NFL attendance hits a 15-year low

Posted by Mike Florio on January 3, 2020, 1:28 PM EST
Getty Images

More people are watching the NFL on TV. Fewer people are watching the NFL in person.

According to David Broughton and Andrew Levin of Sports Business Daily, the NFL averaged 66,648 attendees at home games in 2019. That’s the lowest average since 2004.

The Cowboys averaged 90,929, leading the league for 11 straight seasons. Fifteen teams saw a decline in attendance, led by the Jaguars (8.7 percent drop), Raiders (7.6 percent) and Bengals (7.0 percent).

Two teams saw an increase of more than five percent. Washington’s audience grew by 7.3 percent (the stadium was still at less than 80 percent capacity), and the Bills have a 6.0-percent jump.

Several years ago, the league suspended the blackout policy, which blocked local broadcast of home games if all non-premium tickets weren’t sold. Despite efforts to improve the in-stadium experience, there’s no substitute for winning.

Attendance peaked in 2016, with 69,487 per game. In 2004, 66,328 attended each game, on average.

Permalink 197 Comments Feed for comments Back to top

197 responses to “NFL attendance hits a 15-year low”

  4. No matter how good the economy may or may not be, it’s still tough for most fans to shell out $80 for a ticket, $30 for parking, and $12 for a bottled water just to have a true NFL gameday experience. And if you want to take a family, yikes!

  5. Of the teams that were listed as having dwindling attendance numbers, there’s one thing that most of them seem to have in common: they have been consistently lousy football teams. And, as proven by Buffalo, when teams are more competitive then they draw in larger numbers. It’s pretty simple, really: put a winning (or at least a competitive) product on the field and you’ll bring in more people. If your team’s attendance is dwindling, it’s almost certainly because people don’t want to pay big bucks to watch a lousy football team. Are you listening, Jags, Bengals, etc.? (I don’t count the Raiders, because they’re going to draw really well in Vegas next year no matter what their record may be. After a couple of years, though, they’ll have to put a winning product on the field or attendance will suffer.)

  6. I use to go to Ravens games all the time and still do. But i won’t go in winter anymore. After they added the huge screens to both endzones, it created a wind swirl within the stadium, which can become unbearable during the late nov/dec/jan games.

  7. This is precisely why every city and state should refuse to spend taxpayer money on new stadiums. (Okay, there’s tons of reasons but this should be a major one)

  10. Let’s see:

    * Expensive Ticket Prices

    * Expensive Parking

    * Subjective / Inconsistent Calls (Holding, Pass Interference, Roughing, Illegal Use of Hands) Leading To Questionable Outcomes

    * Slow Pace of Play

    * Inconsistent Suspensions / Dicipline

    * Threat of Seventeen / Eighteen Game Season

    * Crass / Drunk Fans

    I can’t imagine why attendance is down?

  11. It’s simple. The in-stadium experience is inferior to the at home experience for the CASUAL fan. Yes, hardcore fans want the experience- the tailgating, face painting, etc., but for casual fans, between the ticket prices, the interminable TV delays that leave the players spending far more time standing around than actually playing, etc. it’s just not that alluring.

    I last went to a game on Thanksgiving night over a decade ago. I remember thinking “this is fine, but I wish I were home watching it on my giant screen TV”

  12. If you go to a game its a minimum of $500 after tickets, parking, food and drinks. Not to mention, if you sit in the high sections its just not worth it. For families its crazy expensive.

  13. glac1 says:

    Wow….. Ticket prices better drop next year…

    ____________________

    In my best Simpsons Comic Book Guy’s voice: “Oh, that is rich!”

  15. There are several factors to me. One who can blame Oakland for a decline, the team is leaving the city. I am surprised they got as big of a crowd as they did. The LA Chargers didn’t help matters either.

    In addition, ticket prices are outrageous so it is hard for people with families to afford to go. I also hate to say it but a lot of the games are boring. The rule changes have turned some people off and to me while I prefer the NFL game to college football, it is hard to deny how great the gameday atmosphere is at college stadiums. So many NFL stadiums have no traditions. I like team chants, prefer live music to the piped in music (which is basically the same at all the stadiums), it would be nice to go back to a 15 minute half time, I know it is just 3 minutes more than the current 12, but it is hard to go to the restroom or get concessions at the half and then get back in your seat and have to miss half the third quarter. The product unfortunately isn’t that great. Jacksonville has never had much passion for the Jags, that is a transplant city where most people there either don’t care about the NFL or have loyalty to other teams. When has Atlanta ever supported much of anything in terms of Pro sports consistently? Buffalo has great fans. The league needs to help them get a new OUTDOOR stadium and increase seating by 5000. These new tiny seating capacity stadiums don’t help either.

  16. overpriced and overhyped. It cost $500 to take my family to the Raiders-Jets debacle, in the pouring cold rain. Should have saved the money and stayed home to watch it.

    Just wait and see how much the Raiders gouge the fanbase once the new stadium is built.

  19. Geez, the solution to this isn’t rocket science. Lower the darn prices and quit ripping fans off with outrageous greed for game tickets, parking spaces, and watery beer. Frankly, it’s hard for me to even imagine how most families can even afford to attend an NFL game anymore. I know if I was going to earmark six or seven hundred dollars for family entertainment, I’d head for theme park. For the same kind of money you’d spend on a family outing to an NFL game, you could stay overnight in a decent hotel and ride roller coasters for nine hours the next day.

  20. Not many people want to pay over a $100 a ticket for crappy seats. Well I guess 66,648 people do on average. I would rather watch it on tv. Best seat in the house.

  21. I went to Arrowhead with my then 9 year old son and my dad 4 years ago and had a moron behind us throw up all over the back of our seats in the 1st quarter. We also paid $80 each for tickets, $40 to park (I think it’s up to $60 now), and $9 for a terrible burger. I’m fine with never going back.

  22. It will keep going down especially with the teams that are poor year after year after year. Simply costs too much to attend, the TV experience has much improved, and there are also far more other options to entertain yourself if your team sucks than there used to be in the 60s-90s.

  23. Here’s a thought…Lower the ticket prices!! 50% of something is better than 100% of $0. With parking and concessions, they will make up the money.

  27. My extended family travels to a Packers’ game every year. The other issue has to do with the price gouging. I understand people want to see a winner but the ticket prices on the road for a Green Bay game at one of their road games was $250 per seat for the nose bleed and over $1,000.00 for the good seats. This was from the team site itself, not a resale. If we went a few weeks later and saw a team that had put together a few poor seasons, tickets were starting for $30. Fans of good teams get punished at the ticket office.

  28. There’s no situation at an NFL stadium that beats my living room with friends. I have food, drink, warmth, comfort, no drunks screwing up my day, no drive home to look forward to, other games on if mine gets boring, no lines to the bathroom, … it’s just getting redundant at this point. And I still haven’t blown several hundred dollars in tickets.

  29. I use to go to Ravens games all the time and still do. But i won’t go in winter anymore. After they added the huge screens to both endzones, it created a wind swirl within the stadium, which can become unbearable during the late nov/dec/jan games.

    __________________

    Really? I am sure those in Green Bay feel very bad for Ravens fans.

  30. I’m a Raidersvfan in Chicago and will travel to Vegas, but low end will probably be $200 just to get in the door, it’s the cost!

  33. It’s too expensive to go. Two half-decent tickets to an NFL game, plus parking, plus a meal, adds up to enough money to go buy yourself a brand new 55 inch TV, which you can use to watch every game for free without having to worry if some drunken idiot is gonna spill his beer on you or try to fight you in the parking lot.

    I’ve only been to 3 NFL games total in the past 6-7 years, and I gotta say, I don’t miss going to all 8 home games a year like I used to do.

  34. You see this with all sports. The crowd is middle aged or older even if it’s college sports which are typically affordable (or at times free) for students.

    It seems to be somewhat generational. If you go back into the 50’s and 60’s and even into the 70’s and 80’s when I was growing up, there were not as many options for entertainment as there are today. Going to a local game was just something people did. But now we are in the highlight generation. The tablet/cell phone generation. They can watch the games or highlights on their phone or tablet and not fight the crowd or traffic and still talk about the game like they were there.

    I can easily see small seating stadiums being a new trend in all of sports over the next 20 years.

  35. Wow….. Ticket prices better drop next year…
    ——————————————-
    We all know there’s exactly a 0% chance of that happening. And it’s like another poster said, even throwing out the price of the ticket we get gouged on parking, food and drinks.

    I also think the HDTVs play a role as well. There’s nothing like the experience of going to a game, but back in the day the only option was watching it on a fuzzy 25″ tube TV. Now you can see a game clearly on a 65″ screen, why venture out if you don’t have to?

  36. “Despite efforts to improve the in-stadium experience…”

    That in-game experience costs hundreds of dollars for a family, and it often includes cursing drunks and the threat of violence. It also consumes almost a full day, factoring in getting to/ from the stadium. For most people it’s not a good value, or a good use of time.

  37. I make a decent salary but I haven’t been to a game in almost 20 years. The tickets are too expensive, and when you’re in the stadium, the beer and food prices are outrageous. Plus, numerous people are falling-down drunk, belligerent, etc. If I’m at home, there is no line for the bathroom, the beer is dirt cheap and I can watch any game I want. The stadium experience has been degraded by greedy owners.

  38. Lousy teams and a really expensive experience vs big, super high def TV and all the beer I can drink for under $20 in my fridge.

    Tough decision.

    The laughable uptick for the Redskins is more attributed to the opposition teams showing up, as the tickets to fly to DC are cheap and you can get into the stadium for $2. Oh, and that pesky thing about teams moving to places without stadiums (cough chargers cough), moving to a market that doesn’t care about having a football team (cough rams n chargers cough). That other item about teams and the league trying to extort the public for a new stadium after they can’t even fill the one that they modified 20 years ago to fit more (cough raiders cough)… This generation doesn’t remember that Al Davis hustled the city of Oakland to put some crappy bleachers with “luxury” suites under them that totally wrecked the stadium – lost the nice view of the hills, killed the baseball experience, and the Raiders NEVER sold out when that section was open. So now, a crappy tarp covers 20k bleacher seats with the Raiders logo, but you don’t see that on televised games…

  39. I live in Canada and have been to a few NFL games in my life. 2 in Buffalo, one in Dallas. This year, I was going to take a trip to Foxborough to see the Cowboys. $460 for the cheapest seat in the stadium. This. This is why attendance is down. (also, the on field product is decaying at an alarming rate with the bush league officiating and ten minute on field meetings to announce a holding call.)

  40. glac1 says:
    January 3, 2020 at 1:35 pm
    Wow….. Ticket prices better drop next year…

    👍22 👎2 Rate This

    =========

    No doubt the two thumbs down you received were from Dan Snyder and Jerry Jones…….

  41. Not surprising at all. The games are too expensive and the home experience is better for many fans. Pay over a $100 per ticket for not great seats, parking in some places, ridiculous prices for food and drink and possibly have to deal with obnoxious drunks vs. Large screen HD, temp controlled environment with cheaper food and no idiots to deal with other than your uncle who will leave eventually. Not hard to see why attendance is down for pretty much all live sporting events really.

  42. I’m not spending 1/4 of my mortgage payment for a bunch of millionaires that may or not show up.

  44. Could it be that attendance is down due to the latest Patriot scandal?
    (Soon to be an every year deal, I’m predicting.)
    Fans who think the game isn’t being played fair and square will stop supporting it.

  46. its only going to get worst with prices of tickets going thru brokers, extremely high parking, and food extremely high. It cost roughly 1000.00 for 4 to sit in the nose bleeds at the vikes stadium. Thats for locals, if your out of towners you have food, maybe car rental, and hotel. The living room is looking better everyday. They need to go to a salary cap by position, where a players salary actual has a top out limit.

  48. As a Steelers season ticket holder, we had too many night and especially week night games. Attendance is terrible at those with everyone having to work in the morning. Give us some more 1 and 4:15 home games. Everyone hated getting flexed into night games this year.

  49. It would be interesting to see the percentages of income by source that teams bring in. I’d guess the percentage brought in from ticket sales, concessions etc. is very small compared to what they get from the TV deals, yet the teams act like they’ll go broke if they offer reasonable ticket prices.

  52. It’s has a lot to do with officiating, people are not believing what they are seeing, looks controlled. NFL needs to step up and admit that they are controlling the outcome of these games. Looks a lot like WWE.

  53. Keep in mind that this is attendance, not sales. There are several teams that regularly “sell out” games, but have huge numbers of no-shows for every game. That speaks even more to the awfulness of the stadium experience. People are paying $100+ for the ticket (in season ticket packages) then choosing they’d still rather stay home.

  55. I personally find attending games to be a bit draining with too many dislikes. Most seats have a bad view and whenever a big play happens, everyone jumps up, so you have to as well. Can everybody just sit? I usually find myself watching most of the plays on the jumbo-tron. No, thanks. I will stay home and watch it on TV.

  56. Every year the game becomes less and less for the those who attend the games and more and more for the television audience. Stadiums are constructed to find more ways of extracting the fan’s dollars and are less thoughtful about access and views. Flex schedules and more night games don’t work for many fans who need to work for a living or have busy lives. I am sure this does not matter to the NFL as TV provides more dollars than butts in seats. However, the NFL has become very focused on the short game and this could hurt them big one day.

  59. I cant bring myself to spend the money to go to a game that is going to be decided by either a Ref on the field or some guy nobody knows in NY.

    I cant even stand to watch anymore really. my sunday ticket will be canceled next season for the first time since it came out.

  60. Now the truth comes out as opposed to the “up 5%” for tv ratings.

    When you drop 12% down in one year (2016–>2017)for the tv ratings and combine it with this stuff, “5%” up, is not very good.

  61. Why do stadiums have seats?

    There’s always some idiots jumping up and down right away in front of you, holding up some meaningless sign, spilling their beer, blocking your view and ruining your experience.

    I’d rather take my dog on a nice long walk on a beautiful autumn afternoon.

  62. I’ve gone to one game each of the last two seasons. It cost way too much. The tickets are expensive, the snacks and beverages are expensive, and the parking is expensive. Sitting in the hot sun is terrible, sitting in the blistering cold is terrible too. Going through security is terrible. It’s much easier, less expensive, and more comfortable to make loaded nachos at home and watch the game on the flat screen with a 7.2 surround system.

  65. seabrawk12 says:
    January 3, 2020 at 1:50 pm
    I use to go to Ravens games all the time and still do. But i won’t go in winter anymore. After they added the huge screens to both endzones, it created a wind swirl within the stadium, which can become unbearable during the late nov/dec/jan games.

    __________________

    Really? I am sure those in Green Bay feel very bad for Ravens fans.

    —————————————————————————-

    how does somebody being more cold in Green Bay make somebody in Baltimore feel less cold?

  66. I spent $400 for 2 tickets to the Chiefs v Texans game and parking. These were the cheap seats too. I couldn’t tell if a field goal was good or wide and almost got hit by an airplane.

  67. I applaud Oakland,SD, and St. Louis for not getting held hostage.

    Smaller Stadiums is the way to go ticket prices will stay high, lower cost to build
    The rest of watch from homes unless we really want to go for the experience.

  68. Over priced tickets. Over priced food. Paying for parking. Free at home on HD. How really hard is this to figure out?

  69. My father first got season tickets in 1977. We have attended well over 200 games over the decades. I canceled the tickets this year because the Broncos moved to an absurd 100% digital ticket policy last year. My father is elderly and doesn’t own a cell phone. Didn’t even receive a thank you letter for 40 years of season ticket holding. Disgusting.

    I will never attend another NFL game. Between the outrageous pricing and having to spend an extra 2-3 hours just to attend in person an event that already takes 3 hours, I have had enough.

  70. Maybe don’t increase the price every single year? Supply and demand, the basic staple of economics. I thought these owners were business guys. You raise prices when demand is high because you’re losing money if you don’t. You lower prices when demand is going down because it’s a clear sign you have raised your prices too high. That time has come and gone for years, they just keep raising prices anyway. Not only that, but premium seats aren’t as highly valued when in stadiums like the Vikings US bank Stadium you can just buy cheap nosebleed seats and then go stand down on the 1st level concourse and watch the game.

  72. Unless you can afford a nice,heated luxury box,you’re better of watching from home. You’re warm,your refrigerator and rest room are right there with no waiting,and you have the very best view. The NFL experience is anything but cheap/comfortable.

  73. When I’m at the stadium, I watch the game on my phone. But, I enjoy being in the company of rude, dumb, and obnoxious people, which makes it worth the $500 out of pocket.

  74. Ticket, parking, and concession prices are at an all-time high.

    The cost of attending a game has become prohibitively expensive for the average middle-income family…..and the league wonders why attendance is dropping.

    The NFL has spent the past 20 years devoting all its energy and resources on pandering to billion-dollar corporate sponsorships and international interests. Meanwhile, its bedrock foundation of working class fans has been ignored and taken for granted…..and one by one those fans are finally saying “enough is enough”.

  76. Raiders don’t count. Of course their attendance dropped, they are leaving.

    Overall, games are just too expensive. For the cost of taking 1 person to the game, between tickets, parking, concessions, etc etc, it’s going to cost you $500-600. For the same price, I can invite 5 people over, have plenty of food and drinks (adult and otherwise), watch the game on my 80 inch 4k TV, and save a good $300. If I have kids, double the cost of everything (probably even more on concessions, a 6 year old doesn’t understand that $15 is too much for nachos)

  77. Flags, commercials and too damn expensive for most people.

    What did you think is going to happen?

  78. What’s the compound annual growth rate of tickets prices during that same period? I bet it far outpaces income growth. Gotta pay for those $30M QBs somehow I guess.
    Translation – ordinary people can’t afford to go to games like they used to.

  79. Super simple solution: Make ticket prices affordable for actual fans.

    That’s it. That’s all that’s needed. Don’t overthink this.

  80. You want more attendance? Stop flexing games every friggin week. Believe it or not NFL, we have lives too….and make plans according to the schedule that’s released in April. And when you flex games for tv ratings, you’re losing in attendance because many people won’t be bothered with changing all their plans.

  81. Everyone here offering their expertise about how the game day experience is to blame has never been to a game, ever. Parroting the same tired “reasons” for attendance dropping when you’ve never been to a stadium really is dishonest.

  82. Blame the GREEDY players who have caused record overhead for the owners.
    If PLAYERS weren’t so greedy in their contract demands, owners wouldn’t have to make up their profits by jacking up ticket and concession prices.
    I am appalled that every poster has failed to identify the root cause for the high cost of the in-stadium experience- the PLAYERS!

  83. Solution – smaller stadiums with bigger TVs, and Redzone playing on the majority of them

  84. “Just wait and see how much the Raiders gouge the fanbase once the new stadium is built.”

    They don’t care about the Raiders fans there. That stadium will be filled mostly with visiting fans getting out of cold weather states having a weekend in Vegas. There will be no home field advantage there except for the more popular teams playing the Raiders.

  85. Could the drop in NFL attendance be because of:

    1.) The fan is priced ‘out’ of going to an actual game?…(easier to watch on HD TV)
    2.) The politics of the game?…(national anthem protests by players)
    3.) The inconsistencies of the game?…(What is catch or pass interference anymore?)
    4.) The length of the game?

    What does the average fan know…

    Ask any average NFL fan, and they will probably tell you they feel undervalued in the NFL experience as the owners/players/networks have become millionaires off of the average fan’s livelihood.

    I wish there was a reliable, proven mechanism to give the power back to the fan in order to send a message to the league that “enough is enough.” We just want to enjoy the game again in that we don’t have to fight through all the drama every week.

    How I wish the game went back to it’s simpler times.

  86. If I lived in Ohio, and was a Homer, there’s absolutely zero reason to spend $200 per game day on a pair of tickets, parking, etc to see the hot garbage of either ends of the state.

  87. 20 years ago my season tickets were 37 dollars for each game…..Now they are well over 100 dollars. I don’t think yearly salaries have tripled for the average fan over that period.

  88. Lots of comments about the refs. Yeah, the Raiders would be in the playoffs if their last two games weren’t rigged, but would that be a good thing? They’d probably get their butts kicked. 🙁

  90. I expect this to continue. No reason to pay insane prices to attend an NFL game when you can watch from the comfort of your own home on your 4K TV with all the food and drinks you want.

  91. People really lack a basic understanding of how ticket prices are set. If you’re complaining about ticket prices being too high, guess what? You are not a member of the the target audience. The owner, the concert promoter, whoever sets the prices could not care less whether you attend or not.

    Professional promoters use specific, complicated formulas to set ticket prices. They know exactly how tickets they need to sell, at the exact prices, to bring in the exact of revenue they want.

  93. you have to pay a tank of gas for parking. Hope you don’t run into a drunk fan or bunch of hooligans and the best games are during bad weather. Unless you’re rich and can afford press box seats!

  94. -Tickets and Concessions are out of the range of a family of 4. In Detroit, if you do their ticket packages you are still looking at nearly $200, and that doesn’t include parking. That means one game could be a substantial investment for many families.
    -Televised games provide so many more views and clarity to what is going on in the game.
    -TVs are awesome now, HD TV changed everything. And my beer at home doesn’t cost $11…
    -Oakland was a team skipping town, so attendance was hurt.
    -LA Chargers are just options for away team fans to go to an away game.
    -Refs are brutal and replay has just made that more and more apparent.

    There are many more reasons, but these are the obvious ones.

  97. Set the PVR, start watching at about half-time and catch up by the time the game ends all in the comfort of your jammies. And watch all the replays in super slow-mo

  100. Well the last time about 4 years ago I guess. Tried to get tickets to the Packers game for my wife and daughter, they wanted 750.00 for three tickets? That’s not including food or parking! would cost 1,000.00 for a three hour game. All so these players can get 165million dollar contract.

  101. Might help if we didn’t have to mortgage our homes to go to a game. For 4 people (family) to go to game is MINIMUM of $1,200. This doesn’t even include all the lodging which gets jacked up as well. $150/night places are suddenly $300/night. If they could fix this, I bet more people would go to games!

  102. The average ticket price across the league is 200 to 300. Add 150 to 200 for parking, food and drink. Average game cost is 350 to 400 per person.
    That may have something to do with attendance going down.

  104. It’s a lot of fun going to the game. Friends, the stadium, the experience, the roar of the crowd. However, for the price of gas, hotel, beer, food, and ticket, instead of going to a game this year, I bought a 70” tv to watch the game every week. Maybe next year.

  105. Have the chance to attend a couple of NFL games for free each year with a friends who have season tickets in premium seating. By the time you drive 5+ hours to the stadium, the traffic jam after the game along with the 6+ hour drive home, I’ll take the in home relaxed experience with my big screen any day!

  106. No matter how good the economy may or may not be, it’s still tough for most fans to shell out $80 for a ticket, $30 for parking, and $12 for a bottled water just to have a true NFL gameday experience. And if you want to take a family, yikes!

    ==
    80$ for a ticket? I’ll just become a fan of this team. The last time I went to a Chiefs game I had like 8th row seats in the corner of an endzone and the whole package was like 150$ for 2 tickets and parking. I was going to go to the Vikings game this year and even getting near top of the stadium it was going to be close 900$ for tickets alone. This is the Mahomes effect to a point for sure, but it’s just crazy how expensive it’s gotten.

  107. The game is structured for the tv audience. It is a boring experience to sit in the stands while the game is constantly stopped. Wont go again.

  108. Being there in person to see just how much standing around goes on while networks are going to 2-3 minute commercial breaks constantly is what makes at game experience the biggest scam. Who are they catering to? Definitely not the fans who pay big money to attend-

  109. The Dolphins will have one home game moved to an international game next year and the account reps tried to tell season ticket holders that they were going to see an 11% drop next year in ticket prices from this past year. Had nothing to do withe fact that we’ll be paying for 9 games instead of 10??? Really??? That’s not deceptive!!

  112. The average ticket price for an NFL game is $151, what do you expect from the working class? Lower the average price below a $100 and sales will improve.

  113. The fans have only one way to effect the nfl and it’s color is green! It’s your only vote and voice, use it!

  114. It’s too expensive. The last NFL game I saw was a pre-season Chargers game because the Saints were in town. To park in one of the tailgating lots cost somewhere around $100. For parking. And you can see everything better on TV anyway.

  116. Attendance is down, but is revenue? That’s all that matters. It’s better to overcharge and get 80% attendance than lower prices enough to get 100% attendance. The NFL is just fine. Less people see movies these days and ticket prices have gone up, but Hollywood continues to set new records hand over fist.

  117. I prefer watching the game on the comput’n machine.
    During the massive number of time outs for commercials, I can flip over and watch porn.

  121. With Joe Burrow going to Cincinnati next year, attendance will go up.
    Unfortunately for Joe Burrow, he will be going to the great QB crematorium of the Cincinnati Bunglers.

  123. This is an absolute money issue. The cost of these games has gotten out of touch with reality. 8 or 9 years ago I was spending 150 dollars on a ticket. Now its around 250 plus over-priced drinks and below average food at top dollar.

  124. Went to a MNF game recently and kept thinking to myself wish I was at home watching on TV. Brutal cold in upper decks. If was on the 50 and close yeah rather be there.

  127. I’ll just watch Sunday Ticket. See the games I want to see and not need to fly or drive for hours to get to a game. I usually channel surf all the nfl channels for 1pm games and catch the Raiders at 4pm. My Directv season tickets are cheaper than buying two good tickets for a single game.

  128. Hard to believe the Redskins had an increase in tickets sales this year. NFL should check Snyder’s numbers. I’d bet money he lied about them.

  130. pigdroppings33 says:
    January 3, 2020 at 3:43 pm
    I prefer watching the game on the comput’n machine.
    During the massive number of time outs for commercials, I can flip over and watch porn.
    ____________________________________________________
    This is sorcery!

  131. I went to the source and looked at the attendance chart. My understanding is that teams report tickets sold, not butts in seats..with two exceptions: Green Bay and Pittsburgh, as they are always sold out and reporting capacity would be meaningless.

    I was surprised to see the Jets outselling the Giants for some reason.

  132. We went early to another Dallas game recently but won’t go back and this is why – too much loud frigging hip hop music. It’s nonstop. They must think we’re at a night club. Hours and hours of loud music. We can hardly even talk to each other. It’s weird because the vast majority of the crowd obviously doesn’t listen to this music unless they’re forced to listen to it.

    A little bit here and there is fine but it’s way too much and too loud. Not going back.

  133. cardinealsfan20 says:
    January 3, 2020 at 2:46 pm
    People really lack a basic understanding of how ticket prices are set. If you’re complaining about ticket prices being too high, guess what? You are not a member of the the target audience. The owner, the concert promoter, whoever sets the prices could not care less whether you attend or not.

    Professional promoters use specific, complicated formulas to set ticket prices. They know exactly how tickets they need to sell, at the exact prices, to bring in the exact of revenue they want

    ————————————————-

    well ok, so this article is saying that attendance is at a 15 year low. maybe the people dont lack a basic understanding like you say. maybe they are saying enough already! seems the genius price setters are missing their mark. maybe they should care more about the people theyre trying to target because apparently they arent buying the tickets either.

  134. As an NFL fan for over 55 years, I am thrilled to hear this news. The only way to get the owners and players attention is to hit them in their wallets.
    This game is not the same game I grew up loving for reasons such as these:
    The rules suck.
    The officials suck.
    The Commissioner sucks.
    Playing games in other countries sucks.
    Playing games on Thursday nights sucks.
    The stats for QB’s and WR’s are so overblown because of the rules and officials, it sucks.
    The price to see games — and the seat licenses which the owners gouged long time fans with suck.
    The whole challenge/replay system sucks.

    I saw the NFL at its finest during the late 50’s to the mid-70’s. After that, it has slowly turned toward what we see now is an artificial game more suited for a video game. Never before had I seen officials determine the outcome of games so flagrantly as I have seen in recent years. It’s gotten so now on every play, the first thing you do is look for yellow flags on the field and then hold your breath for up to 5 minutes while the incompetent reviews take place.
    My Sundays used to be set aside for the NFL and nothing else. But now I find myself more and more watching less of it and not caring.
    So fans — keep on staying away from the games until maybe — just maybe — the owners realize how they and their Commissioner have ruined this once great game.

  135. I’m sorry but if I read the posters for the last two years I thought the NFL was losing fans because of Kaepernick and social justice, bad reffing, and just about any other excuse. Seems to me people just shifted their habits – but are still watching (as expected).

  136. Despite efforts to improve the in-stadium experience, there’s no substitute for winning.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Winning is the biggest factor but the teams are not improving the “in-stadium experience”. Their problem is the same as the author’s. They are for an “experience”. You want more fans? Make the prices for everythingti, food, bev, parking) much lower and address the issue of getting to and from the games being a large pain in the ___. Actually enforce a zero-tolerance policy towards drunk and unruly fans. People do not want to spend big money to be inconvenienced, hassled and threatened. True fans do not care about wifi access, gourmet food or even the monster monitors. The NFL is catering to a select class of people and that’s who is showing up. I doubt they care about actual attendance as long as the profits are still good.

  137. It’s going to go a ton lower over next decade as the soccer loving, helicopter mommies, with their, everyone gets a trophy kiddes take over. So glad I got to enjoy it when football was played by real men who could take a beating.

  138. The prices are ridiculous. The officiating is awful. There are 32 teams, and the 7th and 8th largest cities in the country (San Antonio and San Diego) don’t have teams. Players are penalized for “excessive celebration”. Every celebration in soccer would be flagged in the NFL. There are so many reasons this league is in decline.

  139. I used to take my kid to an Eagles game every year, this year I spent 2k for 2 row one 50 yard line seats behind the eagles bench. Spending that much money I still found myself sitting with the same disrespectful drunk foul mouthed fans I used to be when I had season tickets in the 700 level when I was a kid. Then had my view blocked by the dam blue tent the whole game then there was the 3 hours of traffic. No thanks

  140. Thirty years ago we did not have big screen HD TV’s at home or in the stadiums to see the plays up close and personal or see the referees make mistakes. Other than that most of the comments I am reading could have been written in 1990.

  141. Let’s be honest here. In this economy, only the rich can afford to go to a game. It’s been like this for about the last 3 years now. I am hopeful by the 2021 season people will be able to have money to go games again.

  142. “My Sundays used to be set aside for the NFL and nothing else. But now I find myself watching less and less and not caring”.

    If you don’t care then why are you here daily posting multiple comments?

  143. “well ok, so this article is saying that attendance is at a 15 year low. maybe the people dont lack a basic understanding like you say. maybe they are saying enough already! seems the genius price setters are missing their mark. maybe they should care more about the people theyre trying to target because apparently they arent buying the tickets either.”

    You completely missed the point. They are selling tickets to exactly the target demographic. And, of course, they are also bringing in the occasional one off purchaser.

    The point is that the people complaining about high prices for tickets, parking, concessions, etc. are not the target audience.

  144. pigdroppings33 says:
    January 3, 2020 at 3:43 pm
    I prefer watching the game on the comput’n machine.
    During the massive number of time outs for commercials, I can flip over and watch porn.
    ———-
    hilarious and a good idea.

  145. Used to go to games quite a bit, but the experience had gotten so bad, I hadn’t gone to a game in person since 2005. With it being their last year in Oakland, my son and me went to a Raider game this year. No issues with fans other than the normal unruliness of a few, but the cost was a joke. I spent $300 to sit in the upper deck with the seagulls. $70 ($370) for gas to get there, and $50 ($420) to park. I don’t even want to include the $50 ($470) for our tailgate (brats, jali poppers, chips, salads, dip, and beverages), as it was the only real value of the day, barring buying a shirt from the off market guys in the parking lot for $20 ($490). Same shirt was $55 inside the stadium. Son wanted a beer (he’s 30) with a souvenir cup ($15 a pop) ($520) and I wanted a game day magazine to mark the last game we would see in Oakland for $40 ($570). If we had actually planned on eating at the game, it would have been another $40 per person minimum. My son got a hat inside for $35 ($605) shirt in the coliseum and we stopped at a brew pub heading back for another $60 ($665).

    Now for the Super Bowl, were having some friends over (6 total) and we will have a standing Rib Roast (prime rib), baked potatoes, beans, garlic bread, a salad and an open bar and the total will be about $450. Got a big screen with surround sound, and no drunken fools other than those I can deal with.

  146. Which leads too, who the hell will be able to afford to go to a home Rams game?

  148. I really don’t care since I watch from the comfort of home and can never give that up.

  149. itsouryearbirdgang says:
    January 3, 2020 at 5:54 pm
    I used to take my kid to an Eagles game every year, this year I spent 2k for 2 row one 50 yard line seats behind the eagles bench. Spending that much money I still found myself sitting with the same disrespectful drunk foul mouthed fans I used to be when I had season tickets in the 700 level when I was a kid. Then had my view blocked by the dam blue tent the whole game then there was the 3 hours of traffic. No thanks

    —–

    this sounds extra tragic cuz i bet you thought you were gonna have a good time. but sadly no, the ‘good’ seats arent good anymore. the only place in the stadium with any semblance of decorum are the suites and those are filled with nerds

  150. Dallas should not be allowed to count the standees they charge to come to the bars and such. The seating capacity is only 80,000 – they have “standing room” for up to 25,000 more, but those people aren’t genuinely at the game if they’re not able to view it without a monitor.

  151. I live somewhere between Chicago and Green Bay so I could attend a pro football game.
    Certain Packers fans think you haven’t lived unless you saw them play in Lambeau, which will never be in danger of having too low of attendance.
    I’m pretty sure I will be just fine if I never see an NFL game in person.
    To each our own.

  152. They’ve priced out the middle class. Plus I can drink a 6 pack of quality beer for the price one nasty Budweiser. And my 75 in HDTV looks better than the back of head.

  153. Belicheat and the Patriots have undermined confidence in the game. No coincidence that Spygate was revealed approximately 15 years ago and things have gone downhill from there.

  154. Almost all sensible comments here. Summary: It’s too expensive. You could take an average fan at random, make him commissioner, and he’d do a better job at running this league. Unbelievable.

  155. Decided after a 10 year hiatus to go to a couple of NFL games this season. These were my last trips. Other than nicer places to pee, there is not one thing that makes the experience worth the exorbitant costs of attending. Fatties everywhere squeezing into airline seats, eating the nastiest smelling crap they can find while trying to pretend to ignore the obnoxious drunks in all spots to the right, left, in front, behind. Pretend noise added to the drone of the drunks. The pretend security teams are a joke too. All done to make it look like you can feel safer but mostly their job is to show they are in charge and you are not. I’ll continue to watch some NFL at home but my degree of interest is almost gone. I predict the NFL will be no more within 20 years.

  156. My client had 2 free tickets, he said pay for parking and let’s go. I still spend close to $100 with parking and one water one beer and some cheap chicken tenders. If I had to pay for my ticket by myself it would been $200, so imagine I had to bring my wife or kids, it’s a $500 day.

  157. Belicheat and the Patriots have undermined confidence in the game. No coincidence that Spygate was revealed approximately 15 years ago and things have gone downhill from there.

    ===

    Obsessed

  158. The Bengals should be forced to close shop. They haven’t been an NFL team in over 25 years.

  159. Dallas should not be allowed to count the standees they charge to come to the bars and such. The seating capacity is only 80,000 – they have “standing room” for up to 25,000 more, but those people aren’t genuinely at the game if they’re not able to view it without a monitor
    ____________________________________________________________________________________________

    But they bought a ticket,drove to AT&T and paid to park and are inside the stadium.
    So no you are wrong, they do count.

  160. The NFL should raise the cost of attending games and hire some refs who make ridiculous calls. That should fix the audience participation problem.

  161. We used to attend one game per year. The cost became prohibitive, and we are done attending for good. The NFL experience has become a money grab, which is now out of reach for the common man and his family. More power to them as people continued to pay up, until now. It has also become hard to watch on TV with the poor officiating. They often can’t even get it right on review. It sucks to invest your emotions in a game only to have the refs steal it from your team. Never thought I would feel this way about the NFL after being a rabid fan for decades. We even gave up our Sunday Ticket this year, after a 20 year run. On a good note, my golf game improved this Fall.

  162. People get tired of show offs. When eight or nine defensive players run into the end zone and all strike poses after a simple play that possibly resulted in a sack or interception, normal folks get very weary of that.
    You don’t see Patriot players going to that extreme and I’m not a New England fan.
    All those show off players do is demonstrate their ultra low IQ to a national TV audience who mainly has to work real jobs for low wages. Those people are SICK of the show offs. Particularly when there really wasn’t that much to show off about.

  163. Well what do you expect when you have to pay $50 for parking and $20 for a beer and practically everything else at the stadiums.

  166. I remember going to Lambeau as a kid, age 9, my first NFL game in person. This was 1968. Knowledgable and respectful fans (both Packers and Lions, the opponent that day). Transistor radio to get the play by play. Many fans wearing some kind of sportcoat, even ties. Coffee, Coke, popcorn, peanuts, hotdogs (no, not bratwurst) were pretty much all the concessions available. No sports gear, but you could buy a pennant if you really wanted something green and gold. And the game was blacked out on local TV.

    Been a fan a long time. Been to Lambeau over 100 times since. The experience today just seems contrived and rote. Most “fans” don’t seem to understand the line play, defensive sets, etc. They just watch the QB. Always fun, but if I see one game in person every couple of years, that’s enough for me. Could not imagine going to a full slate of games in any one season.

  167. I forgot the beer, since I was underage. They would walk around with cases of Pabst, pop the top on the bottle, and pour a cup for the patrons. Had to mention that. The old scoreboard at Lambeau had “Pabst” in italic script. The “t” lit up in red when the Packers scored a TD.

  168. “Just wait and see how much the Raiders gouge the fanbase once the new stadium is built.”

    Better than losing the money in the casino!

  170. itsouryearbirdgang says:
    January 3, 2020 at 5:54 pm
    I used to take my kid to an Eagles game every year, this year I spent 2k for 2 row one 50 yard line seats behind the eagles bench. Spending that much money I still found myself sitting with the same disrespectful drunk foul mouthed fans I used to be when I had season tickets in the 700 level when I was a kid. Then had my view blocked by the dam blue tent the whole game then there was the 3 hours of traffic. No thanks

    —–

    this sounds extra tragic cuz i bet you thought you were gonna have a good time. but sadly no, the ‘good’ seats arent good anymore. the only place in the stadium with any semblance of decorum are the suites and those are filled with nerds
    ________________

    It is not tragic because it never happened. Do you really think that this guy paid $2,000 for two tickets? Do you really think that any team would block the view from the 50 yard line seats with the medical tent?

  171. Went to a Dolphins game in Miami
    Parking cost $50
    Tell me again why I shouldn’t watch it in the luxury of my own home

  172. Maybe because half the police force shows up every game but don’t police the fans, nah they leave that for security CSC, the cops prefer to hang around the field and players or cheerleaders and watch the game. How about parking for $59, tickets for few Hondo’s, beverages, food another 100. Your talking easily 300 – 500 for a game. At the game the speakers are so loud it’s just annoying. If there is a fan of the other team and a drunk anywhere near the whole game ruined by the drunks screaming and berating. Men and women doing this. Or getting in fights. In the parking lot you might get jumped. Then the next hour trying to just get out of the stadium.

  173. lonespeed says:
    January 3, 2020 at 1:37 pm
    Let’s see:

    * Expensive Ticket Prices

    * Expensive Parking

    * Subjective / Inconsistent Calls (Holding, Pass Interference, Roughing, Illegal Use of Hands) Leading To Questionable Outcomes

    * Slow Pace of Play

    * Inconsistent Suspensions / Dicipline

    * Threat of Seventeen / Eighteen Game Season

    * Crass / Drunk Fans
    _____________________

    Add:

    * Officials deciding games, not players

    * Owners asking for public financing, then raising ticket and concession prices, and then buying $200M boats

    * Owners referring to games as “entertainment”, not “sporting events”

    These games are more than “entertainment” to fans. Every time a game is decided by an official (not a player), maybe the NFL should forget about the “apologetic” press release and credit the cost of the tickets back to the fans who spent the money. 😂

  175. I can easily see Lambeau breaking it’s sell-out streak begun in 1959 sometime in the near future. It wouldn’t bother me in the least. I only like to recite the streak because so easily triggers and annoys Viking trolls (wait and see.)

    Young fans that grew up with their eyes cast down while twiddling their thumbs on their phones aren’t going to fill the seats. The inequitable distribution of wealth that has plagued this country for fifty years is the biggest culprit. Young people can’t afford one-half of the things I afforded at their age, and it’s got nothing to do with “not working hard enough.”

  176. Tickets and parking are way too expensive, I agree with that. However, so tired of hearing people complain about food/drink prices. You can have a great tailgate party before/after the game. You can bring and prepare your own food and drink. Not only is it cheaper, it is a lot of fun. Chow down before the game. If you can’t go 3 1/2 hours without eating/drinking again, then there is something wrong. I see the same thing on shorter flights. People ringing their call buttons 3 times for snacks/beverages on a 1:40 flight. Parking and ticket prices are valid complaints, however concession prices are NOT.

  177. As you get older the appeal of throwing away your entire Sunday and several hundred dollars to deal with a bunch of drunken yahoos obviously decreases.

  178. I’ve been to 5 games of the team that I follow over the last decade, and they are 0-5 in those games. My son is a Pittsburgh fan, so he’ll drag me to western Pa. when my team plays there this season. My team hasn’t beaten the Steelers since November 1991. This is why I’d rather watch on TV, I can get humiliated at home just fine

  179. Fantasy football and gambling are going to save the NFL. The product is getting worse by the week due to the brutal officiating and league who can’t figure out their own rules (agree with WWE comment). The experience is so much worse in person and too expensive to boot.

  180. I go to every Saints home game and have done so for years. The tailgating before the game is half the fun: the rest is in the Dome. I will continue to go to the games despite having the luxury of watching them at home.

    WHO DAT?!
    ⚜️

  182. First off, it has ZERO to do with Kaepernick, people who say that need to go back under their rock.
    More like the insane costs of everything associated with going to a game, starting with the ticket. 200 bucks for nose bleeds is no bargain.
    As many people have said, the advancement of big screen HD TV’s says it all. TV ratings continue to go up and fantasy football and betting always have and always will keep the NFL afloat.

  183. Lower the price of concessions. No way/reason a hamburger and fries should cost $30 along with a 12 dollar beer. If I go to a game I leave my credit card at home, eat before going and drink a 6 pack before going in the stadium and have just enough cash for 1 more during the game. And as I’m a Cowboys fan I can say the product they have been putting on the field isn’t worth the cost. #FIREGARRETTNOW

  184. Wifes a packer fan. Told her for her bday i would take her to a game. Put together a package that included tickets, hotel (were out of state), bus fare from Appleton to game. It came to over 900 dollars.
    She said rather stay home and watch it on big screen and save the money even though we could have easily afforded it.
    It’s just gotten ridiculous. NFL sun ticket will probably go way up again to. There is no end to greed.

  186. In 1974’s an average home ticket for a Minnesota Vikings game at the old Metropolitan Stadium was around $16.00, marking inflation that same ticket would be $82.00 today.
    So the argument of greedy players and owners is simply not true. The difference is disposable wages in US households is a lot less, or should I say people are not saving like they used to. Too many new electronic toys, Housing and Auto prices have taken a HUGE chunk of “fun money” from us.
    I am surprised myself that the rise in contracts hasn’t had that much impact. The problem is the “Star Player” Contracts mainly QB/DE/WR/CB eat up the majority of the cap It would be nice if the League would cap positions so the pie gets shared more equally among players.

  187. And yet TV viewership is up. I guarantee the 5% increase in TV is more eyes on the product the 15% drop of butts in seats. The simple reason is gambling. If you are betting you don’t want to watch just one game, you want to watch them all.

  188. I’ve been saying this for years as I watch a lot of games and there is 40-50% of the seats empty and then I look at the attendance numbers and they claim that the stadium was near capacity to which I say bull! They can state all the fake numbers they want but they know the truth, people aren’t going to game the way they used to, they wanted to turn this into a rich mans sport and they did with $200 nose bleed seats, well congratulations NFL you got what you wanted. But look the viewership numbers are up 5% this year, but every one of those 5% came out of the stands and what didn’t is coming from new overseas markets, not here in the USA. I think the NFL is at a crossroads, they have to admit that prices are too high and lower them ir continue to watch stadiums sit at far less than capacity every week, then there are these PSL’s where fans have to shell out thousands of dollars before they even can buy a ticket. I know just last week I watched the KC and Balt games and the stadium was 25% or more empty at both places and those are playoff teams, the NFL as much as they hate to better lower ticket and concession prices or they’ll end up in the same boat as NASCAR because people clearly are willing to pay these outrageous prices to attend a game. And anyone that believes the drop is ONLY 15% needs to take in a few Wash, TB, Cincy, Jax, LAC or half a dozen other teams games and you’ll see that a lot of those stadiums are LUCKY to be 30% full, so that 15% drop is an out & out LIE, I’ll bet it’s more like a 25-30% drop but the NFL and the media will never admit it because that’s their bread and butter. OH and how is gambling going to save anything, if someone makes a $100 bet on a team with Vegas or a bookie the NFL doesn’t see one penny of that money, PERIOD!

    BTW they can continue to believe that the new TV contract will more than make up for it but in reality the new TV deals won’t as those suppliers aren’t going to bid as much as they used to if they have to share coverage with other stations, the only way the TV contract will increase is if the NFL grants each bidder exclusive rights to the game slot they’re bidding on and that’s never going to happen. The NFL golden goose is fading to a dingy yellow and those golden eggs have turned into bronze eggs. Time for the NFL to wake up and see reality or suffer the same fate as NASCAR, mostly empty stadiums and people staying home watching on TV!

  189. keithdylan says:
    January 4, 2020 at 2:02 pm
    And yet TV viewership is up. I guarantee the 5% increase in TV is more eyes on the product the 15% drop of butts in seats.
    __________________________________

    And what they aren’t telling you is that over a 10yr period viewership was down over 20% so its still is nowhere close to what it was at its peak and I’d bet that most of that 5% increase is from new overseas markets. The NFL is a fading product, I talk to so many people and a lot of them either quit watching or never did, especially the younger generations, they don’t care about the NFL, they watch other sports or college ball, not the NFL. And as far as attendance at games being down only 15%, well you can believe their numbers or what your eyes tell you, me I’ll believe my eyes everytime and my eyes tell me that a lot of teams are struggling to fill 50% of their seats like TB, Cincy, Jax, Wash and a half a dozen others. Hell last week KC and Balt were over 25% empty and those are playoff teams, there’s no reason those seats shouldn’t have been packed to the hilt! The NFL better wake-up and wake-up fast, their plane is spiralling out of control.

  190. “And as far as attendance at games being down only 15%, well you can believe their numbers or what your eyes tell you, me I’ll believe my eyes every time. ”

    You’re one of those guys who fall for the pictures of stadiums taken two hours before the game, aren’t you? And the people that you talk to in your extremely small circle are not indicative of the public at large.

    The NFL is only going to continue to be more popular.

  191. “And anyone that believes the drop is ONLY 15% needs to take in a few Wash, TB, Cincy, Jax, LAC or half a dozen other teams games and you’ll see that a lot of those stadiums are LUCKY to be 30% full, so that 15% drop is an out & out LIE, I’ll bet it’s more like a 25-30% drop but the NFL and the media will never admit it because that’s their bread and butter.”

    Tell us how many panoramic shots of those stadiums you have seen once the games have started. Actually there is no need to respond, we know that the answer is none. In other words, you have no facts upon which to base your opinion.

    Intelligent people will accept the official attendance statistics of the teams/league, which are easily verifiable, as opposed to the uneducated guess of some internet poster.

  192. “OH and how is gambling going to save anything, if someone makes a $100 bet on a team with Vegas or a bookie the NFL doesn’t see one penny of that money, PERIOD!”

    Those gamblers are watching the games to see if they win their bets, thus increasing the ratings.

  194. Football, Boxing are sports that are losing people, Soccer is gaining at an amazing tick. I am betting if the NFL folded a lot of those 15 million a year players would be playing for a heck of a lot less..

  195. cardinealsfan20 said:”Intelligent people will accept the official attendance statistics of the teams/league, which are easily verifiable, as opposed to the uneducated guess of some internet poster.”
    ——

    Why would I trust the league when I think it is far better for them to inflate their attendance numbers for any number of reasons? IMO, it is obvious that attendance is down, that can’t be hidden.
    ==============
    cardinealsfan20 said:”Those gamblers are watching the games to see if they win their bets, thus increasing the ratings.”

    Gamblers don’t have to watch the games, all they need is to occasionally look at the scoring updates and they don’t have to watch the games to get those updates.

    It would be a totally different story if gamblers were gambling on horse races. Those are the ones that gamblers would watch.

  196. Took my son to a game (in KC) 2 weeks ago for his Christmas present. 3 tickets ( in the upper section) cost me $286 (and that was on a discounted 3rd party site). $43 dollars to park. Drunk fan nearly hit me with his car in the parking lot (he was visibly drinking while driving). Once we got in the stadium the experience was fine, however the tv breaks were much more visible (as stated by others), players spent a lot of time standing around waiting for the commercial break to end. We made great memory for my son and I’m glad we went, but it really is a better product at home on your HD big screen.

  197. Go to the game? Shoot, I can hardly make it through the whole thing from the couch. The greatest game day experience I’ve found is watching 10 minutes of highlights an hour later on YouTube. That’s the way to watch football.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Not a member? Register now!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.