As you guys have seen by my lack of posting, I’ve been really out of it (actually working a bit) and my focus has been off. Apologies.
There’s one thing that gets me more than anything when it comes to the Buccaneers — it’s their need to be excessive with money and then jack up ticket prices to compensate.
Oh no, I’m not harping on the Glazer’s control of Manchester United right now (though I’m unaware of what the Glazers have been doing to the Manchester faithful besides contemplating how to destroy renovate Old Trafford…
I’m talking about the Glazer’s secrecy and extravagance in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers new practice facility. The Tampa Bay Business Journal has more:
Among the more significant changes were to the Bucs’ locker room, which was originally finished in black but was replaced with wood grain when someone remarked that it looked like it belonged to the Oakland Raiders.Executive VP Ed Glazer’s private bathroom is being outfitted with enough marble that it will ultimately cost as much as most people’s cars.
…It’s always just those little things that hamper construction, isn’t it? I mean if it’s not a gold plated low-flow toilet, it has got to be contractors offering stone other than marble to finish your bathroom…
GM Bruce Allen and Head Coach Jon Gruden also will have second-story offices with a view of the practice fields and stadium, though the best corner office in the building is actually being reserved as a conference room for hosting NFL officials and other executives.Gruden’s office, on the building’s other corner, is configured so that even his private shower has a view of the practice fields.
OK, that last one is just disturbing. But we all know Jon — football excessive to the very core. Understandable (for him) but just a little too much for the sane.
Of course, this new headquarters/training facility is just a bit of an upgrade from the Buccaneers current/soon-to-be-former facility. Nicknamed “the Woodshed”, One Buccaneer Place was outdated the day it opened in 1976 and has been derided by players and personel for the 3 decades the team has called it home. I’ll leave the stories about that alone for now… That could take up it’s own post (or entire blog — if only the facility was going to be around much longer).
No word yet how much the Bucs plan to raise ticket prices to underwrite the extra exuberance (or how they’ll justify it this time around).
