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Tampa Bay Buccaneers won’t fire the cannons at Super Bowl LV

The Bucs will be in their home locker room, and are practicing across the street from Raymond James Stadium all week, but that’s all the home field advantage they’ll have.

By Collin Sherwin
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The pirate ship at Raymond James Stadium fires its canons after a touchdown during the first quarter of a game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Chargers at Raymond James Stadium on October 04, 2020 in Tampa, Florida. Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are five days away from being the first team to ever host the Super Bowl in their home stadium. But the most famous amenity at Raymond James Stadium will be off-limits to them after kickoff.

Today the NFL announced that the Buccaneers can fire the cannons during introductions, but not once the game starts against the Kansas City Chiefs. Usually the Bucs operations staff makes the patently ridiculous noise when they get in the red zone (one cannon blast), kick a field goal (three blasts), score a touchdown (six), or make a PAT (one).

First Gasparilla was delayed, and now this. Haven’t the residents of Tampa suffered enough?

The use of the ship at the Community Investment Tax Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway is always the subject of much consternation. It’s off-limits to the South Florida Bulls during home games, though they are theoretically a co-tenant. Tampa embraces pirate culture basically year-round, and the name of the team a wink and nod at the criminal history that is hard-wired into the history of the city.

And it didn’t stop once all the ships were robbed: Remember how ZooTampa, a delightful place to stuff your face with candy, was used in Goodfellas:

I’m not saying you should reconsider this decision, NFL game operations staff. I’m just saying things happen sometimes in Tampa, and no one ever really knows why. Be careful out there. Pirates and all.

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