09/03/96. Hillsborough County voters, in what many argued was the sweetheart deal of the century, approved a 0.5-cent sales tax over the next 30 years to fund, among other things, $192m toward a new Bucs stadium. Zero Bucs money. The Bucs signed a lease in which local government agreed to pay nearly all stadium expenses, the Bucs pocketing the proceeds.
Through 2009, the team sold out every home date at RayJay. It amounts to an upset now if the team sells out a home game. The product flat out sucks.
The locals were leery of the Glazers when the team went up for sale upon Culverhouse's death. They were seen as carpetbaggers, in it for the money, more likely to move the team. The hope was that the Outback group led by Bob Basham and Chris Sullivan would put together a local corsortium to make the club rooted more permanently. It didn't happen.
You saw where the Glazers' hearts were when they financed $1B, an ungodly sum at the time, to buy Manu. A few seasons later, GM Rich McKay, who assembled the late '90s roster that would later yield a SB title, was gone. Gruden was soon to follow. The team held a fire sale and tried to sell the fans on it as a tactical move young.
How many losing seasons, how many coaches, how many quarterbacks later, it's still aspiring young.
You get the feeling watching the deteriorating mess at 1 Buccaneer Place that it's an implosion waiting to happen. That's probably the best the fans can hope for.
