NFL Tickets

As an Eagles' season ticket holder, i found this article about declining attendance at NFL games rather interesting. Notwithstanding the lousy economy that has had a measurable impact on attendance, this is going to be an ongoing problem/trend for the NFL.

Two things of particular note:

Tickets are expensive. As the article notes, the average price is $75, making a season ticket package worth $750...for one ticket.

While some teams, the article references New Orleans and Tampa as two teams that whose cheapest tickets are $35, it doesn't mention that these are obviously the worst tickets in the stadium and fans would be better off watching the game on TV than in person from the nose bleed section. It also doesn't account for all of the ancillary costs that accompany the $35 ticket....$25 parking, $8 beers, $6 hot dogs, etc. Economically, staying at home is a much better deal and that doesn't even count the time involved in traveling to and from the stadium which is at least a 5-6 hour time commitment (not counting tailgating) as compared to the 3 hours from start to finish of watching at home.

And lets face it. The NFL has a huge fan problem in the stadiums. The consensus among my season ticket holding friends is that 14 is the minimum age at which we would bring our children to a game. Because of the language, drunkeness, machismo, and generally boorish fan behavior - all of which is tolerated if not tacitly supported by the teams (actions that i have engaged in myself). It is definitely not a family friendly environment. Certainly not of the order of the other major professional sports, especially baseball. I had the occasion of attending the Eagles-Giants football game  and Yankees-Phillies world series game last year and the experiences could not have been more different. Even though it was a world series game, Citizens Bank Park felt more welcoming, more friendly, and more family oriented than the Linc and the rowdiness and aggressiveness that permeated the crowd.

The larger issue is that the NFL blackout rules are nonsensical. The less fans that go to a game, the less (i.e. NO) fans are able to watch the games on TV. The less games on TV, the less fans are likely to go to games. The NFL relies on approximately 70,000 fans to subsidize the ability of several hundred thousand fans to watch the game on TV. Admittedly, some of those 70,000 change each week, but a core group of 30-40,000 season ticket holders subsidize several magnitudes larger tv viewers. The bottomline is that it is an unsustainable business model.

NFL execs are quick to note that the league is the only one that still offers its games on free TV. That will soon come to an end. The not too distant future is a model in which TV viewers subscribe to watch their home team's games. The only question is how much such a product will cost. My guess it will still be cheaper to buy the games on TV than actually attend in person. The TV experience will still be better and a better deal, though not having a packed stadium in the background will take some getting used to. From the comfort of my couch, i'm sure i'll adjust.