NFL games should all be home games

ESPN ^ | 11/17/12 | Rick Reilly

[raccoonradio]

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said recently that the reason NFL ticket sales are down over the past five years is HD television.

Oh, Rog, Rog, Rog. There are so many reasons that NFL games, like teenage boys, are better at home. I've mentioned a few before, but how about 20 more?

1) At home, you don't have to stand in line to pee.

2) At home, you don't have to stand in line to pee while watching a drunk pee in a sink.

3) The average cost of a beer at an NFL game is $7.13. In your fridge, it's about a buck. And it's colder

[9YearLurker]

Ha—interesting!

[dinoparty]

Sterile (often indoor) stadium which take away from the experience. Too much scoreboard music, advertisements, crowd cams, etc. which take away from the action on the field. And yes, too expensive.

[Chode]

how bout, at home i don't have to worry about hypothermia or getting murdered because of the team logo i'm wearing???

[asinclair]

Then there is the alternative if you just don't want to stay at home and like crowd reaction: the local sports bar. The beers are a little more expensive there than at home, but not nearly as bad as at the stadium. In Nevada, the even better alternative is the TVs in the Sports Book, because they *never* black out a game there. (Can't speak for Atlantic City.)

The best part of going out over staying home is that you don't have to clean up anything when the game is over. You just head out to the (free) parking lot, and drive through reasonable traffic back to home.

Just a thought.

[raccoonradio]

Yes though can get too rowdy and loud.One place I go to has good food and cold PBR drafts are a buck.Tho young guy crowd were chugging Smirnoff Ice and chantkng Ice! VERY loud..had to move. OH WELL

[raccoonradio]

Yes though can get too rowdy and loud.One place I go to has good food and cold PBR drafts are a buck.Tho young guy crowd were chugging Smirnoff Ice and chantkng Ice! VERY loud..had to move. OH WELL

[Fiji Hill]

Football is a much better game on TV than in person.

I disagree. I have attended most of the USC Trojans' home games since 1973 and a lot of away games as well. If you watch it on TV, you don't see the pregame and halftime shows, the horse running down the sideline when the Trojans score a touchdown, and the lighting of the LA Coliseum's Olympic torch at the start of the fourth quarter as the band plays "Galop," aka "Cavalry Charge," from Rossini's "William Tell Overture." And you don't get the thrill of joining the crowd as they cheer touchdowns and boo bad calls.

[Gay State Conservative]

Wild horses couldn’t get me to another NFL game,ever.While games are available,in HD,on channels I already get I’ll watch them.If they ever go pay-per-view or anything like that,I’m done.Watching 40 beer commercials and 10 Viagra commercials per game is as high a price as I’m willing to pay.Not a penny more.

[ConservativeStatement]

The Texas-Oklahoma college football game isn’t bad either. :-)

[raccoonradio]

Go Fisher Cats! Always go to first Sat home game of yr.Street parking $1 with smart meter

[bmwcyle]

All you sports fans are wasting those stadiums paid for by our tax dollars. I knew they were a waste of money.

[Sporke]

I remember the last NFL game I went to. Roger Staubach broke a finger, and it made me sad. I think I was 10. I learned then that football was much better on TV and haven’t been even remotely tempted to spend 1,000 dollars to see another game in person.

My Cowboys suck, which gives me another reason not to waste my time/money.

[twister881]

Rick Reilly is the second worst sportswriter on the planet (Mike Lupica). And although, typical of Reilly, he makes the article about himself, there are humor and truth in the words. Only masochists pay thousands of dollars to be abused at a football stadium season after season.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

BUMP! :)

[nascarnation]

With the advent of large screen HDTV, the television experience (vs live) is hard to beat for most sports.

[Chode]

yup, all except racing... gotta smell the smells, hear the engines and feel the thunder or RPM's when they go bye

[andy58-in-nh]

Go Fisher Cats! Always go to first Sat home game of yr.Street parking $1 with smart meter

Or you can park for free at the public lot outside of Jillian's, if you get there early enough and are willing to take a 10-minute walk (yes, I'm a cheap bastard ;-). I also expect I will be going to a few Manchester Monarchs hockey games (a good value as well) this year at the Verizon, as the current NHL season looks increasingly like a repeat of 2004-5. The NHL players' union seems to have a lot in common with the one that worked for Hostess.

[raccoonradio]

Yep though a buck is fine by me. It’s not that bad a walk and usually there’s a free shuttle bus (poss. tips accepted) sponsored by Auto Fair or something. Agreed about NHL etc.

The day I went this year was all you can eat day but ah:

—$10 seats became $12 to subsidize it
—LONG lines to get cold food that was supp to be hot
—only certain items like hot dogs, burgers, nachos. AND
you could only do one item at a time. Stand in line awhile
to get your hot dog but can’t get a burger too. I think I did get a hot dog after a shorter wait later on (make that a COLD dog) but I paid reg price for popcorn & soda.

[raccoonradio]

yup...only game I ever went to was Jets at Patriots (Foxboro)
in early Sep of 2002 or 03 I think. Parking was $40 next to stadium,
$30 a little further away, and my friend and I paid only $20
next to a car dealer. Our “tailgating” was a sub and a soda
at a nearby place (didn’t dare go for stadium food). He used to have season tickets but gave up due to price increases.
Weather was nice, Pats won, but I’m in no hurry to go back.

[TruthWillWin]

This article is spot on.

Have only been to 4 football games in the flesh. Every time I did wished that I was home watching on TV.

Do not feel that way when attending a baseball game.