TAMPA, Fla. — As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers prepare for the NFC Championship in Green Bay, the team handed out free swag bags at Raymond James Stadium Friday.

Cheerleaders and Buccaneers employees handed out free goodie bags in an adjacent parking lot for three hours Friday morning.


What You Need To Know

  • Buccaneers (13-5) playing at Green Bay (14-3) this weekend in NFC Championships Game 

  • Bucs handed out free swag bags Friday morning to fans outside Raymond James Stadium 

  • MORE: A Bitterly Cold Battle of the Bays

The first fan was lined up at 3 a.m., but he admits his wife demanded he get there early because she had to work today.

"I'm not excited about nothing, it's her, "Peter Pierandozzi chuckled. "You know, she heard about, they are giving little trinkets or a shirt or something."

If the Buccaneers pull of a win against the Green Bay Packers they will become the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl at home.

The Buccaneers playoff run this year has been good for local bars and restaurants still digging out from the pandemic.

Even without a Bucs win Sunday, and even at limited capacity, the big game will be good for the Tampa Bay region, said Alexis Muellner with the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

"it's not a typical Super Bowl, but better to have it than not because all the things that go with it related to the intangibles of being on television and continuing to show the world we are a big event area and that we can handle these types of events from a security and hospitality point of view," said Muellner.

Setup for the Super Bowl is already underway in Tampa, both near Raymond James Stadium and at Tampa's Riverwalk where the NFL Experience will be happening this year.