UPDATED – 5:30PM: The NFL has decided to cut its 2020 preseason in half, eliminating Week 1 and Week 4, as first reported by Pro Football Talk. For the Buccaneers that means the elimination of its preseason opener at Pittsburgh on August 14, and its preseason finale, at Cleveland on September 3 due to COVID-19 concerns.

The two other preseason games on Tampa Bay’s schedule were home games against Jacksonville on August 22 and Tennessee a week later on August 29.

The NFL is expected to shuffle the 2020 preseason schedule and give every NFL team one home game and one away game. It is unclear who the Bucs would play in the preseason as a result, but the Bucs vs. Jaguars game is currently scheduled to be a Saturday night prime time game on CBS and that match-up may remain fixed.

For a team like Tampa Bay that is introducing a new quarterback in Tom Brady to Bruce Arians’ offense, that means just half of the preparation time and opportunity in advance of the 2020 regular season opener at New Orleans on September 13. Part of the reasoning is to give NFL teams two extra weeks of practice time to prepare for the regular season rather than two meaningless preseason games, especially with the loss of mini-camps and OTAs during the offseason due to COVID-19.

Bucs RB Ronald Jones II – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The league has already cancelled all joint practices between teams this year due to COVID-19 concerns. The Bucs had previously been scheduled to host joint practices with Jacksonville this year prior to their Week 2 preseason game.

The NFL has already said that the league owners have already agreed to eliminate fans sitting in the first eight rows of every NFL stadium this year due to safety reasons for the players and coaches on the sidelines. NFL teams are working to relocate those fans throughout the respective stadiums to accommodate them, and the league has given teams the green light to place advertising banners over the seats in those first eight rows as a way to recoup lost revenue.