NFL Sympathizes With You, Still Blacks Out Your Games
by BrianL on Sep 15, 2009 10:21 AM PDT
24 comments
From the Consumerist, a pro-consumer blog
Let's face it, times are tough for a lot of people. For many, it's just not within the realm of possibility to find money to go to an NFL game in person. At least you can watch your team on television. Right?
As most of you are aware there's an NFL policy concerning home market broadcasts and sold-out attendance. In short, if the game hasn't sold out, you don't get to see your home team on television in the home market. This policy has always drawn criticism, but now the grumbling has increased in intensity. Time Magazine chimes in:
Fans in long-suffering Detroit, however, don't need to look at the stands to know something is wrong, both with the hapless Lions and the city as a whole. With unemployment hovering around 30%, it's not easy for folks in the Motor City to shell out a few hundred bucks to attend a game and cheer on the first team in NFL history to finish the season 0-16, as the Lions did last year. So it's no surprise that the Lions are having trouble selling out their 65,000-seat stadium. But should laid-off GM workers, who just want to watch their Lions as a form of Sunday escapism, be punished for these dreadful circumstances?
"We get screwed over," says Sean Yuille, a University of Michigan student who runs Pride of Detroit, a Lions fan blog.
On the surface, these blackouts seem overly punitive, especially in the current economic climate. Don't expect things to change, though.
"No consideration is being given to changing the blackout policy," says NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. "It has served us well for decades, and we think it would be a mistake to alter it."
But hey, at least the NFL is still thinking about you as the Consumerist reports. You can still watch your games on the internet! For free! At your convenience!*
*For a period from midnight on the day of the game until 72-hours following the initial availability. Games are not broadcast at NFL.com in real-time.
The NFL and the teams believe that these blackout rules have helped to encourage fans to go to the games and have been responsible for the league's growth over the decades. Do you all think this is true? Is it time to revisit the NFL blackout rules?
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I never thought about the policy with regard to Detroit, specifically.
That’s really really shitty for Lions fans and incredibly idiotic of the NFL.
by sammy on Sep 15, 2009 10:30 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Why don't they lower their ticket prices?
Just getting fans to the stadium is half the battle to get them to spend money. And by blacking out games, they are going to lose younger fans who will be the future consumers. Not to mention current viewers will have no motivation to go to a game because they don’t get the opportunity to connect with the team.
It’s archaic thinking in this day of age.
by Wilder. on Sep 15, 2009 10:31 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Agreed. I always wondered, shoot, if there are still tickets available, why not give the rest away as a 'charitable donation'
the people who get the tickets will buy food or parking spaces or merchandise, and that will be revenue and profits, more than they would get if they had empty seats, and that doesn’t include the tv incentive either.
by LantermanC on Sep 15, 2009 10:50 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Not sure how much more TV incentive that they'd get by having it televised locally.
When it’s a game that will be shown in other parts of the country.
Sam Bradford, future Seattle Seahawk.
by Carl Shinyama on Sep 16, 2009 9:59 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I meant tv incentive to build a fan base, not dollars for being on tv.
Kids will watch the Hawks on tv and become fans when they get older. If they’re not on tv half the time, the chances of them being fans in the 20’s is a lot smaller.
by LantermanC on Sep 16, 2009 10:57 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Oh. My bad.
Sam Bradford, future Seattle Seahawk.
by Carl Shinyama on Sep 17, 2009 11:37 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Its hard to raise prices later...
I think teams are hessitant to lower prices because of that. Maybe they could run some promotions though. like 2 or 4 game ticket packages with a slight discount.
Also, current season ticket holders that paid in full last spring probably wouldn’t be too happy if the team lowered prices mid season.
by -Tag on Sep 15, 2009 11:00 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Except that all leagues/teams...
have essentially been working from this model for quite sometime.
Keep pushing the high cost corporate seats, professional leagues. Pretty soon you wont have any blue-collar ‘real’ fans left…
Mancrushed. Jake Locker for Heisman 2010.
by whiskey chainsaw on Sep 15, 2009 10:42 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
The NFL runs on extremely thin profit margins Brian.
They’re just trying to put food on the table, same as the rest of us.
by waldo rojas on Sep 15, 2009 11:01 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I was looking into this last week
found this interesting article.
http://www.bigcatcountry.com/2009/6/1/894483/football-economics-why-the-nfls
Sucks to be a new small market team. The strongest argument to me seems, how do you build up a fanbase and reach new fans when they can’t watch half the games? Hard to get into a team you can’t watch. Hard to market when you can’t advertise (and showing a game on TV is the best advertisement).
Also, this quote
The NFL is no longer baseball’s ugly stepsister. It’s the most powerful professional sports organization in America. The blackout policy was put in place to make sure tickets would be sold, as the demand for football wasn’t as great as it is today. Today, football is king. The NFL can afford to allow all of it’s games to go on TV.
by B.B.Finnegan on Sep 15, 2009 12:33 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Not too mention how evil their DirecTv monopoly is
and how stupidly expensive Sunday Ticket is, plus extra for HD?
As an LA resident I will be stuck watching the New York Giants 16 times this season, even though they are on the other side of the country.
[DELETED ZOMG NO POLITICS]
by bluemax on Sep 15, 2009 5:47 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
TMQ says...
“Game Over” and closes notebook.
Mancrushed. Jake Locker for Heisman 2010.
by whiskey chainsaw on Sep 15, 2009 5:57 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Lots of Hawk fans in this part of the state
At least one lets take 2 or 3 cars and get 3 motel rooms game expeditions but we are equidistant from Seattle and the Bay Area so are considered a Bay area market so if we were not playing SF next week we would see the Raider game which sucks a mop.Another nice feature is Trail Blazer games being blacked out in Seattle or any where or where you can theoretically get Comcast,thanks ass holes,end of rant
by southern oregon on Sep 15, 2009 10:23 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Or Blazer fans that don't have Comca$t.
I have DirecTV and we recently lost the VS. Channel cause of Comcasts greedy asses.
OOOOOH!!!!! That was NASTY!!!!!!!!
by bmxnw on Sep 17, 2009 10:37 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Didn't they also black out Arizona this weekend, too?
The blackout rule is complete bullshit.
Sam Bradford, future Seattle Seahawk.
by Carl Shinyama on Sep 16, 2009 9:57 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Arizona was given an extension to sell their tickets
it usually happens if the league suspects a sell out is possible. But if the defending NFC Champions has trouble selling out seats, that should send a message to the league.
by Trepidation on Sep 16, 2009 2:28 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Has anybody seriously ever gone
“Aw gee shucks, my team is blackedout on television tomorrow, guess I’d better drive my ass down there and buy some tickets”?
Anybody? There’s got to be a few, right? What’s a team make out of this, like an extra thou a year?
by B.B.Finnegan on Sep 16, 2009 10:43 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Don't look at me, my broke-ass college budget allows me to go to maybe two or three sporting events a year in the cheap seats.
Unfortunately, Seahawks tickets aren’t the cheapest things out there.
by BrianL on Sep 16, 2009 11:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I actually did this once when the Hawks were playing at Husky stadium and I lived close by.
I bought tix from a scalper though.
by waldo rojas on Sep 17, 2009 11:23 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
So they're making the blacked-out games free on the NFL Rewind thing
(albeit they’re delayed, obviously, and only free in the 72-hour window)
I didn’t even know Rewind existed until I looked it up… out of curiosity, does anybody here have a Rewind subscription? How soon after the live game do you get access to the archive? And does it generally work well?
I’m out of market and can’t get DirectTV in my apartment building anyway (plus the NFL season pass thing is ridiculously expensive) so I have no way to archive/DVR the games. Thus I’m considering this… full on-demand access to two seasons’ worth of games seems pretty cool, right? Is it?
by busplunger on Sep 17, 2009 8:53 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
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