Think Blackout Rules Are A Bad Idea...

[floydefisher]

(if this is in the wrong forum, please move it thank you)

Look at what is happening to College Football Attendance because they don't have blackout rules.

http://www.syracuse.com/orangefootba...rt_river_index

Now, the article is talking about SU football, and how bad attendance is, but there is a point I wish to use.

CFB attendance dropped 3% just last year, the 2nd largest attendance drop in CFB history.

And lest you think this is a one year trend, it's been going on since 2008 as per ESPN

http://www.espn.com/college-football...-declines-2017

So the results are in....no blackout is proven to damage attendance. Why would someone take the trouble to attend an actual game when they can get nearly the same experience watching the game on the 50" UHD TV?

Unless you want NFL games on PPV, they need those blackout rules back, and the sooner the better.

[Bolt-O]

Its ok for this forum...

There are a lot of factors to the drop in attendance, but the biggest is the cost of going to games, in time,effort and money, vs. staying at home and actually enjoying the game. "Blackouts" are pretty easy to get around, if you know what you are doing. Even if they go to PPV, for the time being its pretty easy to find streams. Here is a radical idea... actually make the game-going experience worthwhile. I think the mega stadiums like Jerryworld or Kronkeworld may become dinosaurs, if they expect the fans to pay for it. Cheaper tickets and concessions could help, but I think there is a fear that dropping prices may set a precedent that the ADs and Owners have to actually follow economic principles.

I do think that the game is past its peak in popularity, but it may take a generation or two of fearful parents and genuine alternatives before the game is actually in trouble.

[floydefisher]

Its ok for this forum...

There are a lot of factors to the drop in attendance, but the biggest is the cost of going to games, in time,effort and money, vs. staying at home and actually enjoying the game. "Blackouts" are pretty easy to get around, if you know what you are doing. Even if they go to PPV, for the time being its pretty easy to find streams. Here is a radical idea... actually make the game-going experience worthwhile. I think the mega stadiums like Jerryworld or Kronkeworld may become dinosaurs, if they expect the fans to pay for it. Cheaper tickets and concessions could help, but I think there is a fear that dropping prices may set a precedent that the ADs and Owners have to actually follow economic principles.

I do think that the game is past its peak in popularity, but it may take a generation or two of fearful parents and genuine alternatives before the game is actually in trouble.

This has been going on since before concussions became news.

Look, back in the 1950's owners already knew they couldn't compete with home entertainment when they started televising the games, and that is why they instituted blackout rules in the first place. These days, when even a knucklehead like myself can easily afford a 43" UHD television, that is even more true than ever.

They are essentially competing with free. There isn't enough incentives to compete with that, unless you don't charge money for attendance. Nobody is going to do that.

It's either blackout rules, or PPV. Pick your poison.

[BlazingBolt]

The blackout rule never did and never will drive attendance to the games. People who go to the games go anyway. People who watch on TV won't go anyway. The amount of people who wouldn't buy a ticket unless the game was blacked out is statistically insignificant, they practically don't exist.