Running Blog: Buckeyes Use 20-0 First Half Run To Outlast Gophers
February 15, 2012NFL Free Agents: Running Backs
February 15, 2012In Cleveland it has been a source of pride for many that no matter how bad the Browns have stunk that no games have been blacked out on local TV. Some of you Clevelanders may not know this, but if you can’t muster up enough fans to go to a home game and make it a sellout, then the local TV broadcast is blacked out and you can’t watch it. From the letter.
There were 16 blackouts in the 2011 NFL season. There were 23 in 2010, and 22 the year before. These blackouts are ruining the experience of rooting for the home team and are unjustly hurting fans. That many of these stadiums were constructed or remodeled using taxpayer dollars underscores the disservice done to fans by blackouts.
We believe it is time for the NFL’s blackout policy to end. It is a relic of a different time and although its purported purpose—proteeting the league’s ability to make a profit by encouraging fans to attend ga1nes—-may have been valid when it was implemented decades ago, in today’s environment of multi-billion dollar NFL TV contracts, the sports blackout rule appears to be merely punitive.
I couldn’t agree more. Blackouts are from an era gone by. It is a protectionist rule that flies in the face of many of the very dangling carrots that the NFL has used to draw more fans into the sport like fantasy football. In addition, the stadium experience hasn’t really been updated in any meaningful way for fans. If anything, it has only gotten worse. Despite newer stadiums with more comfortable seating and access to more concessions, the rules governing TV timeouts to accommodate advertising have become extremely punitive to fans at the games.
There is no more egregious example of this than the use of commercial breaks after scoring plays. For example, after a touchdown, more often than not people in the stadium have to sit through a commercial following the extra point and then another immediately following the kickoff. It has become a common practice for people in the stands to stare at the guy with the giant orange glove on the sidelines who will indicate when the TV broadcast is finally back from whatever commercial they are running.
Also consider that the NFL is using these harsh rules to protect what is becoming an increasingly smaller part of their business model. Looking at a Harvard Business report on the Green Bay Packers from 2009, it is noteworthy that national media revenue was 38% of the Packers’ revenue and double local ticket revenue, for example. Green Bay is a team that sells out games too. As the NFL has renewed TV deals, I don’t think those trends will do anything but increase the disparity as media revenues will continue to outpace ticket revenues.
Also consider the geographic disparities pointed out in the letter. Buffalo has a stadium that seats about 73,000. Chicago has a stadium that seats 61,500. Buffalo’s population is nearly four times smaller than Chicago’s at 261,000 vs. 1 million or so. Yes, Buffalo pulls from a region including Rochester (1 hour away) and Syracuse (about 2.5 hours away) but let’s not pretend the populations are even remotely close to being the same.
For good measure, the letter goes on to smash MLB for its blackout policies and also the recent rash of public negotiations between networks and service providers that have caused a lot of unnecessary distraction to a group of consumers that were guilty only of paying for their services on a monthly basis.
So good for these senators. It may not be the biggest set of problems facing the nation, but I can’t disagree with Sherrod Brown and the rest here.
45 Comments
Even if i basically agree with his sentiment, on the list of things Sherrod Brown should be occupying his time with, this is like real, real low
Even if i basically agree with his sentiment, on the list of things Sherrod Brown should be occupying his time with, this is like real, real low
aww if they end blackouts I wont be able to go to my patented joke on Bengal fans 8 weks out of the season…no but seriously I would have to agree because I get punished for living in KY “Bengal region” when the browns play in Cincy Id like to drive four hours to and four hours back to watch the browns but that often isnt feasible…and no matter how much I am willing to pay “which is a lot” to see that game i would be unable. last two years I have lucked out being in Cleveland last year that sunday and going the year before in Cincy but thats not always possible.
aww if they end blackouts I wont be able to go to my patented joke on Bengal fans 8 weks out of the season…no but seriously I would have to agree because I get punished for living in KY “Bengal region” when the browns play in Cincy Id like to drive four hours to and four hours back to watch the browns but that often isnt feasible…and no matter how much I am willing to pay “which is a lot” to see that game i would be unable. last two years I have lucked out being in Cleveland last year that sunday and going the year before in Cincy but thats not always possible.
Must be an election year for the good senator from Browns town . . .
I’m on board with this. While stadiums have improved amenities, they are an absolutely lowly economic competitor. Between ticket and concession prices, I’d much rather watch at a bar (where you still get the fan comradery) or my house and its big screen/comfy couch combo and pay much less in both cases. Blackouts seem to just formalize the fact that leagues overvalue the game attendance experience and need to reprice their model.
I watched 4 Browns games this season via an internet stream, because I live in Columbus and they local affiliate was showing the Bengals. Had the laptop hooked up to my flat screen and other than being a non-HD feed, there wasn’t much else of a difference.
So, I guess what I’m saying is I wish our elected officials would worry about fixing real things that need fixing, rather than pandering to potential voters by propagating an illusion of “caring for the little guy”
PUT A ROOF ON BROWNS STADIUM!
I have a bias in that election so I won’t say anything more than you are correct, it is an election year
At least when I watch the games at home I can swear with impunity and not worry about being kicked out. And when you are a Browns fan, swearing is like breathing.
Don’t you love the way that pandering busybody do-gooder politicians love to stick their nose where it doesn’t belong and tell people how to run their own businesses?
Hey Sherrod, why stop at outlawing blackouts? Why not dictate that NFL teams must hand out free tickets to whoever wants one? And free hot dogs.
I’ll bet Brown has never worked a day in his life at a real job, and he certainly has never owned his own business.
Unfortunately, pandering and propagating is what gets people elected, and these guys don’t fix what ain’t broke (regardless of how broke we all know it is).
I often wonder what would happen if they threw an election and no one came
The two candidates would vote for themselves, then have a two-vote runoff election, then a protracted legal proceeding to determine the winner — all at taxpayer expense. So, we would still lose.
It is at least a bit strange that teams can have rules that force people to buy tickets into buildings they probably paid for with their own tax dollars to begin with.
The guy on the sidelines with the orange gloves is affectionately named “Oven Mitts” by yours truely
But they can’t really do that. They can’t force anybody to buy tickets. It’s no different in form (though it certainly is in scale) to a publicly-funded performing arts theater. Private businesses still charge admissions fees to concerts and plays, and the taxpayer has no right to either enter the building or see the performances on TV. While I dislike blackouts as much as anyone (well, maybe not as much as those still living in the Cleveland metro area), our limited ability to watch professional sports on TV has given us the impression that we should have the right to do so. I’m not sure this is a valid argument.
bread and circuses.
senator brown,
you want to improve peoples lives, exercise a legitimate role of government/FCC oversight, and at the same time avoid addressing the trillion dollar budget deficit?
direct the FCC to designate 88.9 as a universal iPod frequency so we can use those lame-o FM converters for more than 15 minutes at a time without picking up the local community college station.
pander with a purpose. the issue you’ve decided to make a difference on is transparently ‘populist.’ it has little chance of success and what if does succeed? still fewer ticket sales for the bengals and they move to raleigh/albuquerque/la/orange county/portland/other-sunbelt-town-with-pop-growth? ohio voters should be insulted that you think they’re so.. dumb.
Craig, WFNY recently underwent a big redesign. How would you like it if Sherrod Brown ordered you to buy computer upgrades for every person whose operating system was not able to take full advantage of the new format?
Man, who could have known that taking the time to sign your name to a letter is such a huge and long waste of time. I better dedicate a few weeks to getting my bills paid because I was unaware that it takes hours to read the things and then hours more to sign them.
Thanks for giving me the heads up guys.
This is so obviously populist pandering that it should gain no traction with voters, but my hunch is that it will.
Congress has the power to enact laws and regulations that the FCC is obligated to enforce. If Brown really wanted to do this, he would, wait for it, introduce a “bill” in the Senate. Shocking thought, sure, but that’s the way this stuff is supposed to be done – not through sternly-worded, solemnly-executed “letters.” These senators have no intention of really pursuing this issue or forcing the FCC’s hand. They just want to make noise, hoping the story will be picked up in the sports franchise areas, pricking the ears of angry, generally ill-informed voters.
Mission accomplished, I guess.
you are right, and this makes me sad
i’d bet the politician with the bigger family would win
boo!
To cheer you up:
It’s all about family.
I don’t think it’s going to matter. And this very transparent grasping of straws reaffirms my belief.
I have zero factual evidence to back up that completely out of my read end wild arsed guess.
I like the blackout rule. It gives me a lot of ammo when I get into arguments with Bengals “fans”.
Few years ago living in Vegas I order the MLB package from Direct TV to watch the Indians. Vegas is considered a local market and thus games blocked out for;
San Diego
Anaheim Angels
LA Dodgers
Phoenix
Oakland
San Fran
Yes they actually claim if they showed the games on TV people living in Vegas would not drive the 4-8 hours they otherwise would to see those games live.
WFNY wasn’t redesigned using taxpayers money
That’s not the point. The point is that Brown does not have the right to tell a football league/team or a sports website how they should operate if they are not violating any laws. It’s none of his damn business.
if the blackout rule is inequitable to smaller cities with larger seating capacities, is is similarly inequitable to cold-weather cities with open-air stadiums? Or, maybe not, the self-selecting population of tix buyers in Miami are there because of cold sensitivity and deserve the handicap of a balmy December ocean breeze. See, these are important issues, where the rubber of American sports meets the road of public policy. Or blatant pandering. Or something.
Well, well, well, what have we here? Perhaps Senator Brown should stop trying to shake down law-abiding private enterprises and start worrying about paying his own taxes.
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/02/sen_sherrod_brown_acknowledges.html
Look, I don’t want to get into a real political conversation, so I’ll keep it to the NFL. These sports leagues have monopoly protections and are fair game to be questioned.
Meh. The NFL is a tax-exempt league. I think in exchange for not paying any taxes they probably have to allow some government influence. Quid pro quo, and whatnot.
I’m sure if they’d abdicate their tax-exempt status, they wouldn’t be nearly as susceptible to government oversight.
I’m not so sure about that. Have you ever seen what happens when a company tries to get out of government clutches?
And when they do – as all the banks are doing as quickly as possible after borrowing – the government first criticizes them for paying back, then comes after them with increased regulations.
While there are fair points in the post and the comments on both sides, I would think the strongest argument in favor of Brown’s attempt is that taxpayer money was used to build the building.
But that is undermined by itself: If the government felt it was important that there be no blackouts, it should have tied a clause to the monies being used that ensured there would be no local blackouts even if the stadium failed to sell out.
does anybody know what the consecutive sell out streak is for an NFL team?
Fair enough, Craig. Besides, I’ve reached my political bickering quota for a while. Back to sports!
Considering one of the main arguments for building the stadium was to draw people downtown it seems odd to now argue for laws that make it easier for people to not go downtown. If you are going to fight for something fight to put a roof on the stadium. After seeing that Indy gets 200+ dates out of their stadium every year it seems absurd to use ours 8 just to prove we “play outdoors”.
Not to get political but I’d like to see a law passed that heavily fines politicians for obvious grand standing tactics.
I hate the blackouts as much as the next guy but you make an excellent point.Waaayyy too much government in this country.
I hate the blackouts as much as the next guy but you make an excellent point.Waaayyy too much government in this country.
I hate the blackouts as much as the next guy but you make an excellent point.Waaayyy too much government in this country.
I hate the blackouts as much as the next guy but you make an excellent point.Waaayyy too much government in this country.