Read the debate intro and Loyal Homer’s argument that the NFL should amend their blackout rules.
I am a very proud owner of season tickets for my local NFL team, the Cleveland Browns. As such, I can assure you that nobody wants to see a more “fan-friendly” league than I do. Whenever the NFL can make a change to their game that will help attract fans, I am completely in favor of it. Amending the blackout rules is NOT one of those opportunities!
Understanding the Blackout Rules
The NFL blackout rules were created for one reason – to get butts in seats. They were not put in place as some conspiracy to prevent fans from watching their local team play home games. They were ACTUALLY put in place to support the team AND the local economy by encouraging fans to travel to the game, pay for a ticket, eat a hot dog, drink a beer, then celebrate afterwards if and when your team won.
The principle behind the blackout rule is simple – the crowd AT THE GAME should be the primary focus of every team, NOT the crowd at home watching the game for free (blackout rules DO apply to the NFL Sunday Ticket on cable). If you want to be guaranteed that you can see your local NFL team play football, then BUY A TICKET AND GO TO THE GAME!
Many have claimed that the struggling economy is a reason why fans are not buying as many tickets this year. Explain to me, then, why the Cleveland Browns can still sell out their games when they reside in a city that just last year was named the second poorest city in America? If your team is failing to sell out their stadium, the problem is not because of the struggling local economy, and it is not because the NFL lacks a fan-friendly style. It is because your team CANNOT attract fans.
Failing to attract fans is not a problem unique to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who may see their entire home season blacked out this year. It is actually a problem that many businesses across many different industries experience. It is called “offering a poor product” (either in quality, or it might be a good product in the wrong market). When a company offers a poor product, regardless of the reason, the appropriate response should NOT be to change the rules to accommodate that poor product. Instead, the response should be to change (improve) the product, so that it can BETTER attract fans.
Changing the blackout rules for football will not solve the problem.
Do not Bite the Hand that Feeds You!
Who are the most important fans to the NFL? The answer to that question is the season-ticket holder. These are the fans that commit to buying a ticket to every single game of every single year.
As a season-ticket holder for the Browns, I have spent a lot of money to watch a lot of bad football recently. If the Browns ever run into a situation where they struggle to sell tickets to the game, it is my expectation that they will first work to satisfy MY requests as a paying customer. Nothing would upset me more than to know that my team was more concerned about taking measures to make their game more fan-friendly for those people who watch the game FOR FREE than making the game more fan-friendly for those fans who actually PAID for their tickets, and actually ADD VALUE to the organization!
It is spitting in the face of the team’s most LOYAL fans by taking advantage of the fact that they have already paid for their tickets.
How to REALLY Fix the Problem
From a business standpoint, if the team cannot sell tickets, the number of televised games they play is completely irrelevant. So the real question that should be addressed is – Is there a fan-friendly way to attract fans to the stadium to watch football?
If the NFL works to address the root cause of the problem, which is trying to identify why fans are not buying tickets, then they can work on a resolution that will make the game more fan-friendly for ALL of the team’s fans, not just the ones who sit at home and provide no REAL value to the team.
Here is an idea – how about lowering ticket prices?
It is obvious (at least to me) that the residents of Jacksonville do not believe that it is worth the price of a ticket today to see the Jaguars play football. If the Jaguars are unable to improve the quality of play on the field to match the ticket prices, then they should reduce the ticket prices to match the quality of play on the field.
It is an example of supply vs. demand. Teams like the Browns, or the Bills in Buffalo, can sell tickets despite a poor economy. The reason for this is because Browns and Bills have the lowest ticket prices in football. The price matches the value within the marketplace for that product. Right now, demand is low in Jacksonville for professional football. As a result, the value of the product has declined, and the cost for that product should also decline.
By lowering ticket prices, the NFL teams in these cities can acknowledge the recent economic struggles in America. They can help keep their season-ticket holders happy while at the same time making their product more attractive to new customers. In turn, the team would sell more tickets, and the games become less likely to be blacked out. That way, ALL of the fans can then benefit from a more fan-friendly experience.
[...] thus, subjecting fans to the dreaded television blackout. Message boards, sports talk radio, and blogs have been on fire with debate about whether, in the face of such a poor economy, the rule should be [...]
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Hey, thanks!