today with people need money for food! Maybe they should stop nfl blackout till more people get they job back! it would gave the nfl some good will with fan! love don
In the current economy, they should lift the blackout rules after a good-faith effort by the team to sell out (including dropping prices).
I'm not sure why the really even have a blackout rule. Teams generally fail to sell out because they've been struggling a bit lately (Detroit, and Jacksonville to smaller extent). Struggling teams make their fans start to lose interest. Blacking out the games prevents even more people in the local market from seeing the team, and even more local people stop caring. It's basically a death spiral.
I don't think the economy makes that much of a difference in attendance. It may have a small affect (primarily through corporations being less willing to buy up unsold tickets), but how the team is run is the major factor in determining whether a team faces blackouts. And by how the team is run I don't just mean win/loss records- there are numerous things (including lowering prices) that owners could do in an effort to increase attendance. I can understand why they black out games, but it does seem kind of counterproductive if your goal is to build interest in the team.
The reason is that baseball teams' home territories are quite mind-numbingly gerrymandered, and teams have far too much leeway in starting their own networks just so they can lock everyone else out.
I don't really have a problem with it. Odds are if a team can't sellout its games, it is because they are putting out a lousy product on the field. Why reward mediocrity by televising them anyway. Plus, instead of being stuck watching your lousy team you can actually watch a good game.
^Actually, it's more like you're stuck watching reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond. At least as far as I can tell...
Re: should the nfl blackout a football game The NFL has to do something. It's becoming clearer and clearer that the corporate side has completely taken over. And to that point, a good portion of people who go to football games anymore aren't families but corporate clientèle groups. Jone even more or less said as much about his uber-stadium the other night and got into a bit of hot-water over it. But there is enough blame to go around. The player's union has just as much to do with it--and I would argue theirs is the worst out of all the pro sports. If the league doesn't wake up and smell the coffee beans they're going to be in a lot of trouble. If things don't change the 2011 is all but inevitable. I also think that the residual blow-back will be worse than it was for baseball. In that case, the MLB has spent the last decade in a half working extra overtime to win fans back. I don't know if the NFL will be able to accomplish the same. They have simply started to nickel and dime people to death. Look at the negative impact the airlines have faced since they started doing this. People blame a lot of things for the downfall of air travel, but I also find it ironic that Southwest, the one airline that doesn't treat people like third-class citizens, is still doing (relatively speaking) fairly well. And, in terms of importance in our daily lives, I think I'd put air travel a bit higher than professional football. So, if the the airlines are having this much trouble, what's going to happen when the NFL flips the entire fan base the bird? One way to start showing some good faith would be to both lower the ticket prices (along with a series of promotions) and remove the stupid blackout rule. It is really pointless. 99 out of 100 people's decision to go to what a game in person as little or nothing to do with the threat of blackout. And, regardless if that threat was there, if more people could afford it, they'd go in a heartbeat.
Whose paying for NFL TV over food? If they are, they must be as big of idiots as you sound with a comment like that!
I don't agree with the black-out policy. Taking a game off of the TV isn't going to make people want to go watch that team any more. Generally, if a team isn't selling out, it's because the team is doing pretty badly, and who wants to pay a couple hundred dollars (for one ticket!) to go watch their team get raped? And, if prices continue to go up, eventually it won't matter how well the team is doing- no one is going to want to go simply because they can't afford it any more! In spite of what the NFL thinks, the blackouts don't help the problem. In fact, they also end up losing the advertising revenue from their blacked out teams.
Part of the blame should be placed on the owners / franchise as well. Who in their right minds would build an Olympic sized arena and expect to sell out that many seats, with the ridiculously high cost of tickets?
^Because when teams are going well, they pack the joint. I was lucky to score a couple of Pats tickets, and they are in 2 rows. You're right, tickets are really expensive, but going to a game is a privlege, not a right.
^Yes, going to the game is a privilege, but charging Pats-like prices for a Lions-like product, and then blacking the game out when no one goes is a little silly.