F.C.C. Thinking About Eliminating Television Blackouts Of Sporting Events

Do people buy tickets because of the blackout?

Ditto

A change that needs to happen. No stadium that utilizes taxpayer dollars should ever be subjected to a blackout. It’s just wrong.

doesn’t NYS make out more in the long run? I thought i’ve read that a couple times but I could be wrong. Between tax on sales and income tax (think how much income tax NYS got on Fitz contract) I thought i’ve read that NYS makes out pretty well on the Bills.

Williamson, NY is 75 miles from Orchard Park and fits in Syracuse’s television distribution area. Those people can’t be blacked out without everyone being blacked out…. so they go all the way.

I live south of Utica, and I still get blacked out. It’s ridiculous.

have u seen attendance at the ralph the last decade?

i think all your points are right Goose; however, the new CBA is supposed to keep the smaller market teams more viable than the old structure. So hopefully, that “free money” from the larger markets should help us progress, without directly costing us. I like to think of it as a progressive tax system in a way. The “richer” teams get taxed, and the “poor” teams get that money, to help keep them competitive both in market, as well as viable competition as players and a team on the field. the old system was more like a fixed tax, and the money the “poor” teams made, was barely more than they were already investing themselves, and the “rich” teams were able to operate, and spend, without worry, because they had the money to spare, to begin with, and were barely paying anything out. Plus that was compounded by NFL Shared Revenue for merch and such, as the national market teams were obviously making more money on that stuff as well. So they basically got to jump ahead of the smaller teams. That was why Davis and Ralph voted no on that CBA mostly, and because they realized that the agents were dictating salaries, and lining their pockets, which the owners and league weren’t seeing any of that money. The new CBA is leaps and bounds better than the old one.

We watched it via a very snowy Syracuse feed. Then turned it off right after halftime. I continued to listen on the radio. The radio was better.

That sounds also like the strong corrolation between offensive games and defensive games. Something the nfl has noticed makes them more money and the general enjoys the game more.

When I watch football on television, I’m watching the game not the fans in the stand. I don’t care care if there’s 100 people in the stand, I’m watching the game.

Except that the NFL doesn’t lose at or out on anything. Ever.

perceived as boring to watch (not helped by their defensive mentality)

would be more to the point than the empty stadiums. Also EPL teams were able to buy most of the best players from other parts of the world which enhanced their own product appreciably.

Whether the game is blacked out or not.

That’s just wrong. I had no idea but I hope it changes for you.

That’s a bunch of bullsh$t. I’d be really pissed about that.

i didnt realize

I never knew that, I’ve been in Canada for the last 4 winters but didn’t notice. That explains why the Bills often got shown a fair bit early in the season and then not so much in Nov/Dec.

I’m still not sure how anyone could provide accurate data on the topic.

Good point. Send this info to the FCC.

To be fair, it’s an FCC rule not a Ralph rule

Some 11 year kid in Pittsburgh can probably watch every Yankees game on TV, but heaven forbid that same kid actually wants to be a Pirates fan and watch that team on TV every night. That same kid, who could go either way on the sport of baseball and grow up to be a season ticket holder or could grow up to not give a darn about the sport at all, is the one who ends up watching some adult themed comedy on FX instead of the ball game.

That non-Bills rant, is completely forgiveable, because you make an excellent point. Perhaps though: this same thought could be applied to a child Bills’ fan, who doesn’t have the means (or their parent doesn’t) and now, they suffer, while the TV companys and the NFL gets rich. Not only is that a poor way to ensure future viability of the NFL, it always basically tells us all that they are in the business of making money, through entertainment, and at a point, people are going to get tired of paying for it, the same way they have grown tired of movie theaters, movie rental, and music costs. They are ruining their own business in order to make more money than they need, for less and less consumers. But hey, I guess that is what “The American Way” is now… get rich quick, while you can, at the cost of whoever, so at least YOU will be comfortable and happy in YOUR life, regardless of who has to suffer. Sad. Pathetic, actually.

To my knowledge, fans aren’t really in favor of blackouts. The people with the most to gain from blackouts are the owners of large market teams and the media outlets that cover them. Expanding the blackout areas of small market teams (such as including the Syracuse market in the Buffalo blackout area because of a tiny strip of territory in Yates County) allows large market teams to conduct economic warfare for control of certain regions as the games that will typically be shown instead is the nearest large market game. The NYC media machine most certainly wants Buffalo to have a large swath of territory in the blackout zone because when the Biils do poorly, they get more media presence there at our expense without any fear of retaliation. There is certainly no chance of a Buffalo game being the primary game downstate unless the Jets or Giants are one of the participants. The reverse is most certainly not true.

I know SB Nation can’t allow people to post links to websites where you can get the games because of possible legal repercussions. Do you think Time Warner is blocking websites that carry illegal feeds of Sabres games to their internet customers that MSG carries?

They are not.

The biggest source of revenue for the NFL now is their TV carriers, the ticket sales and merchandising are gravy for the profit margin. It makes the most sense for the blackouts to end, so the networks that pay the big bucks to carry NFL games get better ratings and ad revenue.

It would also be smart for the NFL and for networks that carry games to offer internet viewing for an even greater viewing audience by following NBC’s lead. The internet is the future of media viewing, it would be smarter for the NFL and the networks that carry it, to do away with the illegal streaming sites by offering a superior product by giving full 1080p over the net, even if you had to pay for it, and ending local blackouts. This would bring in more revenue in the end for the NFL I am convinced.

Thanks for being vague. :-)

like normal Buffalonians. ; ) (Jeff Foxworthy-ism….hahaha)

I can sympathize with you, and our Canadian fans… but I include the rest of us, who either prefer not to, or simply don’t have the opportunity to, go to the stadium. I think there should be SOME way for that to happen. The networks/NFL are making plenty of money. I don’t see why we can’t watch our team. I don’t think it has as big of an impact on ticket sales, but then, i don’t have the numbers. I do know, that there are FAR more televisions in the area that would be turned to it, and more families and young people who might care more, if they knew they could watch them. As a child, i was a fan also of the Cowboys, because they were on every Sunday on Fox, and they were far easier to follow because of that.