Comments on: FCC considers ending the blackout rule

By: thesportgenius

thesportgenius — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:46:05 +0000

Teams that are mismanaged and put a crap product on the field should lower prices..that is why a Benz demands a higher price than a Yugo. It is called value. Teams that are exciting pack the stadium and people will pay a premium to get the hot tickets. The money gives incentive to provide value (a good team) and is the basis of capitalism. The NFL because of their monopoly exemption from the government is a collectivist based business. Free market forces are minimized. All teams can sell out every game if they price the tickets accordingly to local demand and they would make up the difference with overpriced parking, food, beer…etc. Seems like a no brainer to me.

By: melikefootball

melikefootball — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:25:29 +0000

The NFL makes tons of money off everything with their logo. Every fan cannot afford the high prices for tickets, parking, beer, cokes, food and anything at the game. The NFL offic is really lieing when they want to talk about caring for the fans. Stand up or shut up God-del.

By: cjjetsfan

cjjetsfan — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:13:30 +0000

End the blackout rule, and in time say good bye to home field advantage for most teams. Not that teams like the Bengals have ever had a home field advantage against division rivals since a lot of tickets go to the fans of the away team. But given the cost of tickets in places like NY, and the relatively low cost of watching from home (a 3 hour submission to low brow beer and hip hop inspired car commercials), the choice is pretty easy and going to get easier unless there is some real incentive for fans to part with their money to watch the home team from the stands (such as that being the only way to see them).

By: waltdawg

waltdawg — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:38:15 +0000

Seems fair to me….Some markets will never sell out…Why punish those who would like to try and follow their fledgling teams and not spend $1800 taking a family of 4 to the game.

Makes a lot of people start to think….

By: bigbeefyd

bigbeefyd — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:25:27 +0000

Bronco fan here. We’ve never (at least not in my lifetime of over 40 years) had a blackout. I can’t understand how an NFL team fails to fill the stands.

By: raidmagic

raidmagic — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:38:07 +0000

If they do lift the ban please keep blacking out the Bucs games. It’s just hard to watch. The 3 hour infomericals are more intriging.

By: ticalcaldwell

ticalcaldwell — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:32:29 +0000

As a Bengals fan I can just say:

Ahhh Ohio, what we lack in ticket sales…we make up for in battling politicians to end the result…….. of bad ticket sales

By: returnofjags

returnofjags — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:27:51 +0000

It’s Bush’s fault….just joking. Stadiums should sell out. Fans shouldnt expect a handout. Thats the problem with this country right now.
I’m a season ticket holder for the Jaguars yet I live in Virginia. It is an expensive passion that I have but I’ve had to just work much harder to be able to afford to support my team to the fullest.

By: cshearing

cshearing — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:05:49 +0000

It’s an old and archaic rule that should have been removed years ago. Better late than never, I guess.

By: mmcdan133

mmcdan133 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:56:31 +0000

I became a former season ticket holder 2 years ago. Unless you have premium seats or live for tailgating, the game experience at the stadium can’t compare to having friends over and watching on a 60″ HDTV with 100 cameras running around to catch every single angle. I’m warm, I’m still with my friends, the beers and food are 90% less….

Gameday is still great, and I take that season ticket money and take the family on vacation every year. Not going has improved my life. That’s a battle the NFL can’t win.

I’m sure there are plenty like me. Lift the ban.

By: bwisnasky

bwisnasky — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:55:44 +0000

The problem stems from the mistaken belief that EVERYONE is a local sports fan in this country. In the days of the NFL ticket and the internet, when there are choices about what games to watch on Sunday, people in general are going to seek out and watch the most competitive games, not necessarily the game that the old home team is playing in. If you have ownership that is consistently putting a bad product on the field, you are not going to force people to buy tickets to watch bad football just by simply blacking out those local broadcasts. There will be some die hard fans, but to the casual fan, they would rather see a better game anyway than the same sorry franchise blown out. But then again, I also don’t think a network should be required to show a local team that isn’t competitive just because there is a sell out. I think the network should show the most competitive game, and in the case of a game that gets out of hand, they should be able to adjust and provide better tv for the viewers. It was different back when there was less ability to make those changes, but now, it’s a simple switch, and one we’ve all seen made late in games that are over. It’s called progress… let’s not be afraid to change with the times NFL.

By: drew44

drew44 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:53:34 +0000

End the nonsense.

By: 6thsense79

6thsense79 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:52:03 +0000

alonestartexan says:Jan 14, 2012 12:21 AM

If a market with over a million people in their metro can’t sell out a 65,000 seat stadium 10 times a year than NO, they don’t deserve to get to watch the team on Television.

You can’t have it both ways. If the game is on T.V. and NOT sold out, what’s the incentive to sell out the games when the average joe shmo can use his ticket money to buy a big screen TV and watch at home ?

It’s a business, It’s not a charity, Maybe one day UNICEF will get into the pro football business, but for now, the NFL is the only game in town. If you’re a “fan” put up or shut up.
———————————————–
Thanks for the advice Mike Brown.

By: jimr10

jimr10 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:51:25 +0000

But Roger Goodell says the fans want blackouts.

By: 6thsense79

6thsense79 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:50:30 +0000

I never understood the blackout rule. In it’s infancy the NFL would have PAID the networks to carry it’s games regardless if they sold out or not. Now that it’s successful it starts punishing fans for not comming to games? Well it punishes home team fans who don’t pay that ransom for the NFL package from Direct TV. It just seems petty and arrogant. The NFL seems to be the only league in the US that does this.

By: istateyourname

istateyourname — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:50:21 +0000

So who’s rule is it, the FCC’s or the NFL’s?

The other rule they should get rid of is the one where they don’t show 4 games on TV if your team is at home. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, I don’t know how that works. Both networks should have 2 games every Sunday. And while they’re at it, put NFL Network on basic cable or at least the Thursday games should be out there for everyone. And Fox should bring back the bimbo-weather girl segment….

By: bluefan204

bluefan204 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:46:32 +0000

As a Giants fan living in the Tampa area, I rather like the fact that I don’t have to be subjected to watching the Bucs get destroyed.

The worst, and most idiotic part of the blackout rule is the fact that if the home team is blacked out, they don’t replace it with another game. Seriously….how stupid is that? Where is the logic? Don’t make other NFL fans go without a different game because the local fans are pathetic frontrunners who view their so called team as a “product”

They’re losing advertising revenue by not showing another game

By: harrisonhits2

harrisonhits2 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:34:19 +0000

If the league and owners want to pay 100% of the cost of building stadiums then they can keep the blackout rule.

It’s not acceptable to me that most franchises extort vast amounts of public money to build their palaces, then rape the public to come to them with $10 beers, $40 parking etc, and on top of that limit the ability of the public to view the events in the stadiums they paid for through blackouts.

By: normcfh

normcfh — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:29:38 +0000

It doesn’t just effect people that live in the same city as the team. I live 3 hours from the stadium and still get blacked out….They need to at LEAST remove blackouts from Sunday Ticket.

By: stephenjr311

stephenjr311 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:29:36 +0000

The only people voting no are fans of the high profile teams that just don’t get it. I’m a 49ers fan from the Pittsburgh area and I could see lots of Steelers fans having this opinion. It’s sad because they really have nothing to lose either way. Thinking that less people would go to Steelers games because it wouldn’t be blacked out is ridiculous. I tell you what, over the next year, whenever I talk to a Steelers fan I’ll ask them, “Have you ever gone to a game so that it wouldn’t be blacked out?”

Blacking out games to get people to buy tickets seems like an intelligent idea on a large scale basis, but really, when it comes down to the individuals making decisions, it just doesn’t work. When it comes down to not watching your team play on Sunday or spending well over $100 you don’t have, it’s a pretty simple decision.

By: fezzalar

fezzalar — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:28:44 +0000

Less than 10% of the people affected by blackouts are actually in the market to go to NFL games. The NFL could achieve the same end by directly fining teams that do not sell out their games to prevent under-performing teams from freeloading off TV contracts. Teams are clearly hesitant to lower ticket prices to market clearing levels, probably out of fear that they may lose pricing power at higher price points.

By: timpiker

timpiker — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:27:23 +0000

The government should stop wasting my money. Quit funding football stadiums and leave a private business alone.

What part of the words “private business” is hard for politicians to understand? Oh I forgot. You don’t need to pass an intelligence test to run for political office in this country…or to vote for that matter. Bunch of idiots.

By: targetmuff

targetmuff — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:19:15 +0000

Hey congress, instead of targeting the NFL over 1 issue that effects 3-5 cities a week…. use your time and tax money to FIX THE ECONOMY. This is a political ploy to divert attention from the real problems and win public favor.
Debt 101 says pay off big bills and highest interest first. Same principles here, fix economy before worrying about 3-5 cities watching the NFL 8 Sundays a year!

By: stew48

stew48 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:17:20 +0000

@bronco1st

Way to go; best of the best to you.

Also, do MLB teams follow the same blackout rule? Does the NBA? curious

By: tombrookshire

tombrookshire — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:16:18 +0000

If ending the blackout rule applies only to cable and satellite, then they ought to do it, because people pay money to see those games. The NFL is receiving their money, too and still blacking out their games. Not right.

By: Tom G

Tom G — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:08:28 +0000

no blackout problem here.Vegas doesn’t have a team.

By: buckeye1nation

buckeye1nation — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:07:03 +0000

Mr hand said:
If there was a big time concert in that same taxpayer funded stadium, would I expect that to be televised on free tv for me to watch it from my couch?

Of course not. If I want to see the show, I’ll have to buy a ticket.

Why would anyone expect he NFL to be any different?
—————–

The problem with that logic is that A) The big time show didn’t threaten to pull up stakes and leave if they didn’t get a publicly funded stadium and B) that big time show isn’t on TV in one area of the country and blacked in the city where it is held.

By: throwntothelions

throwntothelions — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:01:36 +0000

Blackout rules make no sense. Live in a small town in MN. My internet connection routes through Rochester, MN. Rochester, MN is considered by MLB to be in the Milwaukee Braves blackout area. From where I live Milwaukee is 319 miles away. So I am blacked out for all braves home games by MLB blackout rules.

By: jimmysee

jimmysee — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:55:08 +0000

bloggingpoodlewalker says:
Jan 14, 2012 8:12 AM

Dear Packer fan who thinks its great to never have a blackout,…when a team consistantly sells out it means one thing, you live in a miserable place where theres nothing else to do consistantly, year around…ya, I want to live up in Michigan, Wisconsin,…lol.

————————————————————–

You don’t get out much, do you?

It’s a big beautiful country out there.

You really should check it out.

By: tmb333

tmb333 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:34:04 +0000

I think that any stadium that received on dollar of public money, loans or tax incentives to build, renovate, maintain etc, should be exempt from the blackout rules.

If the owner paid every single penny to construct his stadium and has never received a penny from the public coffers, they should be permitted to blackout games that did not sellout.

I am not sure if any stadium would be able to blackout games today.

Why force taxpayers to pay for stadiums, yet blackout a game? Many that pay taxes connot afford to attend the games.

Just think how salaries would plummet if the teams had to pay all their expenses with no assist from taxpayers. Currently, the so called market rate is distorted because all the expenses are not incurred by the owners.