Buccaneers want to play two home games away from Tampa

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking to play two home games away from Tampa starting in 2018, or at least that's a condition they're trying to finagle out of the Tampa Sports Authority in negotiations for stadium renovations, the Tampa Bay Times and Tampa Tribune report. They currently have the ability to play one home game per season outside of Tampa.

The Bucs have been promising renovations to the stadium for years, and they're finally close to making good on that promise -- except now they're using the financing as leverage to play fewer games in Tampa. The Times notes that the TSA thinks this is an effort to gain leverage in negotiations for a new stadium down the line.

The Bucs flirted with London before, playing a home game there in 2009 and 2011, and they were linked frequently to a permanent move to London at the time -- though that largely baseless speculation has now moved to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Still, an ambition to grow the fanbase beyond the Tampa Bay area is absolutely present with the Bucs, and playing two more games outside of Tampa would make sense.

Obviously, playing games outside of Tampa is bad for the local fanbase. Those moves to London created a lot of animosity among an already disgruntled fanbase, which has only worsened because of the consistent losing over the past decade.

But at least if this is part of the final deal, Bucs fans will get to watch at scoreboards that will actually show footage of something that will actually be recognizable as football.