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Chiefs vs. Buccaneers blacked out in Tampa

The Bucs did not sell enough tickets to prevent their game on Sunday against Kansas City from being blacked out on local TV.

Matt Stamey-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a wide-ranging series of changes in the off-season -- bringing in a new coach, dramatically re-shuffling their roster and lowering ticket pices -- in order to increase local enthusiasm and prevent the embarrassing spectacle of TV blackouts in the Tampa Bay area.

But those changes have apparently not made enough of a dent in fan apathy, as the team announced on Thursday that their game against the Chiefs on Sunday will not be on local TV:

The Bucs were also able to take advantage of a change in NFL policy concerning blackouts, which says that selling 85% of non-premium seats within three days of kick-off constitutes a sell-out.

Even that move would not have made as much of a difference as a winning team, as Tampa Bay has scuffed out to a 1-3 mark to start the 2012 season. And until the Bucs can start stringing some wins together, it appears that their fans who can't afford to go to their home games may be out of luck.

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.