Fans will be able to set up chairs around the perimeter and watch while the team is using the outdoor fieldsGETTY IMAGES
The Buccaneers will have just six dates during training camp open for fans to attend "who aren't season-ticket members" after 13 practices "were open to the general public last summer," according to Greg Auman of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. A portion of each open practice "will be in the team's new indoor facility that opened last fall, but the move has upset some fans who enjoyed extended visits to training camp." The new facility can "handle 3,500 people, and in all, 15 practices will be open to fans, but five are to select 'private groups' of not more than a few hundred." The team is "making training-camp access a perk and incentive for more fans to buy season tickets -- those fans will be able to attend a 'mock game' scrimmage Aug. 2, and there's two more practices set aside for fans in the 'stadium club' and in luxury suites." Fans will be "asked to go online and register for free tickets, in part so the team can better anticipate the crowd size each day." The team "won't have covered bleachers for fans on the side of practice fields," though the $20M indoor practice facility built last summer "will be used for at least the final 45 minutes of all practices open to the general public." Fans will be "invited to set up chairs around the perimeter of the practice fields and watch while the team is using the outdoor fields." The first practice open to the public "will be on Sunday, July 29, with the July 28 practice open to current and retired military and their families as a 'Salute to Service' day" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 6/27).
