ticket sales have hit the Oakland Raiders, the San Diego Chargers and the Buffalo Bills, NFL spokesman Dan Masonson said. The Rams are also on the blackout bubble.

The NFL expects season ticket sales to be down 5 percent this year. The league blames it on the down economy.

Grella also cited the economy as a reason why ticket sales are suffering.

"This is an unfortunate consequence of our economic condition," Grella said. "We've been raising awareness of this issue, starting with spring training camp and the pre-season. That work continues today."

But the growth of fantasy football is also having an impact because fans are more interested in what happens to the players on their fantasy teams - who could be on any of the 32 teams -than on their home team, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said.

The rise of high-definition television and all-morning pre-game shows is also hurting ticket sales, he said.

The NFL requires games to be blacked out in local television markets if they do not sell out 72 hours before kickoff. The league may grant a 24-hour extension of that deadline if a game is close to selling out. The Bucs have not requested an extension for any home game this season. An official announcement from the Bucs is not expected until after 1 p.m. Thursday, when the 72-hour deadline is reached.