The Tom Brady effect was "immediate" for Buccaneers fans last Tuesday night, as within an hour of the news that Brady was signing with the team, the queue on Ticketmaster's Bucs season-ticket landing page was "nearly 7,000 deep," according to Encina & Faiello of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. The Bucs "don’t release their season ticket numbers," but the team acknowledged that they had an "unprecedented amount of traffic on Ticketmaster that evening." Interest in the Bucs on the third-party ticket market "grew as well" last week. Vivid Seats Digital PR Specialist Andrew Gretchko said that the website’s Bucs page "ranked first among NFL teams and third on the entire site in traffic Tuesday and Wednesday." In addition, the site’s Bucs landing page saw a 4,540% "increase in traffic Tuesday compared to the same date last year" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 3/20). NBCSN's Chris Simms said, “We've never talked about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers so much in an offseason, and it's only two weeks into an offseason. We’ve already hit all-time threshold for what we've talked about with the Bucs, let alone the jersey sales, the things he’s going to do for that city” ("PFT," NBCSN, 3/23).
GEARING UP: In Tampa, Mari Faiello noted in the merchandising space, sports apparel company BreakingT on its company website has "debuted their own Brady merchandise," releasing "three Brady-related products, including a photoshopped Brady face on the traditional Buccaneers logo and an overview of Raymond James Stadium with 'The Big Tombrero' written above." Meanwhile, Fanatics "released nine versions of a Tom Brady jersey after Brady’s official signing" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 3/20).
PUSH BACK SCHEDULE RELEASE: NBCSPORTS.com's Peter King writes the NFL should "seriously consider moving the release of the schedule from the third week in April to May, a couple of weeks after the draft," in part because the league "almost certainly wasn’t thinking about Tampa Bay in a premier prime-time window." It is likely the NFL last week "began thinking of Tampa Bay with Brady three to five times in prime time, and maybe in a big spot on opening weekend -- Sunday night or Monday night." Another reason to delay the schedule release: SoFi Stadium may not be "ready on time" due to potential delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The stadium has "about three months of construction to go," and the construction site could be shut down, though that is "not imminent" (NBCSPORTS.com, 3/23).
