Many NFL teams facing TV Blackouts
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:43 am
The bad economy is hurting NFL ticket sales.
In a recent sideline chat with Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank during one of his team's practices, he expressed concern to me about his team's ticket sales, although he said they aren't as bad as some teams. What's concerning is that Blank has a hot team with a young star in the making in Matt Ryan and the Falcons are coming off a playoff season.
He is not alone in his concern.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who had a waiting list thousands long a few years ago -- or so they said -- are now selling season tickets in half-season packages to drum up interest.
The waiting list doesn't exist anymore.
In Jacksonville, where I live, the Jaguars have sold roughly 35,000 season tickets. That's behind the pace of last season, and could lead to all 10 home games being blacked out.
It's the same in a lot of other cities.
That's why I think the NFL needs to revise the blackout rules for a year.
Do the fans a favor. Show some goodwill.
Too bad it won't happen.
I understand why the blackout rules are there, and I do believe in them, but for this one season it wouldn't hurt to amend them some.
Maybe lower the number of tickets that need to be sold each week, or something along those lines. The blackout rules don't apply to luxury seating -- which is a good thing because those are even tougher to sell in a tough economy -- but it could be revised down to a different percentage of the general seating.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/11800373.
In a recent sideline chat with Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank during one of his team's practices, he expressed concern to me about his team's ticket sales, although he said they aren't as bad as some teams. What's concerning is that Blank has a hot team with a young star in the making in Matt Ryan and the Falcons are coming off a playoff season.
He is not alone in his concern.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who had a waiting list thousands long a few years ago -- or so they said -- are now selling season tickets in half-season packages to drum up interest.
The waiting list doesn't exist anymore.
In Jacksonville, where I live, the Jaguars have sold roughly 35,000 season tickets. That's behind the pace of last season, and could lead to all 10 home games being blacked out.
It's the same in a lot of other cities.
That's why I think the NFL needs to revise the blackout rules for a year.
Do the fans a favor. Show some goodwill.
Too bad it won't happen.
I understand why the blackout rules are there, and I do believe in them, but for this one season it wouldn't hurt to amend them some.
Maybe lower the number of tickets that need to be sold each week, or something along those lines. The blackout rules don't apply to luxury seating -- which is a good thing because those are even tougher to sell in a tough economy -- but it could be revised down to a different percentage of the general seating.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/11800373.