TAMPA, Fla (Reuters) – The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are making the most of their hometown advantage in the run-up to Sunday’s Super Bowl, settling into a routine after a chaotic National Football League (NFL) season where virtually nothing felt like business as usual.
After numerous delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but no outright cancellations, the NFL is barreling toward its season finale with the Bucs taking on the Kansas City Chiefs at home – the first time in the Super Bowl’s 55-year history that a team has competed in the championship in their own stadium.
Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians said there were ample benefits for the team to enjoy, beyond what could certainly be a Bucs-friendly crowd inside Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.
“It’s really, really amazing to just be in our facility in our locker room on the practice field, same drive to work every single day, and being able to stay in that routine has been critical,” said Arians, who signed six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady in the off-season before leading the team to an 11-5 record.
The team triumphed in three straight road games in the post-season before settling in for Super Bowl preparations at home, where a reduced-capacity of 22,000 fans will be allowed in on gameday due to COVID-19 health and safety restrictions.
Th closest any NFL team has come to playing the big game at home was 36 years ago, when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Miami Dolphins 38-16 at Super Bowl XIX inside Stanford University’s Stanford Stadium in California
“Normally you jumping on a plane, or you’re either at another team’s facility or a college facility and getting accustomed to that the first few days, different meeting rooms,” said Arians, who won two Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steeler as a wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator in 2006 and 2009.
“It’s been huge for us.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
