NEW ORLEANS — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are hoping to make the best of an extended road trip that’s anything but normal for an NFL team.
Displaced from Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall, the Bucs arrived in New Orleans on Tuesday — five days before Sunday’s game against the NFC South rival Saints.
They practiced Wednesday at Tulane’s Yulman Stadium, trying as much as possible to replicate the usual schedule they would have followed in Tampa.
But instead of driving home from the team’s regular training facility, players and coaches boarded buses to return to hotel rooms being shared with family members and pets.
“Family is the most important thing right now. … If you can get your family out and keep them safe, everything else can be replaced,” coach Todd Bowles said.
“We understand the things we do in football are a small (part) in the game of life and how a hurricane is going to affect people,” he said. “Everybody is here, and their families are here. That makes it a lot easier.”
The Glazer family, which owns the Bucs and also has strong ties to Tulane, chartered two planes for a travelling party of about 350 people and 31 pets.
It’s not the first time the team has left the Tampa Bay area to avoid bad weather.
Two years ago, the team relocated to South Florida to practice at the Miami Dolphins training complex to escape Hurricane Ian while preparing for a home game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
When Tampa Bay’s 2017 season opener against the Dolphins was postponed due to Hurricane Irma, the team booked several planes to take players, coaches, staff and family members to Charlotte, North Carolina, ahead of the storm.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield said the organization prioritizing safety first was “big time” and much appreciated by players.
Star receiver Mike Evans, who’s in his 11th season, grew up in Galveston, Texas, and is not a stranger to the dangers of hurricanes.
“I just want everybody to be safe at the end of the day,” Evans said.
“We obviously have a job to do, so we’re going to do that. The games are still going to be played,” the team’s career receiving and scoring leader added. “The hardest thing is just making sure everybody is good, then just praying and hoping for the best.”
Bowles said lessons learned from the 2022 trip to the Miami area have been helpful this week.
The team also considered shifting operations to Houston but ultimately decided it would be better to arrive in New Orleans early and avoid having to board another plane later in the week.
“The evacuation was easier this time around,” Bowles said, noting when the Bucs relocated last time, some players drove to South Florida while others travelled by plane.
There was also the challenge of having families staying at the same hotel and striking a balance between trying to maintain a normal practice routine while also making sure players had enough time to spend with family.
“Learning from that, we’re a little more organized as far as when we meet, when the families eat, how they eat,” Bowles said. “So it’s a little, I don’t want to say easier, but a little more structured this time around.”
Milton is expected to make landfall on Florida’s west coast late Wednesday. The Bucs currently are planning to return to Florida after Sunday’s game, although Bowles confirmed the team has discussed contingency plans that might keep players and their families away longer.
“We’re thinking about it. We hope we don’t have to,” Bowles said. “We’ll see what happens the next couple of days, and then we’ll adjust accordingly.”
In the meantime, they’re practicing in a stadium built with significant financial contributions from Jill and Avram Glazer, after whom the venue’s premium club section is named.
The Benson family, which owns the Saints, also helped fund the football stadium at Tulane, from which Jill Glazer graduated. The field is named for them.
Saints owner Gayle Benson’s home in Uptown New Orleans, close to Tulane’s campus, also is near a home the Glazers own.
And the Saints, as much as any team in the NFL, can empathize with the Buccaneers.
As recently as 2021, the Saints spent several weeks in Dallas after Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans and played their home opener that season in Jacksonville. Saints coach Dennis Allen was New Orleans’ defensive coordinator that season.
“It’s a challenging situation, in particular when you’re talking about not just the team leaving, but taking care of friends and families,” Allen said. “I certainly understand what that’s like.”