Bengals game "nowhere close to selling out"

The Cincinnati Bengals have sold out 46 straight games, dating back to 2003. 

And now that the Bengals are off to a 4-1 start, they’re staring down the barrel of a blackout.

Bengals P.R. director Jack Brennan told WCPO-TV on
Wednesday that “it’s not looking good” and the Week Six game against the Texans is “nowhere close to
selling out
.”

Per the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Bengals must have fewer than 1,500 tickets remaining in order to qualify for an extension of the 72-hour deadline for selling all non-premium seats. 

And they’re nowhere close to that number, either.

We could understand this if the Bengals were playing like, you know, the Bengals.

But these are THE BENGALS!  They’ve beaten the Steelers and the Ravens and the Packers, and they’re poised to contend for a playoff berth.

It could be that, with back-to-back home games against the Texans and the Bears, fans have opted to buy tickets to the Chicago game instead of the Houston game.

Still, it doesn’t bode well for upcoming home games against the Lions and the Chiefs.  And we’re now wondering whether games against AFC North rivals from Baltimore and Cleveland might require some extra elbow grease in order to avoid a blackout.

And we can’t understand why folks who shelled out hard-earned money to watch crappy teams of recent years have suddenly decided to not attend the game.

47 responses to “Bengals game "nowhere close to selling out"

  1. The economy, dummy!!
    People can’t afford to go spend that kind of loot, especially two weekends in a row. Damn skippy I’d save my money for the Bears game.

  2. Um perhaps you haven’t heard but the economy is in much worse shape than previous football seasons, many fans have to decide whether to pay for necessities or luxuries. When it comes to the Bengals, this should be an easy call!

  3. Hey Flowerio – in case you haven’t noticed, the economy isn’t what it used to be…maybe that’s why they are not shelling out their hard-earned money anymore when ticket prices and salaries keep rising to astronomical (and disgusting) levels, but yet the good and honest middle class tax payer keeps getting boned by the government and their employers again and again.
    As you should well know, the rich get richer and the average guy’s price to pay for any sort of amusement keeps going up and up while his salary doesn’t. Now go buy a frickin’ clue, why don’t you.

  4. As a long time season ticket holder I think this can be summed up in two words…..Mike Brown. So many people are still verrry tired of his act. The biggest problem with ticket sales this year is that a huge number of people cancelled their season tickets after last years debacle. The Bengals never announce it, but I can assure you that a HUGE number of people either cancelled or reduced the number of their season tickets. Now they are trying to sell single game tickets in a huge recession – bad situation. Having said that, I’m still surprised that it won’t sell out because there really is a big buzz around town after the Ravens game. This is such a great football town but Mike Brown still pisses in the punch bowl every year….

  5. And we can’t understand why folks who shelled out hard-earned money to watch crappy teams of recent years have suddenly decided to not attend the game.

    Haven’t you heard about the economic downturn, you dolt? Or are you too busy sniffing around locker room hampers for dirty laundry?

  6. Sad. As a resident of the Kansas City area, I’d sure as hell plunk down to watch a local, winning team… not that I’d remember what that’s like.
    And hey, thanks NBC.com for making me login again for the 7,485th time.

  7. well yeah… but hey lets let people who dont have jobs and cant buy tix and merch dictate who buys teams.
    i have to say even roger has joined in on a load of malarkey.

  8. “realityonetwo says: October 14, 2009 10:02 PM
    Haven’t you heard about the economic downturn, you dolt?”
    What’s the economy got to do with it really?
    Some teams still manage to sell out every game, to the point where their fans will travel and sell out YOUR stadium. You know who I mean.
    Your fans are jumping off the bandwagon. Isn’t that what’s it’s really all about?

  9. $10 million a year for a guy that catches a ball equals overpriced tickets for the average person.
    This is one of the few gripes I have with you as you tend to preach that many players are underpaid even with ridiculous salaries.
    Market value be damned!
    Plus why buy a ticket when Ocho will tweet the game to you.

  10. then again, they havent pasted anyone, even the brownies.
    their margin is thin. i am taking the points on them this week.

  11. As a Cincinnati native here, I’d like to point out that the cheapest tickets are $76/per. I’d much rather NOT spend $140 and instead I’ll listen to it on the radio.
    Once the NFL realizes that 30k people in a stadium at $60+ per ticket MIGHT be a tad excessive and that it will eventually keep people away.

  12. Florio, people are losing jobs or didn’t you notice since NBC is picking up a few tabs for PFT?
    Folks bought tix early before lay offs and now its catching up.
    Lower the tix by $20, $10 and $5 according to the seating chart and that might help. Or get the Richie Rich players to buy a few with their millions to help out the fans and the team.

  13. I will be at the game. I have season tickets as well. First time buying season tickets and it is a big investment.
    not only do you have to pay 67 dollars per game (plus two preseason games) you also have to pay that stupid COA …. lame what a crock.
    nevertheless i have enjoyed the two games so far — broncos miraculous catch — stadium went completely quiet ..and beating the steelers was an awesome game.
    there is a lot of buzz around cincinnati — i mean we have a great NFL team, top ten college team — and a top ten high school team in the nation.
    but despite the buzz — there is a general malaise about all cincinnati sports whether it was the past 18 years of bengals (maybe except for 05) and the recent plight of the reds…
    its a great sports city — but one city can only take so much suffering.

  14. It’s the economy, stupid? Houston just so also happens to have been the opponent for the 47th game way back when when the Bengals last didn’t sell out in their current streak. They’re just not a very attractive item on the entertainment menu.
    The Texans also likely won’t have even 1000 visiting fans following them to Cincy either, but even if there were 2-3000 more that even in better times apparently didn’t follow their tentatively beloved mixed-results tepid expansion franchise out of city (like most any other visiting NFL franchises will) PBS might have sold out this one already too. The Bears game next week has been sold out for weeks.
    I also moved down 5 rows this season on my own season tickets and there WAS a waiting list that was exhausted as well. The team was 0-8 & in complete disarray at one point last season before the historically customary late season “dead cat bounce” helped propel them up to 4-11-1. Bengal fans learned long ago to skeptically examine just that sort of striped pyrite.
    There’s also a vocal local “Whodey Revolution” (.com) movement that tries to shame the long-standing season ticket holders for having supported Mike F Brown’s commitment to NFL-‘subsidized’ socialist parity/mediocrity and refusal to employ a legitimate GM.

  15. I guess the fans listen to Colin Cowherd of ESPN when he does his ad for HD TV. He says why fight traffic, rowdy crowds, high price tickets and over priced beer and stay home and watch it and see it better with HD.

  16. Even when the Dolts are good they cant sell out…..
    Fear not Cincy fans….You’ll get there.

  17. These down to the wire blackout issues never cease to amaze me. In Cincinnati’s case (being an AFC team), why isn’t the local CBS affiliate buying up the remaining tickets? They’re the ones with the incentive to have the game on tv. They stand to lose a lot more in local advertising revenue if the game isn’t televised, then whatever the remaining non-premium tickets will cost them…………..Or, with teams having the same freakin’ problem selling out the games week after week (based on the economy being in the toilet or just because don’t want to waste so much money to watch a lousy product), why don’t these teams alter their capacity with the NFL? Tarp the seats, rip them out or do whatever they need to do in order make their capacity a realistic number they can actually sell out.

  18. @RaiderChile says:
    Or get the Richie Rich players to buy a few with their millions to help out the fans and the team.
    ——————–
    Yeah RaiderChile,
    Maybe some of the super-paid NFL players should get together and buy up the extra tickets, then donate them to a local cherity. They get the tax writeoff, the charity benefits, and some local kids get to go to a game they wouldn’t otherwise ever get to go see.
    Wonderbar!

  19. Poor Florio has been too busy plagiarizing the Internet to notice the recession.
    Lucky for him he’s a member of the one profession that avoid all downturns.
    The oldest.

  20. “What’s the economy got to do with it really?
    Some teams still manage to sell out every game, to the point where their fans will travel and sell out YOUR stadium. You know who I mean.
    Your fans are jumping off the bandwagon. Isn’t that what’s it’s really all about?”
    This sounds like some hatin Steeler or Raven bullish! What do you mean what does the economy have to do with it???? UH LOSS OF JOB CAUSES LOSS OF MONEY CANT RENEW OR BUY TICKETS! DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean some people need to use common sense and stop thinkin of other hatin ways just cause they’re BITTER about their loss….GET OVER IT!
    TO EVERYONE With Negative Statements about Nati Sellouts, Cincy is a Blue Collar town that has been hit EXTREMELY hard by manufacturing, labor and auto sales or manufacturing positions…The White collar jobs have also taken a huge hit. With that said some of it is the Mike Brown issue HOWEVER I ASSURE you the majority has been brought on by the economy…For all of those with their noses in the air PRAY IT DOESNT HAPPEN TO YOU!

  21. Economy is particularly bad in Cincy. Unemployment is very high there. I was there recently and restaurants that used to be packed are half empty at peak times. People don’t have the money for extras anymore. $76 has to go to groceries, not football tickets.

  22. Maybe the Bungles need to play the Steelers every week . Nothing sells tickets faster than the Steeler fans buying them . The economy sucks all around.
    The Bungle fans just dont have faith in their teams . Its ok though , cause the Bengals being first wont last for long . And then their fans will justify not buying the tickets .

  23. The “economy” argument makes as much sense as the Bengals loss to the Broncos.
    The Packers, for example, with the smallest market in major professional sports has sold out every game since Lombardi’s era.
    Tickets can only be bought through ebay or ticket “brokers” or other scalpers. The price is never close to the face value, yet people like me figure out ways to fit a game into our budgets. Why? Because there is nothing like actually being at the game at Lambeau. The tv broadcasts simply don’t do it justice.
    Since the Bengals tickets are actual face value and the team is 4-1, you have to wonder about the fan commitment. It’s not as though the demographic for Packer games is dissimilar to the fan demographics of the Bengals.

  24. For those who think it is NOT the economy just because some teams are still doing well: WAKE UP!
    The economic situation is not the same everywhere, especially in cities. Some urban areas are hanging on while others are in complete financial ruin. In many places this is not just a recession, it’s a depression, and there is no legitimate recovery anywhere on the horizon.
    Cincinnati was kind of a crappy town when the economy was good. I can’t imagine what it’s like there today. Probably not as bad as Detroit but I wouldn’t doubt it’s in the same league economically.

  25. These damn sports writers and bloggers live in a (expletive) bubble. Florio had to have built a robot to produce posts like these.

  26. what people dont fail to realize is when the bengals became relevant again they became a hard ticket to come by and scalpers bought up thousands of season tickets. In the last 2 seasons those thousands of tickets by scalpers and ticket brokers were done being bought because they were losing a great deal of money. WhoDey Revolution is still asking people not to go as well… people still shoudlnt support mike brown, he’s not the reason for the teams sucess

  27. Obamunism.
    Do you see football live in other socialist countries? Nope. Soon, you will have to go from talking about football to telling us how great a bread shortage is, comrade. The good news is that NBC is so in love with The Messiah that you should easily be able to learn the art of propaganda.

  28. I live in Dayton, OH.
    Southeast Ohio was hit hard by the dep/recession. And people are realizing that Christmas is around the corner.
    But mostly only the absolute diehards around here figure the Bengals are for real. Bengals fans have been here before and have seen this team fall apart. It would be better to stop watching and remember the good times while you can.
    RE: GBSPARKS post. Do you fit 8 Packer games into your budget? There really aren’t a lot of Bengals diehards in this area. Cincinnati doesn’t really drip with history the way Green Bay does.
    In Cincinnati its the same fans going to the games each week. It isn’t like the Bengals rotate 500,000 fans. They have the same 120,000 fans rotating the non-season tickets every year.
    The Bengals also host Detroit on December 6 and Kansas City on December 27. If the Bengals keep winning those games will probably sell out but if the Bengals lose 3 or 4 games between now and then those games won’t sell out either.
    If I can afford to go to 4 games this season… leaving off the Texans game is a no-brainer. If the Bengals keep winning I may pick up another game here or there.
    Cincinnati is a blue collar town without many blue collar jobs. For a Dad to take his son to a game he’s shelling out $300. When he brings home $3000 a month and has a $1400 mortgage, $300 can be obtained, but you aren’t going to do it lightly.

  29. gbsparks,
    I cannot disagree more with your statement on fan commitment! Come to Cincinnati and witness the absolute mockery that Mike Brown has made out of the City of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, the players/fans/coaches/ etc. Obviously, you didn’t watch Hard Knocks, you haven’t followed the news on this clown for years (nor should you as you are a Packers fan living far away from Ohio). The fans of this city are torn down. You will be hard pressed to find a UC Bearcats ticket in this town right now. Why? This town is looking for a winner to back.
    Being a Packers fan, you follow a great program, you follow the histroy, the legacy, the pride.
    We follow 19 years with one, ONE winning season. To sell out every game since 2003 and then to have fans from other teams critize and question our commitment? I see red when I read it.
    There is always some jerk-off Steelers fan that wants to run his chops about buying seats in all the other stadiums. FYI to Steelers fans, you have more bandwagon fans than the Dallas Cowboys. Great, you’re a good team, I admit, but half you dill rods have never even been to a Steelers game at Heinz field, nor the state of Pennslyvania for that matter. I saw it first hand living in California and watching the game in a so called “Steelers bar”. Guys were puppy dogs, ignorant about the game, but had $200 jackets with pictures of their rings on it. Not all are like this, but its a shame how many are. And to steeltownpride, wake up clown! You’re team is notorious for taking a year off every few years. How’d you do in 2006? Boy, the Steelers fans were light that year weren’t they? Last year, the Bengals, 4-11-1, sold out every game. But it was the last straw.
    I’ll be honest with you, anyone from a market with a histroically good team, email me at mitchell_hayes (@yahoo.com) and come down to a game. You can sit right next to me in my season ticket seats. You can tailgate in Cincinnati before the game. You can find out what Mexican Happy Hour is. You can see the 100’s of custom vehicles that drive the highways on Sunday morning. We have just as many FANatics as the other NFL teams, we just are sick and tired of not getting any return on investment.
    Blame the economy? Maybe a little. But I don’t put a lot of stock in that because as many have said, it is all over the US, not just Cincinnati.
    Unless the Bengals WIN a playoff game (been 19 years), I can’t see the stadium getting back to 2005-2006 atmosphere for a few years, maybe never with Mike Brown running the team (into the ground).

  30. They stand to lose a lot more in local advertising revenue if the game isn’t televised, then whatever the remaining non-premium tickets will cost them…

    Never underestimate the power of the infomercial. Local TV stations make a killing on those seemingly worthless shows…
    Let’s say the station would have to buy 5,000 seats at $76 per ($38 grand). In three hours, they could probably make more than that on infomercials. I seriously doubt they could recoup the cost of the tickets in local ad revenue…

  31. GBsparks must have really got my goat this morning. I’m still struggling hard on how you have the audacity to say Bengals fans should step up because Packers fans do.
    Exactly how many years did the Packers play half of their home games in Milwaukee?
    Oh… and Mitchell Hayes… I hope you realize that you invited a million people to hang out with you at a Bengals game. 🙂

  32. Thor
    Your a dumb dumb.
    I’m not an Obama guy, but he didn’t make this mess and I’d agree he’s no saviour.

  33. I’ll say what a lot of Bengals fans are thinking. I decided after last year (can’t believe it took me that long) that I’m not going to more than one game a year because the team does not deserve my $100/week. Now you can bet that one game a year isn’t going to be against the Texans! I can have just as much fun throwing my on Bengals shirt and heading to a bar or restaurant with a few buddies.
    Now the fact that they’re 4-1 is great, but I don’t think they’re going to win or lose the game based on whether or not I show up on Sunday so I’m sticking to my principles and my budget. I’ll still be cheering from a local establishment and saving myself $80 bucks.
    Mike Brown has a right to run his team however he wants, and fans have a right to stop supporting him in whatever way they feel necessary.

  34. I refuse to purchase season tickets because I have no interest in attending preseason games and I think COAs are a ripoff. However, I did walk up to the ticket window at PBS and purchase tickets for the game on Sunday.

  35. Why go to the game when I can watch it on a 60″ screen, in high definition, with expert commentary and replays, from the comfort of my warm and cozy living room, drinking $1 beers instead of $10 beers, while sitting on a down couch instead of a hard seat within inches of sometimes obnoxious strangers, and without having to sit in the parking lot for 2 hours after the game before I can drive out?
    As someone else pointed out, I don’t think they’re going to win the game based on whether or not I show up on Sunday.

  36. The problem is that no matter what their record happens to be, the Bengals suck, but that’s just a symptom of a greater problem named Mike Brown.

  37. Topher, Judging by the Bengals comments on tickets left for the remainder of the season, we can use all the fans (of any team) we can get.
    Can’t wait to check the email account tonight!

  38. Some inexcusable math going on here. 5,000 tix at $76 per equates to $380K. No way a TV station is shelling out that kind of dough when they can just sell the spot to infomercial agents…

  39. i live in cincy… not really hurting financially… love the Bengals and watch every minute of every game when they’re on.
    Mike Brown has run this franchise into the ground for 20 years. His dad has spun so many times in his grave he’s probably 80 feet down now.
    A 4-1 record (that could easily be 2-3) doesn’t wipe out 19 years of utter embarrassment. but I’m probably like most in that i’m enthusiastic, but expecting the bottom to fall out any week now.
    I may attend a game or two this year.. but the Houston Texans aren’t my idea of a draw… or my idea of value.. especially for $150. I love the ridicule towards a fanbase when it comes to not selling out.. must be some mouth-breather pride thing.
    Better yet.. I love the backwards concept of ME having to pay $150 in order for the rest getting to watch for free. The blackout rule for a product like NFL football is laughable from a basic business perspective.

  40. It could be money, it could be Mike Brown, it could be that most of the people are selfish and lazy. In this town we have tons of people saying “buy a ticket, so I can watch it for Free”
    I have a ticket to the game, hopefully we will see another winner. You do not have a ticket for the game, hopefully you will enjoy your infomercial.
    So it seems we will all get what we want–I want to see the game–I will–you don’t want to see the game–you won’t.

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