The Bucs will get $55.2 million for not moving

There was a time not so long ago when Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans were genuinely scared the Bucs would move their team, likely to the United Kingdom. Around 2009-2011, in a period when the Bucs went to London twice and were both terrible and spending very little in free agency, it seemed that that was a realistic possibility.

Not anymore, though. The Bucs and the stadium authority are renovating Raymond James Stadium at a cost of some $150 million, and the team is constructing a practice bubble that’ll cost them some $20 million. That alone should be enough to keep them in Tampa for at least the near future—that plus it seems like the NFL is about to be tired of all these relocations.

Helping that: the Bucs will get some $55.2 million for not moving over the next 11 years, as will every other team not named the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers or Las Vegas Raiders. Because, according to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, those teams will pay the other NFL teams a bunch of money for the privilege of relocating and increasing the value of their teams.

Good fun. Lesson for NFL teams: stay put, get money, keep your fans happy. Yay!