NFL Blackout Games is the first topic I would like to address. The NFL Blackout Games USA Today story, Blackout blues? NFL ticket sales slumping in some cities, that came out the other day about the NFL teams that potentially and most likely will be suffering from a case of the “black out” blues.
My question is, why do they even need NFL blackouts? Doesn’t each team share in the TV revenue? To the best of my knowledge even if not one NFL ticket was sold to a game that the owners would still be way ahead.
Let’s look at all of those who are hurt when the games are not broadcast. First and foremost are the fans. When you blackout a NFL game you, alienate the whole fan base. Even if they paid for the NFL DirecTV package they still will not be able to watch their team….does that makes any sense?
Secondly, don’t all of the sponsor’s who run advertisements on these broadcasts get hurt? Seems to me, if I was a sponsor and was paying large sums of money for my advertisements to be broadcast during the NFL game, I probably would be a bit pissed off!
Then you have all of the local restaurants and sports bars that have weekly football parties. All that revenue can now be flushed down the toilet!
Let’s address some of the reasons these games are not sold out. First, with the current market conditions there are a lot more fans who cannot afford to spend this disposable income on going to a game….does that mean that they should be penalized for that? Then, maybe the product they’re paying to see is just not worth what the teams are asking for. We live in the world of supply and demand and if the team can’t sell them maybe they should take a cue from ticket brokers and Lower the Price! If every team would hire a ticket broker to consult them on selling tickets, I guarantee that the stands would be filled!
Here is a possible solution and compromise to the current problem. Teams should only have to sell 75% of the tickets before a game would be considered sold out and therefore would not be subject to the NFL black out rule. This will allow teams with a market not as strong as others, to fill the stands within reason and avoid the dreaded blackout.
Food for thought, why is it that 81 baseball games can be broadcast with probably an average attendance of 50% full (I’m being generous) and we cannot get 8 NFL games in our local market to be broadcast without a sellout. Who negotiated that contract anyway? Can you say moron!
Ram Silverman
Ram's Rants! 