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2010-11 NFL Blackout Thread

Ticket sales are pacing lower for this year. I think we are going to see lots of blackouts. NFL might have to swallow some pride and change the rules. Particularly considering they are looking at a possible walk out by the players. The salad days for the league are coming to an end....and it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people. ::)
 
Completely agree with bengalsfan.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000...icket-sales-fall-for-third-consecutive-season

Selling a thousand fewer tickets per game (amortized across the league) last season than the year before translates into 15 million dollars in lost revenue, assuming an average ticket price of $30. That's really not much of a loss, considering all the other revenue streams the NFL has, like its TV contracts.

But I guarantee this will be used against the NFLPA in the labor negotiations.
 
According to something I read on the506.com message boards, in relation to the Bucs' blackout, it's mainly the Glazer family (owners of the Buccaneers) are now refusing to buy up any remaining seats to ensure the home games air locally.

Meanwhile, there was also a possibility of the Jets having some of their home games blacked-out (something that hasn't happened in almost 30 years), the New York Times reported that they sold-out all of their non-premium seats for the seasons.
 
It makes perfect sense. Let's black out millions of local fans from seeing their team when the stadium can hold only about 70,000 fans and nobody has enough money to afford the out of this world ticket prices anyways. The NFL has needed to do away with these archaic blackout rules for years. It really does not help to fill the stadiums and all it does is antagonize the local fans making them less inclined to come to the stadium.
 
The Chiefs actually removed seats in their renovation of Arrowhead Stadium, yet will be in danger of blackouts this season. The stadium was probably a third full during the preseason games.
 
ShawnHill1 said:
According to something I read on the506.com message boards, in relation to the Bucs' blackout, it's mainly the Glazer family (owners of the Buccaneers) are now refusing to buy up any remaining seats to ensure the home games air locally.
Click to expand...

Ah, yes, the Dollar Bill Wirtz school of team ownership. Let's not televise the home games in order to protect the "investments" of the season-ticket holders. That way, the 20,000 at the arena (or 60-70,000 in the case of football) will be the only ones "privileged" to see the game, not the 3 million "unwashed masses" who watch for free - never mind the fact that the team gets part of that TV money and we pay indirectly when we buy the sponsors' products, or watch the channel the game is on.

And just like the Chicago Black Hawks, who were all but invisible until Dollar Bill passed away and his son-with-a-clue Rocky took over: Out of sight, out of mind.
 
The days of Shine and Roses for the NFL are coming to an end. I also understand that ad revenue is down. Which means the networks can't bend over for the league anymore. Perhaps we'll see prices come down to more reasonable levels soon.

If the players walk next year, it's going to be a PR nightmare. Notice, if you will, nobody else pulled the little stunt they did during the Saints/Vikes game where the players walked out to the numbers holding up their fingers in "solidarity". If the players and owners allow this work stoppage, it's not going to be pretty. MLB has yet to recover from the '94-'95 strike.
 
I think it's safe to say MLB has pretty much recovered from the '94-'95 debacle. It's the NHL that's still recovering from the lost 2005 season. Add to that the fact they thumbed their noses up at ESPN when they needed the exposure the most immediately after the 2005 non-season and it'll take YEARS for them to recover.

Just my opinion.....

Cheers :D
 
TheRob said:
The Chiefs actually removed seats in their renovation of Arrowhead Stadium, yet will be in danger of blackouts this season...
Click to expand...

Maybe last night's upset win over the Chargers will encourage fans to prevent future blackouts. Same in Tampa with their come-from-behind win to start their season.

(And as Studio20 reported in another thread, if your local game is blacked out, it will partially air on the NFL RedZone channel... such was the case with the Buccaneers this week.)
 
Week 2: Once again, the Raiders are blacked out, and for their home opener against St. Louis... while further down California, the Chargers' home opener vs. Jacksonville (who's no stranger to blackouts in their own backyard) is blacked out locally, as well:
http://content.usatoday.com/communi...in-chargers-with-nfl-tv-blackouts-in-week-2/1

As for the Detroit Lions, they barely beat a blackout and sold out their home opener:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j0IKJmXEfY3fTz5iOQrNCpyE6-lQD9I9P1B00
 
Pat Cook said:
I think it's safe to say MLB has pretty much recovered from the '94-'95 debacle. It's the NHL that's still recovering from the lost 2005 season. Add to that the fact they thumbed their noses up at ESPN when they needed the exposure the most immediately after the 2005 non-season and it'll take YEARS for them to recover.

Just my opinion.....

Cheers :D
Click to expand...

Actually, the NHL is doing just fine..turning profits and everything. Which is more than could be said for the NBA and NFL
 
The ticket sales problem won't change a thing for owners. Loss of TV dollars would, but that won't happen either. ESPN, Fox, CBS and NBC will pay whatever the league wants or be left out of the most-watched programming in the country. Other networks would kill to have the numbers they do for NFL games. Cable would be delighted to offer PPV of your local NFL team if the nets don't pay. The league could move all the games to the NFL network and make local stations bid for the rights to each game locally. Things will only change when the fans quit being fans and stop watching.
 
The match-up between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers is blacked out in the Tampa tv market; however, viewers in Sarasota County (southernmost end of the market) can simply tune in to CBS affiliate WINK out of Fort Myers.
 
JayR said:
viewers in Sarasota County (southernmost end of the market) can simply tune in to [the Bucs / Steelers game on] CBS affiliate WINK out of Fort Myers.
Click to expand...

I thought WINK would be blacked out as well, as their coverage area comes within 75 miles of Raymond James?
 
azumanga said:
JayR said:
viewers in Sarasota County (southernmost end of the market) can simply tune in to [the Bucs / Steelers game on] CBS affiliate WINK out of Fort Myers.
Click to expand...

I thought WINK would be blacked out as well, as their coverage area comes within 75 miles of Raymond James?
Click to expand...

WINK was not blacked out. That issue was brought up on WINK News during the newscast on Thursday or Friday (can't remember which day).
 
Way back when, during the era when the Patriots really sucked and had trouble even selling out games against the Jets, if I recall correctly, many games were blacked out on their Boston station, WBZ-TV, then channel 4. I live north of Boston, where WCSH-TV, then channel 6, could be viewed if you pointed a rooftop antenna toward Maine. Sure enough, I noticed a house nearby with a standard rooftop antenna on a rotator, and it seemed as though it was pointed towards Maine every Sunday, but only on Sundays...the rest of the week, it was pointed toward Boston (I guess there was nothing on the NH stations, then and now, on channels 9 and 11.)
 
DToTheJ said:
As for the Detroit Lions, they barely beat a blackout and sold out their home opener:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j0IKJmXEfY3fTz5iOQrNCpyE6-lQD9I9P1B00
Click to expand...


The Lions were hardly ever on local television when I lived in the Detroit area.
At the time they were playing in the Pontiac Silverdome, which held over 80,000 for football.
It was nearly impossible to sell that many tickets for a perennially last-place team. The
move to Ford Field eliminated 15,000 seats and made TV blackouts far less common.
 
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