The Buccaneers will be holding a major announcement on Wednesday at One Buccaneer Place and it is expected that Tampa Bay will be announced as 10th team to participate in NFL Films and HBO’s training camp and preseason documentary series “Hard Knocks” for 2017.

The show first aired in 2001 and featured the Baltimore Ravens after their Super Bowl victory. The show took years off in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2011 and has featured nine other teams including the Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals twice. 

In October of 2013, the NFL announced that if no team offered to volunteer to participate in the show, the league could force a team to participate. However, they did set up some ground rules on which teams they would choose from to maintain a balance.

Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter – Photo by: Mark Lomoglio/PR

Teams are exempt from being forced to participate in Hard Knocks if they fall under one of three circumstances. First, if they have appeared on the show in the past ten years. Second, if they have a first-year head coach. And, finally, if they have reached the playoffs in either of the two previous seasons.

This year, those rules eliminated 24 teams from being forced to participate in the show for the 2017 season. The remaining eight teams included were the Bears, Buccaneers, Browns, Colts, Eagles, Ravens, Saints, and Titans. Ultimately, the Buccaneers were chosen – surely due to potential record and player appeal.

The star of the show will undoubtedly be the team’s young, gregarious, outspoken quarterback Jameis Winston, who was the first overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.

“I know I’d embrace it,” Winston said Monday during his press conference. “You’ve got to cherish the opportunity that you’ve got. The whole world gets to see how great of an organization this is and see the great people that we have within the organization – but our job is to play football. They add the glitz and the glamour and all that comes with it. It’s an amazing show, but we’ve got to play football. We’re out there doing it for the fans, we’re out there doing it for the city, and Hard Knocks – they’ll just show the whole world.”

So what does this really mean for the Buccaneers? To some, Hard Knocks is seen as a bad luck charm.

Here’s how each team that has participated in Hard Knocks performed during the regular seasons of the years they were featured.

2001 – Baltimore Ravens – 10-6 and made the playoffs
2002 – Dallas Cowboys – 5-11 and no playoffs
2003 – Kansas City Chiefs – 4-12 and no playoffs
2008 – Dallas Cowboys – 9-7 and no playoffs
2009 – Cincinnati Bengals – 10-6 and made the playoffs
2010 – New York Jets – 11-5 and made the playoffs
2012 – Miami Dolphins – 7-9 and no playoffs
2013 – Cincinnati Bengals – 11-5 and made the playoffs
2014 – Atlanta Falcons – 6-10 and no playoffs
2015 – Houston Texans – 9-7 and made the playoffs
2016 – Los Angeles Rams – 4-12 and no playoffs

Total record of Hard Knocks teams: 86-90
Total playoff appearances: 5
Total playoff wins: 3

For the last six seasons, the teams participating in Hard Knocks has alternated with playoff appearances. With the Los Angeles Rams not making the playoffs last year, that means fortune could be on the Buccaneers good side, if you believe in that sort of thing.

In reality, all that really matter is how this Tampa Bay team plays this year within themselves. The show will give fans in Tampa Bay and around the nation an inside look at what goes on all around One Buc Place from the practice field to the GM’s desk to the film room and weight room with its’ 30-man film crew.

“We play the games on Sunday’s with cameras watching,” said Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy during his press conference on Monday. “So if you think you can’t go out to practice and practice with a camera on you, then you’re probably in the wrong profession. If we get picked, it is what it is, let’s be professionals and go to work.”

The one thing Bucs players liked about the prospects of having the Hard Knocks spotlight on them was the fact that head coach Dirk Koetter and defensive coordinator Mike Smith went through Hard Knocks together in 2014 when Smith was the head coach in Atlanta and Koetter was his offensive coordinator.

“Oh yeah, it does help,” Bucs left guard Kevin Pamphile said. “I don’t know how many of our guys have gone through Hard Knocks – maybe one or two guys? It would be a different experience because we’re such a young team.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Mark Lomoglio/PR

“It will be interesting to see which guys can handle being in the spotlight for that period of time with cameras around. You don’t want to make the wrong impression. Hopefully Dirk will have the right game plan for us to go about things if we get chosen.”

The players trust Koetter to help navigate a training camp full of extra attention.

“I don’t know what Dirk’s approach would be to it, but if I know Dirk he’ll do everything in his power to not let it be a distraction for us,” Bucs offensive tackle Demar Dotson said. “The cameras will be out there, but we have to come to work and practice the same way. We’re a young team in a way and you’re going to see some stuff that people are going to try to do to get on camera.”

Middle linebacker Kwon Alexander is enthusiastic about Tampa Bay being selected for Hard Knocks because Koetter, Smith and other Bucs coaches like defensive line coach Jay Hayes (Cincinnati 2009, ’13) defensive backs coach Brett Maxie (Dallas 2008) and assistant wide receivers coach Andrew Weidinger (Atlanta 2014) have previous experience with it.

“They’ve been through it before so they would tell us about it,” Alexander said. “I feel like it would be fun. We would get to see each other on TV and it would be a great thing to do.”

As one of the better young and up-and-coming NFL teams in the league, this opportunity is shaping up to be less of a downer and more of a coming out party.

Bucs DT Gerald McCoy and RB Doug Martin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“It’s something I would embrace because I feel like we don’t get enough publicity anyways,” Alexander said. “I feel like everybody needs to get their face out. We have a lot of great players on our team that don’t get seen. That show could put us out there a little more and show the world how we grind and how we get to it.”

Alexander doesn’t think the Bucs would be distracted by the training camp intrusion of the Hard Knocks cameras and microphones.

“I don’t think our guys on our team would do that,” Alexander said. “We wouldn’t change for a camera. We’ve been playing ball all of our lives. It’s not like we’re making a movie and playing roles. It’s just going to be doing our thing on film.”

Bucs general manager Jason Licht, who will be attending Wednesday’s announcement with Koetter, believes his players are ready for the increased exposure.

“I’ve said it before, I feel good about our team and the maturity, especially for being a young group,” Licht said. “I know we have some great personalities on our team starting with Jameis, Gerald –the list goes on and on – Kwon. The fans would get an inside look at how our team really is. I know that you guys get a better feel than most, but I think the fans would get a real inside look at how we operate, how the players are. In terms of being a distraction, I think we’re wired to where we would be able to minimize that. Dirk has been through it. Mike Smith has been through it and I’ve heard positive things from them.”

No team that appeared on Hard Knocks has gone on to play for a Super Bowl in that same year – and none have even made it to the conference championship game. The Bucs are hoping to make history in all the right ways.