Buccaneers Slash Stadium Capacity by 3,600 for Tom Brady-Less 2023 Season

It's the strongest indicator yet that Tampa Bay is once again just another team.

For three years, quarterback Tom Brady gave the Buccaneers star power that had never been seen before in Tampa. He helped the franchise win its second Super Bowl while molding Tampa Bay into a national television commodity, a rarity in the team's mostly tortured existence.

However, all good things must come to an end. Brady is retired, and the Buccaneers have slipped back into their hazy role as an ordinary NFL team—a development given definitive proof Friday afternoon.

Pewter Report, a longstanding Tampa Bay website, indicated ahead of the Buccaneers' preseason opener that the team had removed 3,600 seats that had been added for Brady's final season.

No more @TomBrady, no more Krewe’s Nest.

The #Bucs removed the temporary seating that was installed last year at ⁦@RJStadium⁩ that increased stadium capacity for what would be Brady’s final NFL season.

⁦@ProFootballTalk⁩
⁦@NFL_DovKleiman⁩ pic.twitter.com/IsmVIfszlV

— PewterReport 🏴‍☠️ (@PewterReport) August 11, 2023

The seats ballooned Raymond James Stadium’s capacity from 65,618 to 69,218. The area was christened the “Krewe’s Nest” and was present throughout the Buccaneers’ 8–9 2022 campaign.

Perhaps the temporary seats were good luck, as Tampa Bay dropped its preseason first game without them, 27-17 to the Steelers on Friday.