Buccaneers offering free tickets to Panthers game after smallest home crowd in eight years

What started as a promising season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has gone south fast.

After a 2-0 start — including handing the New Orleans Saints their only loss of the season in Week 1 — the Buccaneers have won just two games since and, rather than competing for a playoff spot, are in strong contention for a top-10 pick in the 2019 NFL draft.

And, now there's this: Attendance has been so low that the team is offering season ticket holders two free tickets each to Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers, the Tampa Bay Times reports. 

Come to Sunday's Buccaneers-Panthers game. Bring two friends along, too, while you're at it. 

This complimentary ticket offer comes on the heels of Sunday's game against the San Francisco 49ers — a 27-9 win that ended a four-game losing streak for Tampa Bay — during which the team had its lowest attendance figure in more than eight years, according to the Times. 

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The Times reported that the Tampa Sports Authority had the actual attendance at 40,682 (two days earlier, Raymond James Stadium hosted UCF's win over South Florida to an announced attendance of 57,626). Raymond James Stadium has a capacity of 65,890.

Only the Cincinnati Bengals (52,844) and the Los Angeles Chargers (35,202) have lower average home attendance numbers than the Buccaneers (55,181) this season, according to attendance data from Pro Football Reference.

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