Want to Tell the FCC How You Feel About Blackouts? Here You Go

[BLeonard]

http://sportsfans.org/2012/01/want-to-tell-the-fcc-how-you-feel-about-blackouts-here-you-go/



As you know, the FCC is asking for public comment over the next month on its sports blackout rule. The FCC’s rule props up the leagues’ own blackout rules by prohibiting cable and satellite carriers from carrying a game if local broadcasters are prohibited from carrying the game because of league blackout rules. Sports Fans Coalition and other groups have asked the FCC to eliminate this rule because we think the government shouldn’t be in the business of supporting counterproductive and unethical blackout policies.


-Bill

[DynaPaul]

I think the blackouts are going to go bye-bye. No more incentives to go the game now. Why watch the Bills lose in a freezing cold stadium when you can sit in the comfort of your own living room sipping a beer that didn't cost you a fortune? I know that might not be a popular opinion around here but maybe it'll push the front office to really put a winner out there.

[stuckincincy]

I think the blackouts are going to go bye-bye. No more incentives to go the game now. Why watch the Bills lose in a freezing cold stadium when you can sit in the comfort of your own living room sipping a beer that didn't cost you a fortune? I know that might not be a popular opinion around here but maybe it'll push the front office to really put a winner out there.

Yep. CIN had a surprising 1st half of the season, but folks didn't bite. So much for success being an incentive to ticket sales.

Years and years of NFL greed - players and owners, media with their gazillion commercials and talking blockheads telling us their highly-paid opinions, today's fans turning a day at the stadium into a battleground, you name it. Shoving a $3.50 stadium weenie into one's mouth sums up a stadium game day experience. Everybody swallow and say rah.

These days, I record games on the DVD, listen to the local club a bit on the radio, watch a bit of live TV. I'm usually gone midway through the 2nd quarter,

If the outcome was interesting, I zip through the DVD recording.

The NFL kvetches about blackouts. Well, they decided long ago to show home games so they could pump up their product and cash in on the tv dollars.

Now we are treated to 600 yard+ offenses. Arena football, move over.

[BLeonard]

I think the blackouts are going to go bye-bye. No more incentives to go the game now. Why watch the Bills lose in a freezing cold stadium when you can sit in the comfort of your own living room sipping a beer that didn't cost you a fortune? I know that might not be a popular opinion around here but maybe it'll push the front office to really put a winner out there.

It's not just the Bills, though. There are plenty of other teams that don't sell out games, have unfavorable weather conditions, etc. The Bills sucking for 12 years doesn't help, but it's not like they are the only NFL team that doesn't sell the stadium out every week.

Part od the issue is that there are cheaper alternatives that are as good, if not better, then going to the game live. With HDTV, Sunday Ticket and bars that show the game, a person can watch the game and not have to pay for tickets, $8 beers, overpriced food, plus have to deal with parking and negatve aspects of the live experience, like unruly fans.

But, even if the FCC kills it's blackout rules, the NFL would likely keep theirs. Meaning, if the stadium doesn't sell out, the game will still be blacked out locally. The difference would be, people in say, the Syracuse area, who would also be blacked out, could buy the NFL Sunday Ticket and it wouldn't be blacked out on that medium, as it is currently.

-Bill