A Buccaneers fan said he is disgusted with the Bucs organization after his season tickets were revoked.
Ed Crowe said he has been a season ticket holder for many years and he was looking forward to the upcoming season until yesterday when he found out his tickets were taken away.
"I'm a Bucs fan, but I'm really disgusted right now," Crowe said.
He said his tickets were on the visitors side of the stadium. He was told they were revoked because he resold them to other fans too often.
"I was floored. (My) first thought (was that) it was a prank phone call or something," Crowe said.
RELATED: Tampa Bay Buccaneers release 2017 regular-season schedule
Ed argues throughout the years he did not sell as many tickets as you would think. If he sold his tickets, he said he did it the right way through the approved NFL ticket exchange website.
"I did nothing wrong. I'm not scalping tickets. I've been a season ticket holder. It's through their entity and encouragement that we sold them, you know," Crowe said.
He said he wishes the organization would have given him a warning that his seats were going to be revoked.
"Had I gotten (a) warning sure I wouldn't have….have done that. I had no idea they didn't like that.....I thought they wanted to pack the stands," Crowe said.
An official with the Buccaneers said they do encourage fans to use the NFL ticket exchange website, but they're starting to go after a small percentage of season ticket holders who repeatedly resell more than half of their tickets; many times they are resold to fans of the visiting team.
In an emailed statement about the ticket re-sale policy, Brian Ford, the Buccaneers Chief Operating Officer said:
“To ensure that Buccaneers fans have the best opportunity to purchase season pass memberships in the most desirable locations, we have made the decision to stop selling memberships to a limited number of account holders that have been identified as ticket resellers to opposing team fans.
“Our top priority is providing our fans with a best-in-class experience when they attend games at Raymond James Stadium. By providing our most passionate fans with access to the best seats, we create the type of home field advantage that our players feed off on game days. Fans from opposing teams will still have the option to purchase individual tickets in various locations around the stadium or may choose to sit in designated visiting fan sections which we have provided.”
The Buccaneers add the right to revoke tickets is in the fine print.
Crowe does not think their reason in his case was justified.
"I think they need to make their fans aware and their season ticket holders aware or not encourage the sale of tickets," Crowe said.
A Buccaneers officials said they are not kicking anyone out of their stadium and want to fill the stadium with loyal fans.
"I will never step foot in that stadium again. Absolutely not. It's sad because I'm a Bucs fan," Crowe said.
Crowe wants his tickets back and the policy revised. A Buccaneers official told me they review their procedures often and in some cases reverse their decision, but they do not think that will happen in this case.
