by Gareth Rees
The Buccaneers announced Thursday what many of us were expecting, that the Tampa Bay market will not be able to watch their team play on Sunday. Due to poor ticket sales, the game did not sell out in the required time period and will not be shown on local television. In its time slot, CBS will air the Bills at Dolphins.
This is the first of what may be many blackouts during the upcoming season as high unemployment locally and nationally are fueling a downturn in ticket sales league wide. Per league rules, if the team does not sell out within 72 hours of kick off the game cannot be shown on local television.
The league will allow local residents to watch the game on NFL.com starting at midnight Sunday night up until the start of the Monday night game. Tickets are obviously still available for the game via the box office or ticketmaster.