Fitzmagic was enough to make the Buccaneers the most exciting team in football to start the season — now almost nobody cares. On Wednesday night the team announced that every season ticket holder would be given two free tickets to the game against the Panthers on Sunday, just in the hopes the team would actually be able to fill Raymond James Stadium.
The Buccaneers are so bad the team is giving away free tickets to games
Free is a good price.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
The 4-7 Bucs pulled just 40,682 in attendance to see the team play the 49ers in Week 12, marking the lowest attendance for the team in eight years. The team ranks 29th in the NFL in average home attendance, ahead of only the Chargers, Bengals and Raiders — though it should be noted that the Chargers are still pulling 94 percent capacity, but are last in the league in total attendance due to their interim season in a soccer stadium.
The Buccaneers’ average reported attendance of 55,181 ranks lower than nine teams with matching, or worse records than Tampa Bay in 2018.
In defense of the Buccaneers those teams above are all in larger cities by population, but it still doesn’t help justify how unpopular the team is right now. In the same weekend, in the same stadium UCF had more fans in attendance than the Buccaneers.
Photos from the game against the 49ers tell the whole story. The stands looked like a patchwork quilt of emptiness.
It’s unclear if the team will continue its “get two free” promotion for any more games this season.
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