The forecast for 2010 NFL ticket sales is not good. Many teams are preparing to have their home games blacked out on local TV. Of course may are in a rush to blame a poor economy for this mess, but it seems quite possible that NFL tickets have priced themselves out of the market for most regular folks.
According to Team Marketing Report the average cost of a NFL ticket in 2009 was nearly seventy five dollars. That means going to a NFL game these days is a big time investment.
Sure many teams are offering discounted tickets, all you can eat seats, and special pricing on multi game packages. However, what NFL teams fail to realize is watching the game at home on a Flat Hi-Def TV screen is a far better fan experience. Let us not forget that it is also a way better way to invest one’s fan dollars.
So NFL teams in Detroit, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Oakland, St. Louis, Arizona, Cincinnati, and San Diego are preparing to not have their games on local TV.
Sure that might hurt the team’s revenue and separate the team from its fans some what, but this is where the NFL is really becoming a victim of its own success. Between the NFL network and several other TV networks covering this league, I can get my NFL fix each week regardless if my local team is blacked out on local TV.
It seems to me that we are entering an era of fans of the NFL as a whole, not so much of one particular team. If their favorite team in not on TV, then they simply watch the games that are on TV.
Of course a little know NFL rule allows each NFL team to buy up the remaining non-premium seats for 34 cents on the dollar. This money is put into the visiting team pool that is split up among all 32 NFL teams.
Many NFL teams got their games on local TV this way last year, and it would appear to be a useful tool again this season. Of course some teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have already stated they will not employ it in 2010.
In the end, it seems the NFL has a larger problem that a bad economy. The cost of attending games simply seems to be far too high for your average person to partake. Since that person has already likely spent big dollars on a home entertainment system, actually attendance at a game is less and less critical to their enjoyment of the sport.
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