Raise the Flags: 50 Years of Buccaneers Football

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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The 7th Annual Awards

Nominee ✨

• Best Documentary: Long-Form

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ABOUT THIS ENTRY

Raise the Flags" is a ten-episode documentary series — directed by eight-time Emmy Award-winner Trent Cooper and launched on Amazon Prime Video — that draws on more than 100 on-camera interviews to deliver the most comprehensive account of an NFL franchise's history ever produced for a major streaming platform. The series became Amazon's most-engaged sports documentary to date and holds an 9.0 IMDb rating, setting a new benchmark for what team-produced long-form content can achieve.

How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?

Raise the Flags sets a new benchmark for what team-produced content can accomplish. Most franchise anniversary projects are hagiographies — curated highlights presented as history. Raise the Flags is a unique and authentic perspective from over 100 voices. 

That commitment to authenticity — including the Glazer Family speaking publicly for the first time about ownership decisions, Tony Dungy's firing, failed negotiations with Parcells, and mistakes the family would not repeat — is what separates this work from institutional storytelling. Fans watched a franchise holding itself accountable to its own legacy. 

The model — a franchise owning its full history, partnering with a global streaming platform, launching against a live NFL game, and giving a filmmaker real access — is replicable. Every NFL team has stories like these. Raise the Flags shows what happens when the people involved are willing to tell them. 

Objective

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered their 50th season with a rare and meaningful opportunity: to tell their own complete story — honestly, cinematically, and from the voices of those involved in 50 years of franchise history. The objective was to create the most comprehensive account of an NFL team's history ever produced for a major streaming platform. 

That required confronting the full arc: from the infamous 0-26 start and the "Yuccaneers" era, through the transformational Glazer acquisition, the Tony Dungy years, the championship runs of 2002 and 2020, and the Brady era that redefined modern NFL fandom in Tampa Bay.  

The goal was to create a landmark piece of sports storytelling — one that would deepen the connection between the franchise and its fans, reach new audiences through a global streaming platform, and stand as the definitive record of how the Buccaneers became who they are. On that count, the series delivers from the first episode to the last. 

Strategy & Execution

Commissioned by co-owner Ed Glazer and directed by eight-time Emmy Award-winner Trent Cooper, the production team spent over a year conducting more than 100 interviews — players, coaches, executives, and Glazer family members speaking on camera about franchise decisions, some for the first time. Ten episodes, 45–60 minutes each, built around specific eras and turning points. 

The access produced stories never told publicly: Steve Young warning the front office Bo Jackson wasn't coming to Tampa. The overnight call that landed Jon Gruden while the football world assumed the Bucs were signing Steve Mariucci. Hardy Nickerson and Keyshawn Johnson’s near-altercation on a January 2002 team flight. Who pleaded with Tom Brady before he threw the Lombardi Trophy over open water at the boat parade. The series got them all on record. 

The launch was engineered for maximum impact. The series debuted December 11 on Amazon Prime Video — the same night the Buccaneers wore their Creamsicle uniforms on Thursday Night Football — with pregame and halftime features driving direct tune-in. Custom seeding kits, national media placements, and an exclusive fan premiere event rounded out an activation that built anticipation across every audience simultaneously.

Organizations

• HEROES & FABLES
  NFL Films
  Skydance Sports
  Prime Video Sports

Credits

Trent Cooper
Director
HEROES & FABLES

Ed Glazer
Co-Owner
Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Brian Ford
COO
Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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