Posted on 09/01/2009 1:42:32 PM PDT by Justaham
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) - Avoiding local television blackouts will be a challenge as the NFL approaches its first full season in the economic downturn, commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday.
During a visit to the Washington Redskins, Goodell was asked specifically about the Jacksonville Jaguars, whose season-ticket base dropped from 42,000 to about 25,000 this season. The decline is such that the club might not even bother asking for extensions in hopes of avoiding blackouts this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I can’t imagine how so many people here in Dallas can afford to make the trip to “Jerry World” to go watch a Cowboys game, or would even choose to even if they had the money, rather than the watch the game from the comfort of their own home on the big screen.
...what a shame /s
(even UAW bail-outs can't put a$$es in the seats(literally and figuratively)
The question is, will anyone in Detroit notice?
Look, just like the car companies and big lenders, pro sports has leveraged itself to the max. All the sports are set up so every team has to be in the finals, concessions MUST turn a huge profit, parking, memorabilia, all of it has to sell briskly to pay the $100 million contracts.
Screw ‘em. I'd just as soon go to a high school game.
Naaahhhh.
Agreed. Ticket prices are maxed out as are all other associated costs. I’m a Bucs fan since inception. The new stadium is nice, but the funny thing is, the end zone with the pirate ship in it is a lot like a singles bar. It’s a big party and no one is watching the game!! To each his own, I suppose.
Hey I got an idea. Lets not even tell anyone that your city has a team. Every game gets blacked out and the NFL is kept happy.
You mean less than $150 for a good seat? Heavens no.
The entire DFW area can stay at home and watch it on Jerry’s big screen
Sundays are MUCH more enjoyable now.
Just another one of the reasons, I pretty much now would rather watch English Premier League soccer than the NFL. Now I will always love my college football, but I lose more interest in the NFL with each passing year. I can’t even remember the last time I sat through an entire NFL game, I watch a quarter here and there, but that’s mainly it.
I like football. I don’t like Vick.
Who care because my Raiders sucks this season
watching the raiders play should be by special invite only... like state executions.
Dumbest rule in sports
lolol
Looks like the 9ers will be the big dog in town here this year.. lo
Vick plays Thursday. Should be his last for a while...
We have season tickets with the Browns in the pound 4 seats in the 4th Row.
Our preseason seats sold but we had to give a discount (The Browns have a system that allows you to sell your unused tickets on their approved site and at above sticker price, sort of a legal scalping system) Last year they went at 75% above the selling price in Preseason and sometimes as much as 6 and 7 times the asking price for regular season games. All the tickets last year sold out within 24 hours of listing them.
Preseason tix didn't sell until a couple days before the game. And we have zero regular season sold so far. Further when I watched the Browns game Saturday night the stadium didn't look even half full. I cannot remember a single game that was that sparsely attended in 30 years of attending games.
One word:
Obamanomics...
While I didn’t follow the Falcons, I was always hearing that he wasn’t that good a QB - a good athlete but not QB.
Anyone?
Wow. I understand that Jacksonville is not a big market, but it is far from the smallest in the NFL. The Jags are a better than average team and are competitive just about every year. You think they would have a larger following. Something seems very wrong if they can only sell 25,000 season tickets.
It just cost to much anymore to attend for a professional football, baseball, or basketball game when there are so many other less expensive entertainment choices.
That's true, but only because Green Bay is a very, very small market. Jax is the second smallest in the NFL. And in a town that has no real football history. Not a good combination.
TAW
They have no pro-football tradition, and the team does OK but is stuck in a division with 2 regularly good teams (Colts and Titans) which leaves the Jags unlikely to make the playoffs and get the success that really builds a fan base.
I'll stick to going to the Hershey Bears hockey games (AHL).
It costs me $18 for a seat in the lower level, at the top of the section, up behind the players benches.
Best seat in the house!!! Easy access to the food court and toilet!
Major league sports has priced itself out of normal, every day life for me and my friends.
Once a year maybe, we'll take in a Steelers game.
And with big screen TVs why endure the traffic, crowds, parking and $12 beer?
Ticket price for a Green Bay Packer game is less than $80.00. That is not outrageous for a team that is always sold out.
It's bigger than New Orleans or Buffalo plus it is growing very fast with a young population (avg age 35) and better than average personel income.
Maybe pro football isn't the game for that town, or maybe the stadium sucks, or maybe their marketing sucks... I don't know. But it has the demographics to support a pro team.
Then again, pro football couldn't do well in LA, the 2nd biggest metro in the US.
Just not a problem if you are a Steeler’s fan.
I don't know anything about it's demographics, but at least according to the FCC, Jax is 58th largest market in the United States. New Orleans is 45 (with the football nutty Baton Rouge, 87, only slightly more than an hour away). Buffalo is 53. Several other factors favor football doing better in Buffalo than Jax: Buffalo has a long and storied history of professional football, Jax does not. Buffalo has nothing else going on in the winter; Jax does, thanks to Florida's warm weather.
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/NumberPortability/msas.html
I also note that for what it’s worth, the Jacksonville stadium holds 67,000 people, but the team need sell only 50,000 tickets in order to “sell out” for NFL blackout rules.
A lot probably does have to do with the economy; there are other teams having a hard time selling tickets, including both New York teams. But Jacksonville has always been a poor market. If there was someplace to move it to, the league might try to move it. But there are no takers.
It appears that you have pretty good knowledge of Jacksonville. Have you ever visited? We are not Miami or Tampa Bay. This is a “blue collar” town, even though we have an enormous white collar industry....insurance.
I drive around town and have seen so many legendary local businesses boarded up that it’s scary. The recession has hit hard locally and a large part of the paying crowd at the stadium were the folks buying the cheap seats.
On the other hand, they sell out the Monster Truck Rally
almost a year in advance.
HEY NORM I saw Raiders vs Saints game OMGGGG that game was terrible on Raiders part LOL!
That consider cruel and unusual punishment on State of CA PART LOL!
NFL apparently has never heard of supply and demand economics. Cut ticket and concession prices, for God’s sakes! This is why I don’t go to Packers games. You can easily spend $100.
jeez, i go to four Giants games a year. i spend $100 before i get into the stadium! ticket ($85) and parking ($20) are $105/game. that’s before eating/drinking/anything else!
Buffalo and Pittsburg have terrible economy’s but their NFL games sell out.
Sorry about getting to this thread late.
How will the $29 “party pass” Jerry Jones is running this year going to affect the sellout status for Cowboys games? That ticket gets you in but it’s standing room only. If you can deal with standing for four hours, that’s great. By “sellout”, does that apply ONLY to the fixed seats in the stadium?
The NFL could easily charge $1500 a ticket and sell out 3/4 of the stadiums in the country easily. We should be fortunate that they aren't being greedy.
Wooohooo. Go Niners! San Fran will never have a black out as faithful Niners will go to the game no matter how much they suck.
NFL
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