Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown: NFL should revise blackout policy in sour economy

[babylonsister]

Ohio Sen. Brown: NFL should revise blackout policy in sour economy
By Ben Geman - 09/12/10 04:17 PM ET



As football season gets underway, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is pressing the National Football League to revisit “blackout” policies that keep games off local television stations when they are not sold out.

In a letter late last week to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Brown says the league’s policy could prevent Ohioans from seeing Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns games on TV even though they can’t afford to attend them.

“While I understand the need for the league to sell tickets and maintain an attractive television product, NFL blackout policies should be revisited as our nation faces the worst economic crisis in generations,” Brown wrote in a Sept. 9 letter to Goodell.

“During these difficult times, working families are struggling to make ends meet. Although appealing, attending a football game is simply cost prohibitive for too many Ohioans. The average price for an NFL game ticket is $77 – nearly ten times the hourly minimum wage,” he added.

The policy keeps games off local stations if they are not sold out 72 hours before kickoff. According to a USA Today review this month, at least 11 teams could see blackouts in their home markets this season, continuing last year’s woes that saw blackouts at a five-year high of 22 games.

more...

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/118265-ohio-sen-brown-says-nfl-to-revise-blackout-policy-in-sour-economy

[Snotcicles]

1. I like it. nt

[babylonsister]

2. Me, too. nt

[OhioChick]

11. Me three!

:)

[one_voice]

3. I think it's a good idea...

Last year a couple of players (on various teams) bought the tickets so that the games would be shown. It'd be nice if more players stepped up and did this.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. A state rep in MO - good democrat - proposed a law last year banning blackouts

He was working with reps in a couple other states. His bill says that if taxpayer dollars are used to build stadiums, then taxpayers should have access to televised games and blackouts should be banned.

I believe the bill is still on the table.

[foxfeet]

5. Or they could simply cut ticket prices in a meaningful way.

[Dappleganger]

7. Won't happen.

Of course the teams continue to expect their yearly bribes from city officials in order to stay in the market. It sickens me how much Jax gives away to the Jags every year while the city is really hurting.

[Hawkeye-X]

13. I wantt that team to move elsewhere

Jax sucked today - and they beat my Broncos...

I blame the humidity.

Hawkeye-X

[Missy Vixen]

6. No.

I'm alone here, but truthfully? Let the NFL deal with the fact they've now priced the vast majority of American families out of their stadiums. I love football, but I can think of 20 things off the top of my head Congress should be addressing that are currently more crucial than whether or not NFL games are blacked out.

If the people of Ohio (and the people of Florida, and those who follow the Chargers, who are evidently also blacked out this weekend,) have the price of a stamp, a piece of paper, and an envelope, they'll be better off writing to Goodell's office over it.

The commissioner's office will be hard-pressed to NOT deal with this. They make more money from those watching at home than they do off those who go to the game in the first place; it's all about money with him, and the more games blacked out = the more money vanishes out of the NFL's coffers.

IMHO, YMMV.

[rucky]

8. You have a good point...

but I also think it IS appropriate for politicians to call upon corporations to start making some sacrifices that don't involve mass layoffs.

[Synicus Maximus]

19. I agree. We have a couple of wars, high unemployment, down economy

and Congress is worried about football games.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. The good PR alone could help ticket sales when the economy recovers!

Recommended.

[notesdev]

10. I got a better idea

They all get to work for minimum wage until they've paid back, with interest, the collective investment in stadiums for private profit.

The working man paid taxes to build those stadiums but is priced out of the games.

And then if the NFL wants to alienate its customers with stupid policies, let them, we'll have washed our hands and have no stake left in the game.

[babylonsister]

14. Great idea-that will surely work. NOT! People LOVE football.

Take it away and there will be lots and lots of very unhappy campers, myself included.

[notesdev]

15. Isn't that just what has happened?

Can you afford to drop hundreds of dollars to go to a football game?

The average person today can't.

So people are locked out of the games by high prices anyway - the game has been taken away from average people already. Only the relatively well off can still afford to attend one.

And now since people can't afford tickets, it's taken off their TV too.

So... at least with my method you wouldn't actually be paying for their bullshit whether you like it or not.

All of them, players and owners, are millionaires - it's their demand for ridiculous amounts of money which has priced normal people out of the game. One of the factors allowing them to be such spoiled brats is all the free money that pours into the enterprise from the tax coffers, and I assert that they are undeserving of it.

[babylonsister]

16. No, I've only been to pre-season games. I watch TV when able, and

the blackouts are frustrating.

The blackouts have been in effect for a long time if a game isn't sold out; doesn't make it right.

[notesdev]

18. Right

So why aren't the games sold out? Because the prices are too high and average people can't afford it.

Everything about the rules they have put together says that they don't give a squat about the average working man (from whose support the sport gained popularity in the first place). It's literally like a hostage situation.

The very fact that so much tax money is spent on their behalf ought to create a legal obligation for them to make their product available at the minimum by television. You are paying for it but they are denying you the product with these blackouts and the high ticket prices.

Not being one to advocate putting a gun to their heads and forcing them to play, the next most effective alternative is to say fine, if they want to behave that way they can do it on their own dime.

[Synicus Maximus]

20. All who? The players, the coaches, the staff?

Everyone associated with the team? Would you agree that people involved with movies and TV should only be paid minimum wage too?

[RB TexLa]

12. The only way ticket prices will be lowered is if games are blackedout

[Fumesucker]

17. I think they should drug test all the owners.. n/t