The first blackout is here, others will follow - Patriots-Bucs and Dolphins-Bucs blacked out

Last season, if you lived in the Tampa Bay area it was impossible to catch the Bucs live on TV. You had to buy a ticket to the game. While ticket sales have certainly improved, the same thing is likely to happen this season. And it is certain to happen in the preseason. Despite coming off a 10-6 season, the Bucs have now made public what JoeBucsFan reported earlier today: the team's two home preseason games will be blacked out.

The blackout radius officially extends 75 miles around the stadium, but for all practical matters it is closer to 100 miles. Any signal that broadcasts into that 75-mile radius will have the game blacked out, which, as far as I know, includes anything as far away as Orlando. The games will still be broadcast on Channel 10-WTSP on a tape delay. Last season the NFL made the games available for viewing on NFL.com after midnight as well.

It's no surprise that these preseason games will be blacked out, but sadly it looks like most regular season home games will be blacked out as well, except for the primetime games against the Colts and the Cowboys in week 4 and week 15 respectively.