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One-year deal gives the team exclusive rights to a resort during training time.
By ROGER MILLS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 23, 2002
LAKE BUENA VISTA -- For about 30 days they will be taking over a Disney resort, no longer sleeping on cots, playing on improved fields and using top-notch facilities.
Or as All-Pro defensive tackle Warren Sapp put it, in moving training camp to Disney: "We're going from coach to first class. No doubt about that."
Wednesday, the Bucs officially announced their agreement with Disney on a one-year deal to conduct this summer's training camp at the Wide World of Sports Complex.
The Bucs, who have trained at the University of Tampa since 1987, are to report July 28, with the first workouts scheduled for the next day. Workouts will be free to the public.
The team, coaches and some support staff will stay at Disney's Celebration Resort, minutes from the complex. The Bucs have exclusive rights to the 115-room resort for the duration of camp, scheduled to end around the third week of August.
While terms of the deal have not been made public, the Bucs are said to have paid about $700,000 for the nearly four-week period.
"We looked everywhere, we explored every option and really, at the end of the day, it was a pretty simple choice that this was the best option for us," general manager Rich McKay said. "It allows our guys to train in a first-class environment, from a field perspective, a locker room perspective, a housing perspective. ... We've slightly upgraded in that regard and we're obviously happy about it."
In a news conference attended by Sapp, McKay and coach Jon Gruden, team representatives gushed at the prospects of training at Disney because of the chance to develop closer ties to the Orlando area. Executive vice presidents Bryan, Joel and Ed Glazer, sons of owner Malcolm Glazer, did not attend.
"It's our biggest and most important month of the season," Gruden said. "I think the accommodations, the access our players will have here, I think they will really appreciate. Hopefully, it will allow us to come together."
Sapp, who is from nearby Apopka, said he has good memories of training atPepin/Rood Stadium but the move was long overdue.
"UT was a beautiful place," Sapp said. "But the field was a little lumpy at times. We would have to run around the ant piles, move the sleds around the ant piles. We're an NFL team, we shouldn't have to do that."
Although the Bucs plan to build a training facility near the University of South Florida, it likely will not be ready until 2004. So the Disney-Bucs pairing could be around for another summer, or two.
"It's something we'll do on a one-year basis, we'll see how it goes," McKay said. "But I can see us being here a little longer time than that."