MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are temporarily relocating to South Florida as Hurricane Ian threatens Florida's Gulf coast.
Buccaneers players, coaches and team staff will depart Tampa on Tuesday and temporarily relocate their football operations to the Miami Dolphins' training facility in Miami Gardens.
Tampa Bay (2-1) lost to the Green Bay Packers at home Sunday.
The Dolphins play at Cincinnati on Thursday night and will conclude their on-field preparations for the Bengals by Wednesday morning. Tampa Bay would then have access to Miami's Baptist Health Training Complex.
As it currently stands, the Buccaneers are still scheduled to host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, which remains in the hurricane's potential path.
The NFL hasn't publicly announced plans to postpone or relocate the game, but Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles said the team has been in contact with the league office and that it remains a possibility "if it gets to that."
Ian is forecast to become a major hurricane before making landfall somewhere along Florida's Gulf coast.
TRACKING THE TROPICS: Hurricane Center | Hurricane Guide
"I don't think that anyone's really prepared for this," Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady said Monday on his "Let's Go!" podcast. "I know I've been preparing all morning and get all my stuff outside, try to put it inside, try to get all the stuff on the ground level up a little bit higher. I'm right here on the bay, so they're talking about pretty high storm surges and it's a scary thing. I will say that it's a scary thing when it really hits your doorstep."
This will be Brady's first hurricane since moving to Florida in 2020. He spent the first 20 years of his NFL career with the New England Patriots, winning six Super Bowls and playing for three more. He won a seventh Super Bowl in his first season with the Buccaneers.
The "Sunday Night Football" game between the Buccaneers and Chiefs – a rematch of Super Bowl LV – can be seen at 8 p.m. on WPTV.