Source: Telegraph
Manchester United could suffer if the Glazers pass the Bucs
The game, the third competitive match to be played at Wembley since 2007, is intended to sell the NFL's complex charms to a European audience, but this edition offers some insight into a more sensitive Anglo-American project.
When Malcolm Glazer and family bought Manchester United in 2005, saddling the club and their holding companies with debt that, at the last count, had swollen to £699 million, they insisted that the two football clubs were separate entities.
Both are intrinsically linked to the fortunes of the family, however, and the fate of the Buccaneers, who arrive in London with their 2009 season apparently holed below the water line, raises questions about how the Glazer empire has weathered the wider financial storm, and any possible implications for United.
The Bucs arrive at Wembley on the back of six consecutive defeats in a winless season. A meeting with the Patriots, in-form aristocrats of the NFL, is unlikely to ease the pain, but for Joel Glazer, who will be at Wembley on Sunday rather than watching Manchester United at Anfield, the change of scene may be a welcome break from criticism at home.
Opposition to the Glazers in Tampa is milder than the violent dissent that met their takeover of United four years ago, but it is growing, and represents the most serious disquiet they have faced in their 13-year ownership.
At the heart of supporter unease is the decision, just two years after the Bucs last reached the play-offs, to replace 2002 Super Bowl-winning coach John Gruden with his unproven 32-year-old deputy Raheem Morris, and to rely on a roster of largely inexperienced players.
This strategy, say advisers close to the Glazers, is a deliberate attempt to rebuild a franchise that has lost its way. The unspoken suggestion is that this season has been written off in favour of rebuilding next year, armed with first-round draft picks reserved for the previous season's biggest losers.
Significantly, the change of strategy has allowed the Buccaneers to operate with $30 million of their annual salary cap unspent, prompted speculation in Tampa that the demands of meeting interest on debt at Old Trafford – £68.8 million last season – could be preventing the Glazers investing in the Bucs.
In a rare public statement earlier this year Joel Glazer said the two sports operations were not directly linked. "We have a lot of other businesses but they're not as high profile. So it isn't easy to make connections and draw lines," he said.
His words have not stopped fans in Tampa doing exactly that, and worryingly for owners not known for ignoring the bottom line, they are voting with their feet.
In three home matches this season the Buccaneers have failed to sell out their 64,000-seat Raymond James Stadium, and they have had to travel 3,000 miles to Wembley to experience their first 'home' sell-out. Last Sunday their home defeat by the Carolina Panthers was watched by just 42,847 people.
Curiously, official attendances for all three games were declared as sell-outs in excess of 62,000. It may be that the franchise is buying unsold seats to ensure that the Buccaneers do not fall foul of 'blackout' rules banning games that are not sold out from being broadcast locally.
The motivation for this twist on papering the house may be to protect broadcast and sponsorship contracts – the Buccaneers declined to comment – but it raises questions about whether the franchise could be in decline.
Just two seasons ago management boasted of a season-ticket waiting list of 145,000, most of whom appear to have evaporated as the franchise is now offering half-season tickets and pay-as-you-go options to try and fill the large gaps in the bleachers.
Struggling on the field, unwilling or unable to spend their full allowance on salaries and playing to a two-thirds full stadium, the Buccaneers' fortunes are apparently in marked contrast to those of United.
The nagging fear, however, is that ultimately their financial fate is inextricably linked, and that trouble in Tampa equals strife in Salford. That is denied by the Glazers, and, having sold Christiano Ronaldo for £80 million in the summer, United should surely have no reason to worry? Perhaps.
Asked if all the proceeds from Ronaldo's sale were available to the manager, the family's spokesman was unavailable for comment.
