Mystery Disease Kills Thousands
Ron Paul, Rick Santorum Suggest Foul Play From Romney Campaign
The Tampa Bay Bucs will black out their preseason game on Saturday night against the Chiefs. It is the first blackout in Tampa in 12 seasons, which might signal some arm twisting to get fans to buy tickets for the regular season.
NFL rules mandate that games not sold out 72 hours before kickoff must be blacked out in the home TV market.
The NFL, which has used blackouts as extortion over fans for years to get them to buy overpriced tickets and concessions, needs to dump this blackout policy for preseason games. The St. Petersburg Times illuminates the practice.
Who wants to buy tickets to watch fourth-string guys? Those tickets also go at full price.
Just look at the atmosphere on the sidelines. Coaches are intense, but the starters once they leave the game are laughing and carrying on, some are doing radio interviews.
Why pay for that?
You can go to the game, or you can spend $20-$25 in gas to drive north to Ocala to see the game on TV outside the Tampa area. You can also wait to watch the tape the next day.
The Bucs want atmosphere in their games, they want fans cheering wildly. It is a little much to ask fans to cheer a losing team when the starters are gone by the second period.
The St. Petersburg Times reported that the Bucs have avoided blackouts by buying up their own tickets to fill 65,000-seat Raymond James Stadium.
But this blackout does not engender much good will, especially for an ownership group on thin ice.
It is not the poor economy that necessarily drives blackouts. It is poor performance. Just 22 games were blacked out in 2009 when the economy was really bad. And those blackouts were with losing teams - Detroit, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Oakland and St. Louis.
Even with a poor economy, teams can still find 25,000 people in major metro areas to buy the expensive tickets. There are people out there making money and they can spend $90-$150, then $30-$60 to park for eight home games. The pool of customers for those expensive tickets is hundreds of thousands of people.
It is the other 30,000 you have to cattle drive to the stadium for the $10 beer and less expensive parking.
There were a lot more blackouts than 22 expected in 2009, but it didn't happen. I don't think there will be a rush of blackouts in 2010 - and there should not be any for preseason games.
Buccaneers Exhibit A for Banning Preseason Blackout
Aug 18, 2010 – 1:46 PM
Debt Ceiling Showdown 2: Coming This Fall, In Time For The Election, Only Worse
Obama Sending Ambitious Plan To Congress
Bomb Attacks Target Israeli Diplomats In India, Georgia
Adele Wins Album Of The Year
Updates On Whitney Houston's Autopsy
WATCH: Anderson Cooper's Hilarious Adventures With Adele
It's Only Getting Worse: Economists' Latest Dire Prediction
WATCH: Bill Maher Rips GOP Concept Of 'Elites'
Even In A Time Of Budget Austerity, Sacramento Stands Out
Greek Protests Continue As Lawmakers Debate Severe Austerity Measures
Quake Rocks Costa Rica
Country Considers Bills Lifting Gay-Marriage Ban
The Week's 5 Juiciest Apple Rumors
Michael Smerconish: A Response to Sean Hannity
Huff TV: WATCH: Arianna Talks Safety Net Benefits On CNN's 'Your Bottom Line'
Costa Concordia Video Shows Crew Reactions To Cruise Crash
GOP Bill Would Strip Workers Of Overtime, Minimum Wage Protections
Mitch McConnell Not Accepting Obama Compromise
Paul Ryan On Obama's 'Accounting Trick'
