Patriots - Buccaneers to be blacked out locally

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' second home preseason game will be blacked out locally, just like their first home preseason game was. This means that everyone within roughly a 100-mile radius will not be able to see the game on local television. That radius can extend as far as 125 miles or further, depending on the distribution of the TV signal. For those inside the blackout zone, the game will be shown at 11:35 p.m. Friday evening and at noon on Saturday on WTSP, Channel 10.

The Bucs have struggled with blackouts for three years now, and are believed to have bought up tickets to prevent blackouts for some time before 2010 as well. While the noises out of One Buc Place regarding ticket sales have been positive, sales have not picked up to the point where blackouts are likely to be avoided. In fact, sales may even be down compared to last season. For the second preseason game of 2011, the Bucs noted a paid attendance of 49,313, while they reported a paid attendance of just 45,633 last week. Some of the difference may be caused by the fact that the Bucs played the Patriots in the 2011 game, while they played the Titans in last week's game. Still, despite the excitement in the area and the lowering of the blackout threshold to just 85%, it's far from a slam-dunk that locals will be able to see all regular season games live on TV.