Comments on: Sunday night ratings send strong message to owners who want a lockout

By: Eaglestrainingcamp

Eaglestrainingcamp — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:16:17 +0000

1994 with the baseball strike i boycotted the game until June 2007 . Watched no batters at the plate or plays made, pitches thrown, nothing for 13 years about. Phillie’s fan. Remember Jim Thome was a Phillie in that time. Other than that? Now I’m big into it. So if football wants a strike, they will probably lose a lot of interest when it resumes. And don’t compare baseball to football. Or vice versa. They are both great sports.

By: egypt123

egypt123 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:41:04 +0000

Wow… I wasn’t watching either of the games. I was in bed letting my wife watch Housewives and Brothers while giving her a rub-down so I could laid. Yes, I’ll whore myself out and watch a couple chick shows for some. A man gots to do what a man gots to do…

By: StillMadAtSlobber

StillMadAtSlobber — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:50:12 +0000

What is the IQ threshold to believe the premise of this article, 15?
This sends no message to anyone, unless they spend most of their time drooling foam onto their lap.
While baseball’s popularity loses 9/10 times to the NFL, playoff series clinching games will draw the big ratings. That has always been the case and always will be. Add to that the fact that the NFL deliberately does its best not to compete with the October playoffs, and this is a clear non issue.
The only message here is that if any of the other owners (besides Florio’s hero Al “Love me some Off-The-Marcus Russel” Davis) are actually paying any attention to what Florio is saying, then they must be skipping their meds.

By: Deb

Deb — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:47:50 +0000

@MkePackFan …
Good grief, I thought you were finished when I said I hoped you’d scared the living daylights out of the Commissioner’s office. Who knew you were going to keep posting and posting. Sorry, no pity here for billionaires like Jerry Jones or Paul Allen just because of the Packers’ unique ownership model. Without players there’d be no NFL to profit anyone. I agree they make quite enough now, but I wish they’d negotiate a deal that says they won’t play in the UK or Europe.
But nevermind that …
I was talking about your initial reference to watching soccer. “Futbol” has already captivated all the U.S. moms who don’t want their kids getting clobbered playing football. The League should be very worried about more American viewers turning to soccer as an alternative if the NFL goes dark for a season.

By: ButchD

ButchD — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:38:05 +0000

I wish the NFL was putting the favre vs Green Bay game against the world series.

By: djdro34

djdro34 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:13:59 +0000

after the last baseball stoppage, i stopped following or caring for the game for almost 3 full years. Thats how pissed off I was at the owners and players.
If football should have a lockout, i don’t know what I’d do. There would be, without a doubt, a void. I’d be out with the guys PLAYING more football on Sundays, instead of sitting on my arse all day staring at my tv screen & laptop.

By: bronco1st

bronco1st — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:00:27 +0000

Since Congress has allowed the NFL the operate as a virtual monopoly with it’s own special rules, they should also make it illegal for players to strike or for teams to perform lock outs. When disputes arise between labor/management, forced mediation should be required. If we as fans are literally forced into financing stadiums, are subject to blackouts and loss of teams due to the monopolistic practices of the NFL, then we should be given the right to watch our football without punishment of being deprived over government protected actions by the members of the NFL which we have no power over.

By: Deb

Deb — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:54:15 +0000

@MkePackFan …
I hope the Commissioner’s office monitors posts on this site. And I hope you just scared the living daylights out of them.

By: shawnc16

shawnc16 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:39:02 +0000

brasho says:
October 26, 2009 7:54 PM
I’m a Bucs fan, I haven’t technically seen real football in nearly a year. A lock-out? Big deal, maybe that’s the only way some fans of the more successful teams will ever feel my pain.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thats funny.
Its always sad to me that the rich will lose money figuring out how to divide the money up.

By: MkePackFan

MkePackFan — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:34:05 +0000

And lastly, the NFL should stop their plans on expanding to Europe and stop importing games there to try to re-enforce this notion it will work.
There are enough bad teams here in the US that we don’t need the talent pool of players depleted even more…and enough of the LA talk…there are enough teams that are threatening/may move that this league would become like the NBA with a franchise moving every 2-4 years.
Contraction, not expansion Roger.

By: MkePackFan

MkePackFan — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:29:21 +0000

Oh, and I’m really on the sides of owners.
Yes, they’re all insanely rich…but as an example, the Packers had a $20something million profit (before investment losses)…the Packers are one of the top 10 franchises in the league (in value) and they only pulled in a $20 profit. What about the teams in cities that are getting blacked out though?
Pretty pathetic that a billion dollar franchise like the Packers can only pull a $20M profit when there are some players making that much in a year’s salary.
Players get 59% of revenues…Owners get the other 41% but they have to pay down debt on the stadium, pay coaches, assistants, front office personnel, marketing, vendors, etc etc…the owners have to fork over all these expenses just to run the franchises on 41% of what’s left after the players get their share…pathetic in my opinion.

By: MkePackFan

MkePackFan — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:23:57 +0000

If there was a lockout, I would hope some of the networks would pay to air some of the Champions League, Barclay’s Premiership, La Liga, Die Bundesliga, and Serie A matches (yes, I know FSC & ESPN carry Premiership & Champions League matches – Saturday mornings and during the weekday work hours though).
I know soccer isn’t alot of American’s cup of tea, but I’d be more than happy to watch some soccer if my Packers aren’t playing on Sundays for a season or so.

By: DocBG

DocBG — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:23:35 +0000

Football is losing ratings big time due to incredible amount of rules, the protection of the QB, the complete bullshit calls, and now the loss of parity. It is inherintly unamerican to punish success and subsidize failure the way the NFL does, but it works for the NFL and keeps teams like oakland and detroit at least thinking they have a chance year after year (don’t get your panties in a bunch, you know its been tough the last little bit).
The game should be simple, less rules make for a better game. Remember being a kid and playing it in the backyard? nothing sucked more than the obnoxious kid who lived up the street bitching about a catch being out of bounds, or a hit being late. The NFL should try to get close to this level of simplicity.
The QB’s get paid better than just about every lineman, why in the hell should they be placed on a pedistal? the more they get paid, the harder they should be hit (see kickers and punters). let those DE’s and OLB’s tee off on guys like brady and manning, the smart QB’s will fall backwards to avoid the injuries and they will be fine.
as for the BS calls and the loss of parity, hell i dunno, let the fans vote off the worst officials each year, it would get the fans involved and keep the officials honest, actually, it might lend the officials to being even more blinded then they are now, big markets would still get good calls and small markets would get screwed. parity could be fixed by having a minor league system and a waiver system for claiming players from it. if the NFL endorsed the UFL fully they could double the number of teams and allow NFL teams to draft players from the UFL once a year and give young players that need time to develop a league to do it in other than the CFL. they should run it after the NFL ends, put it head to head against basketball and nascar, it should do just fine and give people something to watch leading up to the draft. (why not include UFL players in the college draft?)
bottom line: If the NFL goes on strike, they will lose 20-40% of their fan base, largely younger folks and women. both of which are HUGE areas of concern in the league. (young people are used to doing other stuff on sunday afternoons and women are just now starting to get into football bigtime)

By: Flyingelvislogosucksbringbackpatpatriot

Flyingelvislogosucksbringbackpatpatriot — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:57:25 +0000

Baseball players = Girlymen

By: Ralphie

Ralphie — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:51:15 +0000

Florio, at least you can go back to doing estate closings in AssHollow, West Virginia.

By: thecrazytomato

thecrazytomato — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:18:39 +0000

# SmackMyVickUp says: October 26, 2009 8:34 PM
Just shows how much baseball has recovered even with the steroid scandals (which haunt every sport now). Look for baseball to take back America’s sport crown when football goes on strike. Baseball’s strike opened the door for the NFL.
I agree and I wouldn’t be surprised one bit. Im in San Diego, and have been since 01, I have been a Bengals fan for 20+ years, I just started using the Sunday ticket 2 years ago, If there is a strike I have no problems not watching games anymore. Hell I got used to just browsing NFL>com for game results.

By: Juan Corsair

Juan Corsair — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:18:17 +0000

An NFL strike would suck large, but at least I’d have bow hunting to fall back on. As other posters have stated, I’m not sure my enthusiasm would return when the strike was over. I haven’t watched an NHL game since their strike, and I live in Toronto for the love of god.

By: FoozieGrooler

FoozieGrooler — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:15:26 +0000

I haven’t attended or even watched a MLB game since the strike of ’81.
I have a hard time being sympathetic to millionaires complaining about their paychecks.
The NFL is no different. If there’s a lockout, or a strike, fuggem. I don’t need to give them my money.

By: grndmstrj

grndmstrj — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:48:43 +0000

If they locked out I would start watching college ball witch I’ve never really done. Couldn’t go back after that. By the way I’m a Raiders fan it would be a legimitate out.

By: raideralex99

raideralex99 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:47:24 +0000

Interesting … with so many bad teams in the NFL this year … I’m sure a few fans would enjoy the break.

By: president frankenstein

president frankenstein — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:47:06 +0000

I’m just wondering if more viewers would have tuned in had anyone thought the cardinals had a decent chance of winning.

By: SmackMyVickUp

SmackMyVickUp — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:34:48 +0000

Just shows how much baseball has recovered even with the steroid scandals (which haunt every sport now). Look for baseball to take back America’s sport crown when football goes on strike. Baseball’s strike opened the door for the NFL.

By: as big as a hat

as big as a hat — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:33:16 +0000

Let them lock it out. I can use my money and time somewhere else. I will probably be able to hire an attorney that previously ran a football site and just sue somebody, for something.

By: Joeboo

Joeboo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:32:03 +0000

I was a huge baseball fan. I sought out and worked a summer job at age 15 at a pawn shop that had a baseball card shop in the early 80′s. After the strike I had about 1 percent of the enthusiasm for the game as I had before. Even in my 40′s I have barely followed the game and could care less. They broke my heart. The NFL would be wise not to do the same to millions like me.

By: Deb

Deb — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:29:17 +0000

The NFL is a corporate entity, meaning it’s an amalgamation of the Tin Man and the Scarecrow: It has neither a heart nor a brain. Yes, we would desperately miss the NFL. Yes, we would find other things to watch. Yes, in this economy when so many are suffering, a strike would create enormous public resentment toward the owners and the players, tarnishing the league’s carefully crafted image. Yes, it would take years to undo the damage (as it did for baseball–and have the network ratings yet fully recovered from the writers’ strike?).
Will the league owners come to their senses before it’s too late? Not unless the Wizard can provide them hearts and brains. We’re still waiting for that miracle to occur on Wall Street, aren’t we? Don’t get your hopes up.

By: BUNYAN

BUNYAN — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:29:08 +0000

I’ve already cancelled the NFL ticket from Direct Tv for next season. I’ve watched the NFL and AFL since 1968 and the game has been ruined. It’s unwatchable. The league is no longer about playing football. There are too many rules and regulations. There are too many games decided by a ref on the field or someone sitting up in a booth some where. And it appears to me that the refs can pick and choose when they feel like throwing a flag to control the outcome of a game. After all, it’s all about ratings and money now.

By: question8

question8 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:21:13 +0000

The point of the article is if the NFL locks out theres more out there to grab the viewers interest. Don’t get me wrong, people love the NFL today, but people also loved the MLB in 94, NBA in 98 and the NHL on 05 and it took years to gain back their respective audiences. The strike in 94 led to the demise of the Montreal Expos who at the time were one of the best teams in baseball, and the NHL is still struggling to find it’s niche with the viewers 4 years later. Who knows what an NFL lockout could bring!

By: gobearsgo

gobearsgo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:20:56 +0000

UFL! UFL!
Go Tuskers!

By: leatherneck

leatherneck — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:18:29 +0000

I look forward to an NFL lockout so that I can catch up on my professional jai alai and dodgeball leagues.

By: abucsfan

abucsfan — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:18:12 +0000

I quit watching baseball when they chose to strike and the World Series was cancelled. I only came back when the Devil Rays were born.
I quit watching Hockey for the same reason and never went back since the Lightning wasn’t allowed to celebrate their Stanley Cup.
There’s no question that if the owners get greedy and lock out the players and we lose an NFL season….I’m done with the NFL and I’ll watch the NBA.