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Report: Bucs home opener against the Detroit Lions will be blacked out

According to Pewter Report, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will see their first home game blacked out. At this point the Bucs have sold about 50,000 tickets and selling another 15,000 seats by next Thursday seems impossible.

None of the other home games have sold out either, although the Monday Night Football game against the Indianapolis Colts in week four and the Saturday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys in week 15 are expected to sell out.

The team could buy back the unsold tickets at a reduced price to avoid these blackouts, and has done so in 2008 and 2009. The team stopped doing so in 2010, and since then blackouts have ruled Tampa. For an exciting young team this is a poor way to build a fanbase.

Blackouts officially extend 75 miles around the stadium, but because any signal that broadcasts anywhere within that radius is also blacked out the effective blackout radius is closer to 90-100 miles around the stadium.