yes, the blackout can extend to other TV markets. Here in NC the Panthers are in Charlotte but if they were blacked out it would extend to the Raleigh market which is over 100 miles away.
John Madden has discussed this problem several times recently during his morning chat on KCBS, and from what he says RealityChuck has it right. (And all teams share equally in the TV revenue.) He is concerned about the future of stadium attendance because kids today don’t go with their fathers to a game as often because of the massive expense. Add to that the problem of HDTV and large screens making the viewing experience at home almost better than at the game, and you have a big problem for the NFL.
I fail to see why the NFL would piss off local fans unless they expected to get more revenue from selling seats. I also fail to see why making an almost equal viewing experience available for free is going to sell more tickets to a game. Perhaps zamboniracer could illuminate this. As for bad weather, people have tickets already (a major investment these days) so they have incentive to show up. In any case, the blackout is based on ticket sales, not attendance, so even if 20% of ticket holders decided to stay home, the local broadcast would still go on.
Club seats do not have to be sold for a sellout. If you see empty seats on TV they are club seats. I think the Jets have not sold out their club seats yet this year.
I believe the blackout rule is supposed to be only a 75-mile radius from the hosting stadium, so that’s kind of weird. When the Bengals are blacked out in Cincinnati, for example, I can drive south to Louisville or north to Columbus to watch the games if I wanted to, both of which are about a 90 mile drive either way.
The economics of going to a game are certainly an issue, especially nowadays with unemployment and the economy being what it is. Even with that aside, it really is expensive to go to the games. Two tickets are $160, parking is usually another $20 or so, beers are $8 each, bottles of water $4, and so on.
I think another reason you don’t see as much father/son going to games is the high probability of exposing a child to drunken, profane behavior, which is rampant in many NFL stadiums. I know I wouldn’t take my 8 year old to a game until he’s older.
I don’t much enjoy blackouts at all, but I will watch an illegal stream on my computer if forced to. I go to a couple games a year but I can’t afford season tickets or even being able to go to more than two games or so. Heck, even with a free ticket from a friend I still end up spending about $150 there. Its not cheap at all. Baseball is much more affordable and family-friendly.
The problem is the Raleigh TV stations signals reach within 75 miles of Charlotte, so that’s why we are blacked out even though we are over 100 miles away.
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So I still haven’t seen an answer to the follow up question. If I am a bar owner with broadband, get an illegal feed, and hook it to a TV in my bar for my patrons to watch, what am I risking?
Let’s assume for the sake of argument my bar is in San Diego, I do not advertise the game anywhere, but just decide to show it as a treat to my customers. I have not charged anyone to watch the feed and am just doing it to generate additional food and drink sales. Assume I attract a big crowd through word of mouth, but someone reports me after the fact and let’s assume someone also films the evidence I did indeed show it on their phone. Who comes to nail me, and what would they do to my bar? Shut it down? Give me a huge fine?
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My guess is the NFL would tell the bar not to show the games again. If they catch the bar a 2nd time they might sue the bar.
That’s a public performance and thus copyright infringement and perhaps also theft of services. The N.F.L. and the satellite sports network will come after you. Copyright infringement can draw pretty huge damages. They won’t specifically shut down your bar, but it could bankrupt you, having the same result.
The NFL can be pretty draconian. Remember that big flap a couple years ago about a church group or something showing the Super Bowl on a TV larger than a certain size to a group of people that exceeded a certain amount?
I think stuff like that is bullshit. The NFL makes so much money its ridiculous. Shutting down a church party for some bullshit like that is just beyond the pale for me.
As for the illegal streams, I love them, and as a Bengals fan in this economy, I often need them. I will watch the game, motherfuckers!
I imagine an army of Mark Clayton look-alikes (or clones, even!) hooked up to computers via a surgically implanted brain input whereby they sweep the internet on Sundays looking for illegal streams to shut down.
If you’re going to dismiss the league’s own attendance data out of hand, I’m not sure what other cite I could provide. The blackout policy was originally adopted in 1950, after they found that attendance dropped by about half when a game was broadcast on local TV. Home games were not shown in local markets until 1973.
It’s like illegally downloading music. The odds are very strong in your favor that you’ll never be noticed or suffer any consequence. But if you do draw the short straw, the NFL can make an example of you by suing you for a massive amount.
And the fact that you weren’t charging for people to watch the game is meaningless. You don’t have to make any money to be charged with copyright violation. The copyright holder can sue you for damages on the assumption that you cost him potential sales of his product.