Tampa Bay Buccaneers is a professional-level football team from the United States that competes in the NFL, of which it has been a member since 1976. The team represents the NFC Southern Division and is based in Tampa, Florida.
Under the AFC project, the club was founded as one of the 28 expansion franchises planned for the 1970s. According to him, each new structure should play the first two years in different divisions. Therefore, Buccaneers made its debut in the Western branch, then moved to Central. And in 2002, he cooperated with three former NFC West teams, forming the Southern Division.
The city of Tampa is one of the first to whom the American Football Conference decided to provide its club. Its cost was 16 million dollars. In April 1974, AFC secured a franchise for the owner of local construction company Tom McCloskey. However, he was dissatisfied with the deal, and a month later refused it.
Jacksonville lawyer Hugh Culverhouse wanted to acquire a club. Once he accepted the attempt to acquire the Los Angeles Rams, but could not, because Robert Irsay sold the team. But now the wealthy businessman was determined and eventually got the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who he headed until 1994. After the death of the first owner, the team was inherited by his son – Hugh Culverhouse Jr., a lawyer from Miami. In turn, he forced the trustees to sell an almost ruined sports organization.
Interested parties included George Steinbrenner (New York Yankees CEO) and Peter Angelos (Baltimore Orioles CEO). This cast doubt on the continued franchise stays in Tampa. However, at the last moment, it was outbid by Malcolm Glazer, having paid 192 million dollars. The new owner immediately connected his sons Bryan, Edward, and Joe, to the business to make the club successful. The Glazer family has been steadily running the club since 1995.
The franchise got its name in 1975. It was chosen from 400 options that passed the phased competition. In the final stage, competed with the Sailors, Buzzards, and Coastal Tides. It is associated with corsairs – pirates, who often attacked the coast of Florida in the 17th century. In the modern version, the name is most often used in truncated form – Bucs.
Meaning and History
The debut logo was presented on April 14, 1975. Its author is a cartoonist from the Tampa Tribune Lamar Sparkman, who has worked as a sports club designer for a long time. He created a graphic image of a corsair in a hat with a feather that has been used for 20 years. The team’s official colors are orange (a reference to the Tampa citrus industry), red (a symbol of the sun, warmth, courage, and stamina), white (serves as a background).
1976 – 1996
Throughout this period, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers logo was a pirate. The artist decided to make the pirate special, not like the emblems of the pirates of other teams. The corsair is depicted with a dagger in his teeth, a large earring, with a mustache and a wide-brimmed hat with a large feather. Bucco Bruce (such a nickname he received) smiles slyly and squints his left eye. The author admitted that this is the result of the arranged images of Errol Flynn, Jean LaFitte, and the musketeer D’Artagnon.
1997 – 2013
n 1997, the club management decided to change the logo to aggressive. His task is to improve the image of the team and add to its popularity, coolness, and recognition. Therefore, instead of the corsair, they used a dark red pirate flag with a skull and crossed sabers. The Jolly Roger pictured on it is similar to Calico Jack. In the foreground is an orange ball. All elements have a black border and dark touches that create a frightening impression.
2014 – present
In this version, the previous emblem is slightly reworked: the skull does not laugh but frowns and grins, the palette of the canvas is shifted to scarlet, the red color has disappeared on the handle of the stylized “pole.” Also, black strokes and a wide edging line, which has become somewhat thinner, are removed. The soccer ball received a scarlet glare at the bottom and white lacing. All details are circled in dark color.