Bucs fans set to cheer inside, outside Super Bowl stadium
TAMPA, Fla. — Warren Sapp wishes fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could pack the stands for the first Super Bowl played in a host team’s home stadium.
Because of coronavirus pandemic concerns, the NFL’s decision to limit capacity to 22,000 at Raymond James Stadium and soaring prices for a limited number of tickets available for the league’s title game will prevent that.
All’s not lost, though, for an excited though sometimes fickle fan base embracing a bittersweet opportunity to enjoy the NFC champions on football’s biggest stage after being forced to follow the Tom Bradyled Bucs from afar.
The Bucs won three straight playoff games on the road to become the first team to advance to a Super Bowl in its home stadium.
Tampa Bay has a reputation nationally for supporting the NHL’s Lightning, but not the Bucs and Rays, who routinely rank near or at the bottom of baseball in attendance.
The past year truly has been special for all the franchises, though — with the Lightning winning the Stanley Cup and the Rays advancing to the World Series — and fans are celebrating any way they can.
“The Bucs in the Super Bowl with the game at home doesn’t even seem real. Usually there’s a buildup. A team goes to the playoffs, loses and goes back and loses again. It takes time to get good,” long-time fan Justin Heaven said.
“The Bucs go 7-9 with Jameis Winston, haven’t won a playoff game in 18 years and haven’t been to the playoffs in 13,” Heaven added. “Tom Brady comes to town and it’s basically: ‘You want to go to the Super Bowl? Come on, let’s go.’ ”
Fans happily are following, even if they won’t be able to get in or mingle around the stadium with a game-day crowd that’ll include 7,500 vaccinated health care workers given tickets as a thank you for their service during the pandemic.
Restaurants and bars figure to be busier than they’ve been in months, though much of the glitz and glamour usually associated with the Super Bowl will be muted with some events canceled and city officials urging local residents and visitors to practice social distancing.
“We’ve got the biggest game in our house, we’re in it and can’t fill it? I know that’s disappointing for a lot of fans. But people have got to be smart and stay safe,” said Sapp, one of the stars of Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl championship run 18 years ago.
“You want that place rocking. 22,000? And then 7,500 of that are going to be neutral, and the rest maybe split even. That’s just our luck,” the Hall of Fame defensive tackle said. “I’d like to see all 65,000 — at least 60 — in there pulling for us.”
Derrick Brooks, another Hall of Famer and defensive star with the 2002 Bucs, is cochairman of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee, which has worked closely with the NFL and local sponsors to prepare the community to host the title game for a fifth time.
“Obviously, it has got everybody excited. Warren and I were on the phone practically every other play last week watching them beat Green Bay. That was a whole lot of fun,” Brooks said.
“With the Lightning winning the Cup and Rays coming within a couple of games of winning the World Series, it’s kind of fitting with the Bucs making the first part of history,” Brooks.
“I say that because the story’s still being written. They’re still making history and can finish it by being the first to win it in their home stadium.”