NFL Blackout Watch '11

[azumanga]

Since no one else started this thread, let me start by saying that the Tampa Bay Bucs' blackout streak will continue this weekend, when their home game against the Detroit Lions is blacked out:

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/bucs'-season-opener-blacked-out-090911

 

[JeeperOne]

When will the NFL finally WAKE UP & SMELL THE BURNING STARBUCKS & address the issue of SKYROCKETING ticket prices

It must be a bamboozling wonder to the NFL owners as to why & how the CFL & the Arena League are so successful WITHOUT the help of NFL Network. It's gotta be. That's the only way it can possibly be explained

Cheers & 73

 

[DToTheJ]

Since no one else started this thread...

Normally, it would have been me... thanks! Poor Tampa. And Detroit has had blackout issues at home, as well. Something had to give...

 

[liradioisbad]

Blackouts aren't as widespread now as they were years ago. I think it was commonplace for half of all games to be blacked out in a weekend.

The deal with Tampa the past couple of years is that their owners won't pony up money to lift blackouts. Shame since they almost made the playoffs last year. For all the attention Jacksonville has gotten over blackouts, I think the situation in Tampa is underreported.

As for this week, I heard that Miami might have a blacked-out regular season game for the first time since 1993. Last night certainly didn't help.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

When will the NFL finally WAKE UP & SMELL THE BURNING STARBUCKS & address the issue of SKYROCKETING ticket prices

The NFL is also causing your cable bill to up as discussed in another thread

 

[nomadcowatbk]

How does a station decide to buy the remaining tickets in order to lift a blackout? I don't see how many pre-season games sell out on their own

 

[Studio20]

The deal with Tampa the past couple of years is that their owners won't pony up money to lift blackouts. Shame since they almost made the playoffs last year. For all the attention Jacksonville has gotten over blackouts, I think the situation in Tampa is underreported.

They would have had to buy up over 14, 000 seats for the Lions game alone. No owner was to lose that many horses ponying up for that.

Funny thing was, what would the TV landscape looked like HAD the Bucs sold out. CBS only had a 1PM game, FOX had 1 and 415.

Since the Bucs didnt sell out, there was no Fox game, but the CBS feed was Pitt vs Balt, then at 415 it was the Giants and Redskins. If the Bucs had sold out they would have had to have shown both games on Fox because CBS had no 415 game.

I can understand a blackout of the local team from TV if they don't sell out. But show another game. Don't penalize local residents with no game.

 

[Robnoxious]

I can understand a blackout of the local team from TV if they don't sell out. But show another game. Don't penalize local residents with no game.

That's the NFL's draconian system at work. Punish all for the sins of some not filling up your local market's stadium. No matter how bad the team is, you WILL buy a ticket or in the words of Willy Wonka "you get nothing, you lose! Good day, Sir!"

The only cure to these rules is for everyone to not give a toss about the NFL and I don't foresee that happening anytime soon.

 

[firepoint525]

The Tennessee tight'uns avoided a blackout (barely!) for the first time since the franchise has been in Nashville. But the fate of the rest of their home games remains to be seen.

 

[Sammi Brie]

...As for this week, I heard that Miami might have a blacked-out regular season game for the first time since 1993. Last night certainly didn't help.

Not 1993...definitely later. The opening game of 1994 (New England at Miami, a classic) was blacked out. There had been four after that and none since October 1998.

 

[liradioisbad]

...As for this week, I heard that Miami might have a blacked-out regular season game for the first time since 1993. Last night certainly didn't help.

Not 1993...definitely later. The opening game of 1994 (New England at Miami, a classic) was blacked out. There had been four after that and none since October 1998.

Funny, I thought I saw somewhere 1993 was the last time a regular season game was blacked out. But while I'm at it, I say regular season because they have the dubious distinction of having the last wild card game blacked out to date (a 2000-2001 overtime wild card win against the Colts).

 

[liradioisbad]

And a blackout in Miami is averted:

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports...ins&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

 

[landtuna]

The only cure to these rules is for everyone to not give a toss about the NFL and I don't foresee that happening anytime soon.

I can't speak for Joe Sixpack but I quit the NFL about a dozen years ago. Dull, boring game, way too much pre and post-game BS, teams I didn't want to watch and dull, boring games. The NFL has become the NBA with tatted monsters pushing to and fro until the last 2 minutes when one team suddenly loses their pass defense.

If the games ever reverted back to the AFL style of wide open football I might flick the set on again. But buy a ticket to a beer-sotted stadium full of sweaty, foul-mouthed "fans"?

No thanks.

 

[Mediafrog+]

The only cure to these rules is for everyone to not give a toss about the NFL and I don't foresee that happening anytime soon.

I can't speak for Joe Sixpack but I quit the NFL about a dozen years ago. Dull, boring game, way too much pre and post-game BS, teams I didn't want to watch and dull, boring games. The NFL has become the NBA with tatted monsters pushing to and fro until the last 2 minutes when one team suddenly loses their pass defense.

If the games ever reverted back to the AFL style of wide open football I might flick the set on again. But buy a ticket to a beer-sotted stadium full of sweaty, foul-mouthed "fans"?

No thanks.

Many would say the same things about NCAA football, America's other professional football league, where everyone is raking in huge amounts of money...except the players.

 

[landtuna]

Many would say the same things about NCAA football, America's other professional football league, where everyone is raking in huge amounts of money...except the players.

I support my local college team and enjoy attending their games. I have not seen the same sort of inappropriate behavior there. Perhaps it is because alcohol isn't sold inside the stadium and tailgating is limited. Or maybe fans realize there are kids on the field and in the stands and that sort of thing would get them booted out.

As for the money aspect of NCAA football.....each and every scholarship player has the opportunity to acquire a quality education for practically no out of pocket cost. They should be grateful for that opportunity and not quibble about being paid in addition. After all, they don't have to be student athletes if they find it so distasteful.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Many would say the same things about NCAA football, America's other professional football league, where everyone is raking in huge amounts of money...except the players.

The vast majority of NCAA football programs lose money. However, the ones that make money make significant amounts. In the latest NCAA report, the most profitable university made $136 million in revenues. (The name of the school is not disclosed, but I would imagine it is Texas) There are only about 4 dozen football programs that break even. And guess where the big chunk of money comes from at those profitable schools?

The TV rights.

 

[Nate Wesley]

It must be a bamboozling wonder to the NFL owners as to why & how the CFL & the Arena League are so successful WITHOUT the help of NFL Network. It's gotta be. That's the only way it can possibly be explained

Pat, I like you--but did you really think about this sentence before you clicked 'post'?

 

[Nate Wesley]

As for the money aspect of NCAA football.....each and every scholarship player has the opportunity to acquire a quality education for practically no out of pocket cost. They should be grateful for that opportunity and not quibble about being paid in addition. After all, they don't have to be student athletes if they find it so distasteful.

Your reading assignment for today: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/8643/

(On second thought, it's a long, damning read--just skim page 5, paying close attention to page 6.)

 

[landtuna]

As for the money aspect of NCAA football.....each and every scholarship player has the opportunity to acquire a quality education for practically no out of pocket cost. They should be grateful for that opportunity and not quibble about being paid in addition. After all, they don't have to be student athletes if they find it so distasteful.

Your reading assignment for today: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/8643/

(On second thought, it's a long, damning read--just skim page 5, paying close attention to page 6.)

That article doesn't change a thing. If we're talking about college football players (as I am) they receive a 4-year degree at a quality college worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000 or more for their on-field prowess. That is a considerable amount of money for kids right out of high school. In addition, football at most colleges is the money maker and pays directly for a whole bunch of other sports (and more scholarships) that otherwise couldn't be funded by most schools.

Yes, college football players earn money for their schools and surrounding businesses, TV networks and the like. And yes, they get paid for it already through tuition and other expenses. If that isn't good enough then they need to consider moving on. College football is not an entitlement.

 

[Mediafrog+]

As for the money aspect of NCAA football.....each and every scholarship player has the opportunity to acquire a quality education for practically no out of pocket cost. They should be grateful for that opportunity and not quibble about being paid in addition. After all, they don't have to be student athletes if they find it so distasteful.

The problem is that the amount of money that major universities are raking in from college football is way out of proportion to the value of a full-ride scholarship. Tuition/room/board/books/fees/etc. at a state school are around 15k dollars a year. Nothing to sneeze at, but compare that to the lavish salaires of college coaches, who, after all, are supposedly running an AMATEUR sport, at an institution supposedly there to provide an EDUCATION, not be a developmental league for the NFL.

This isn't 50 years ago when things were on a much more modest scale. TV revenue has distorted amateur sports out of recognition. The Olympics has the same problem, with athletes, that are for all intents and purposes, professionals.