The NFL and the blackout rule (1 Viewer)

[malice]

Although the major focus of this article is idiotic (yeah, the ECONOMY is the reason why the Lions can't get sellouts), is the blackout rule really antiquated?

http://www.freep.com/article/20081113/COL08/811130351/1048

Personally, I feel like the station should be allowed to air another game in the timeslot rather than having to show filler that nobody cares about, but I can see the reason for the local blackout if the seats don't get filled. The ones who should suffer for it should be the owners though- not the fans or the community.

Raiders fans feel free to chime in as well.

 

[noneother]

every day, there seems to be another reason to despise Detroit...

what a bunch of cry babies...

to topic, yes, the time should be made available to football,,, regardless the team if the home one sucks this bad...

 

[SuperJohn96]

If there was another NFL game on TV instead of the Lions because they didn't sell out, that looks more like an incentive for home town fans to NOT buy a ticket.

 

[malice]

If there was another NFL game on TV instead of the Lions because they didn't sell out, that looks more like an incentive for home town fans to NOT buy a ticket.

True, but I can't believe Lions away games are really getting that much of a viewing audience either, other than it's the only football game shown in the local market. It's very telling that the two teams having blackout issues right now consist of the team with the most senile and meddling owner and the least interested and stagnant owner in the league.

 

[QUEZILLA]

Do any fans really say "The game is blacked out, lets buy tickets"

 

[GreenNGold]

It's been proven in baseball and basketball and other sports that the blackout rule does not help a team's bottom line. Why the NFL sticks to such antiquated rules is beyond me. The NFL also needs to change it's stupid 50-mile home city radius ruling. Those zones should be expanded to cover the entire state, and any states that do not have a football team should be included in the nearest or most popular team for that area.

A blackout has an extremely minimal impact on ticket sales, and then the team/NFL loses out on the advertising dollars they would have received from tv.

Also, fans don't go to a game to avoid a blackout, they go if there is a product on the field they want to see.

 

[Tornacl]

I also don't like the rule where they can't show another game opposite the home team's game. It is especially bad when you live in a market of a team you don't like.

My dad lives in Michigan, and said that its actually been nice not having to watch the Lions lose, he just wishes that he could watch a different game. He also wishes that on the weeks that the Lions do sell out. The only time they're worth watching is on Thanksgiving.

 

[puckalicious]

Teams failing to sellout a home game should negatively affect the owner, not the fans. How does revenue sharing work? Could the shared revenue be witheld from teams that can't fill the stadium on a given week? For instance, each week that the home team does not sellout they lose 1/16th of their yearly revenue sharing check.

Nothing gets an owner's attention like money, and maybe this would be an incentive for having a better product on the field. Altough it could lead to the owner just "buying" all the tickets from himself and hopefully giving them away.

In Detroit this year, people are literally giving away their tickets and get turned down. We really don't even care that the Lions are not on TV.