Sacramento Reportedly Wooing Bucs

TAMPA, Fla. —  Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Hugh Culverhouse is entertaining bids that could move the NFL franchise to sports-hungry Sacramento, according to a published report.

The Bucs have been offered $50 million for the move, the St. Petersburg Times reported in today’s editions.

The proposed deal is similar to offers Sacramento has made to at least six other NFL franchises, including the Los Angeles Raiders, Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots--$50 million cash for the team, a new $100-million stadium and guaranteed ticket revenues over 20 years.

The offer is being made by city and county officials and the Sacramento Sports Assn., a private group of developers.

Culverhouse had no comment on the report Sunday night.

According to Sacramento developer Gregg Lukenbill, the Tampa Bay offer is little more than a safety net should the Raiders choose to return to Oakland, their home before they moved to Los Angeles in 1982.

“There’s nothing to it, and I wouldn’t pay any attention to it,” Lukenbill, managing partner of the National Basketball Assn.’s Sacramento Kings, told the Sacramento Bee on Sunday.

“If the Raiders deal doesn’t work, maybe I’ll look elsewhere. But I’m on track to get the Raiders deal done, and I feel ethically bound to do that.”

However, Joe Benbenuti, a partner of Lukenbill’s and a member of the Sacramento Sports Authority, acknowledged to the Bee that the group has contacted “a half-dozen teams.”