Two NFL games blacked out this weekend.......

[jojo_collins]

Two NFL games have been locally blacked out this weekend....No brainer on the Tennessee/Buffalo game (Blacked out in Buffalo, no game televised on CBS), but, SHOCKER!!! the Washington/St. Louis game has been blacked out in the STL (will be replaced with the New Orleans/New York Giants game) and in the Cape Girardeau, MO/Paducah, KY market (replaced with the Chicago/Detroit game). Thoughts?

 

[arnoldevns]

Buffalo and St. Louis are small markets for NFL teams. St. Louis is a city that's been in a deep population decline for years and years. It's smaller than some suburbs of Dallas. It's no surprise that in a down year for the Rams the St. Louis market wouldn't be able to sell out a game late in the season.

 

[genius]

Buffalo and St. Louis are small markets for NFL teams. St. Louis is a city that's been in a deep population decline for years and years. It's smaller than some suburbs of Dallas. It's no surprise that in a down year for the Rams the St. Louis market wouldn't be able to sell out a game late in the season.

Well very true for Buffalo but not for St. Louis. Due to big city problems and small city limits people people have left the city, most likely to live in St. Louis County which has over a million people. St. Louis the city is an independent city so it's not apart of any county. Also as of last year the population reversed directions and it was also discovered the Census Burneau was overestimating losses. Unlike Buffalo, the metro areas are still gaining population, and St. Louis as of Nielsen's 2006-07 rankings stand at Market #21, compared to Buffalo's standing at #49.

So perhaps it has more to do with the down year than with market size...

 

[chuckydoll]

NFL blackouts for Week 16

The Bills have an outside shot at the playoffs but there are ~15,000 unsold tickets in Buffalo. The Rams blackout is the first since they moved to St. Louis in 1995.

Incidentally, CBS11 in Dallas will carry the Titans-Bills game.

 

[Kent]

Buffalo and St. Louis are small markets for NFL teams. St. Louis is a city that's been in a deep population decline for years and years. It's smaller than some suburbs of Dallas. It's no surprise that in a down year for the Rams the St. Louis market wouldn't be able to sell out a game late in the season.

As someone who lives about an hour from St. Louis, I'll both agree and disagree with your point on St. Louis being a small town. St. Louis itself was frozen at its 1865 boundaries by the Missouri Constitution. It was actually done for tax purposes more than anything else. People in the unincorporated areas and the outlying portions of St. Louis County wanted to be separated from the city for tax considerations as well as some other prejudices (against Italians who were encroaching on the suburbs, such as Clayton).

The St. Louis metropolitan area, however, is about as big as metro San Diego, which you seldomly ever hear of as being "small market." It's also a top-20 market nationwide. No, it's definitely not the largest market, but it's a larger market than Buffalo, Kansas City and Nashville (to name a few NFL markets).

The reason you're seeing a blackout in St. Louis is that the team is not competitive, and it's too late in the season for them to have any hope of being competitive. You allude to this somewhat in your post. Also, keep in mind that it took the Claire McCaskill for Senate campaign to prevent a St. Louis blackout earlier in the year. Large or small market, people don't go to games that aren't competitive. The Rams are a far cry from where they were a few years ago when they won the Super Bowl.

 

[ixnay]

Also, keep in mind that it took the Claire McCaskill for Senate campaign to prevent a St. Louis blackout earlier in the year.

How?

ixnay

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Her campaign bought the remaining tickets as a stunt/promotion