SEPTEMBER 29: Although the Bucs are preparing for the game in Miami, the NFL will keep Sunday’s matchup in Tampa. The Bucs announced that, after coordination with local and state agencies following Hurricane Ian’s impact, the game will be played as scheduled.
SEPTEMBER 28: NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller said the Chiefs-Bucs game remains on schedule for Sunday night in Tampa. However, if this storm forces a change, it will be played Sunday night at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
SEPTEMBER 26: With Hurricane Ian heading towards Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers are preparing contingency plans for this weekend’s home game against the Chiefs. The team announced that they’ll practice in Miami for the rest of the week, but there’s been no update to this weekend’s game.
The team will be practicing at the Miami Dolphins’ Baptist Health Training Complex. The Dolphins are expected to depart for Cincinnati on Wednesday, at which time the Buccaneers will be free to use their facilities.
The organization will continue to consult with the NFL and local officials regarding the status of Sunday night’s game against the Chiefs. However, at the moment, there have been no changes to the 8:20 p.m. ET kickoff.
What if the Buccaneers are unable to host Sunday night’s game? Things might get a bit dicey. Per ESPN’s Jeff Darlington on Twitter, the NFL is unlikely to use Miami as a new game site, even with the Dolphins on the road for Week 4. That’s because if Tampa Bay faces “devastating impact,” then the NFL doesn’t want to risk using state resources to relocate the game.
That doesn’t mean the game would be postponed. Instead, the Buccaneers and Chiefs would likely play at a neutral site, with Darlington suggesting Minneapolis. The Vikings will be in London for this weekend’s game against the Saints.
Unfortunately, even I can come up with four simple story lines to tie this relocation to TB and GB.
Neutral site makes the most sense if Tampa can’t host. Green Bay and New Orleans played week 1 in Jacksonville last year after under similar circumstances
Tennessee could work as a neutral site. New Orleans could work too given that it’s closer geographically to Florida. Saints are in London next week
NOLA makes the most sense to me.
A neutral site in the same time zone as Tampa Bay would make the most sense from a broadcasting network perspective.
What difference would that make? Sunday Night Football airs live in all time zones — and the Chiefs are based in the Central Time zone.
Play in foxboro
Vegas Baby !
.. but seriously prayers for the residents of Florida
You’re aware the Raiders have a home game on Sunday?
Bump the Raiders, the fans will appreciate the replacement game. Send the Raiders to Oakland, the Athletics are in Seattle.
So says a hater who loves playing musical chairs with NFL clubs.
Musical chairs is a children’s game. NFL people are grown-ups.
I’ll speak to you in NJ terms.
Whoa! Take it Easy.
I picked the Raiders as they are the only 0-3 team. I otherwise don’t care about the Raiders any more or less than any of the other 31 teams.
Over the past several seasons the NFL has relocated several games due to weather and even stadium failure. For some reason, Minnesota and Detroit have hosted an odd number of these relocations.
NFL people are anything but grown ups- from the fans to the players to league management.
Rich. I don’t care who you are that was FUNNY AS HELL. ChuckyNJ We aren’t surprised a hater comment coming from JERSEY. That was funny I don’t care who you are.
I’d love that plan Rich
lol
So the “Latest on the status” of the game is that there are no new updates?
The update wanted to give an update but there is nothing to update. So the updated update is there is still a big azz storm coming your way. Stay tuned for any new update that will be the the same as the last update. The update is happy to keep giving you updates to keep you ip to date.
Thanks for the clarification on the update. Will you update us on the next update about the update?
I lived in Florida for almost 40 years. Last I saw, the hurricane was going to strike land with winds of about 150 miles per hour. I’d be very surprised if they play the game in Tampa – even without any stadium damage (and it seems you’d want to be sure of such a thing before packing people into a stadium), access roads will likely be a mess, along with myriads of other problems.
Pretty stupid to even be considering playing a game in Tampa this weekend.
It seems ludicrous to play a sporting event in area that’s had a State of Emergency declared due to present conditions.
I live in Tampa. Weather is nice now. I have friends right now south of me that I still can’t contact.
I’ll be honest, it’s better that the game is played. At least it will give a good distraction to the loss and help the healing process.