Early Thursday morning, word arrived via Noah Pransky of WTSP (10 Connects), the CBS affiliate in the Tampa Bay area, that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers might be up for sale, it came as a bit of shocker. Pransky cited Dan Sileo of WDAE saying that due to Joel Glazer losing as much as $400 million in the Bernie Madoff scandal, the team was headed for a new owner.

"Massive losses due to investments with Bernie Madoff have forced the owners of the Buccaneers to run the team on a minimal budget, according to WDAE-AM's Dan Sileo, and may lead to the team's sale," reported Pransky.

After making some calls, the best I could come up with was a possibility that a minority stake might be put up for sale, but then in this economy, adding minority investors shouldn't be surprising or a commentary on the state of an organization.

As the day wore on, the story started to pull back to "not currently up for sale" to simply saying losses through Madoff could potentially put the club up for sale in the future.

But, as was most recently seen with the New York Mets and their association with Madoff, while losses can occur, it may not always lead to a franchise sale.

The same heard true today from the Bucs.

Joel Glazer, Co-Chairman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers released the following tersely worded statement after the WDAE story:

“The report today by WDAE’s Dan Sileo about our family and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is 100 percent false.

"The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not, nor have they ever been for sale. In addition, our family or any of our related companies have never invested one penny with Bernie Madoff.

"The report is baseless, irresponsible and slanderous. This type of behavior by Mr. Sileo and his company Clear Channel will be dealt with in the appropriate manner.”

The last sentence is telling. It will be interesting to see if Sileo or WDAE will be welcome in the Buccaneers' locker room any time soon.

OTHER NEWS FROM THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK

(THE BIZ OF BASEBALL)

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• Game 1 of World Series Sees Massive Ratings Jump of 34%
• Terry Miller, Wife of Former MLBPA Exec. Dir. Marvin Miller, Passes Away at 90
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• MLB Releases 2009 World Series Broadcast Schedule"Experienced" Umpires for World Series Simply Window Dressing

(THE BIZ OF HOCKEY)

• Caps, Flyers Game Pushes VERSUS Ratings to Highest Point Since '05
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(THE BIZ OF BASKETBALL)

• NBA Opening Night on TNT Sees Highest Viewed Regular Season Double-Header Since '96
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• Brian Byrnes of OKC Thunder Discusses Building a Brand

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

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