One of the worst kept secrets in recent Bucs memory became official on Wednesday as the Buccaneers and HBO announced that Tampa Bay will be featured on the annual HBO series Hard Knocks.

The first episode will air on August 8 at 10 p.m.

Executive vice president of HBO Sports Peter Nelson made the announcement from the auditorium at One Buc Place.

“On behalf of HBO and NFL Films, it is my privilege to announce that the 2017 edition of Hard Knocks will feature the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,” Nelson said. “Foremost I want to thank the Glazer family, as well as Jason Licht, coach Koetter as well as all the players, staff and coaches who give their time, energy and resources to make this show the success, and to welcome us not only onto their field, but often their offices and in some cases even into their homes. Without that access this show can never be what it becomes.”

#HardKnocks: Training Camp with the @TBBuccaneers kicks off August 8 at 10PM on #HBO. pic.twitter.com/qgH3SMtKdV

— HBO (@HBO) April 19, 2017

The Bucs were chosen by the NFL, and didn’t lobby for them being the pick to be featured. With that said, the Bucs will fully embrace the opportunity to showcase their team to the rest of the nation, which according to Nelson, averages 3.9 million viewers.

Licht talked during the press conference about the Bucs being featured. 

“We are very excited about this team, for this upcoming season, with the way we ended last year and some of the additions we made so far, and the upcoming draft,” Licht said. “You know there is a lot of hard work that goes into a season, and HBO and NFL Films will be able to capture that for our fans. So I m very excited about it for our fans to see the work that goes on behind the scenes that sometimes isn’t detailed or goes under appreciated….but more than that, the personalities on our team. We have some very colorful, charismatic personalities on our team.”