Blackout in Atlanta?

[novelist_wannabe]

Falcons could be blacked out because of low ticket sales. Even if they're not blacked out, will anybody watch?

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/stories/2007/10/30/falconstix_1031.html

 

[Batman]

Big whoop. Growing up near Philadelphia in the 80s, this was a way of life.

 

[playthrough]

Thought this was a disaster thread...sheesh, first the water is disappearing and now the electricity!

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Tix were cheap, you could by upper deck then upgrade in the middle of the second quarter, a practice learned from empty Braves games.

 

[buckweaver]

Tix were cheap, you could by upper deck then upgrade in the middle of the second quarter, a practice learned from empty Braves games.

Hell, I still do that at Braves games. $1 skyline or $5 G.A seat for about three innings, then slip into a row behind the dugout to watch the rest of it.

 

[slappy4428]

Atlanta has a football team? No ****...

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

People forget the Detroit Lions were often blacked out when they played at the 75,000-seat Pontiac Silverdome. It was almost a weekly occurrence.

 

[MileHigh]

Used to have Raiders and Rams blackouts in SoCal all the time.

No problems with that where I'm at now. Except the team stinks.

 

[slappy4428]

People forget the Detroit Lions were often blacked out when they played at the 75,000-seat Pontiac Silverdome. It was almost a weekly occurrence.

Often? Other than Thanksgiving, they probably showed like two home games from 1994-2006

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

People forget the Detroit Lions were often blacked out when they played at the 75,000-seat Pontiac Silverdome. It was almost a weekly occurrence.

Often? Other than Thanksgiving, they probably showed like two home games from 1994-2006

Exactly. I can remember Ford and Chrysler and other huge corporations scrambling to buy up ticket lots when it looked like there was a chance a game would be soldout.

 

[The Commish]

People forget the Detroit Lions were often blacked out when they played at the 75,000-seat Pontiac Silverdome. It was almost a weekly occurrence.

Silverdome had football seating for 80,300 and change.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

I've never really understood the blackout rule. You're going to create interest in your game by not showing it on TV? They have to sell 3,000 seats by tomorrow, or the game will be blacked out locally. The Georgia Dome seats 71,000, and I take this to mean they'd sold 68,000 at press time. There are 16 stadiums in the NFL where they would have already qualified to lift the blackout.

 

[Joe Williams]

I've never really understood the blackout rule. You're going to create interest in your game by not showing it on TV? They have to sell 3,000 seats by tomorrow, or the game will be blacked out locally. The Georgia Dome seats 71,000, and I take this to mean they'd sold 68,000 at press time. There are 16 stadiums in the NFL where they would have already qualified to lift the blackout.

The Wirtz family in Chicago helped create the current irrelevancy of the NHL Blackhawks by refusing for decades to telecast home games, even through long string of sellouts. NFL doesn't have that sort of problem now, but some kid who can't watch a game or three now is a future businessman not buying season tickets.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

I've never really understood the blackout rule. You're going to create interest in your game by not showing it on TV? They have to sell 3,000 seats by tomorrow, or the game will be blacked out locally. The Georgia Dome seats 71,000, and I take this to mean they'd sold 68,000 at press time. There are 16 stadiums in the NFL where they would have already qualified to lift the blackout.

I've always said the NFL should only require each team to sell a set amount of tickets, that set amount being the average number across the league. That is to say add up all the seating capacities and divide by 32. You hit that number in ticket sales, you're not blacked out. Because let's face it, all the stadiums are different in terms of capacity.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Does that mean they can watch a good game instead?

 

[heyabbott]

I thought this thread was about all of Michael Vick's fans leaving Atlanta

 

[Captain_Kirk]

Forecast for Sunday is 66 degrees and sunny. Something tells me most of Atlanta will be doing other things Sunday afternoon whether this game is televised or not.

 

[heyabbott]

Forecast for Sunday is 66 degrees and sunny. Something tells me most of Atlanta will be doing other things Sunday afternoon whether this game is televised or not.

Perfect weather to take your dog to the park, or a fight.

 

[Nathan Scott Phillips]

I've never really understood the blackout rule. You're going to create interest in your game by not showing it on TV? They have to sell 3,000 seats by tomorrow, or the game will be blacked out locally. The Georgia Dome seats 71,000, and I take this to mean they'd sold 68,000 at press time. There are 16 stadiums in the NFL where they would have already qualified to lift the blackout.

I've always said the NFL should only require each team to sell a set amount of tickets, that set amount being the average number across the league. That is to say add up all the seating capacities and divide by 32. You hit that number in ticket sales, you're not blacked out. Because let's face it, all the stadiums are different in terms of capacity.

That number of tickets should be zero. Local blackouts have no place in the modern world where network TV money provides more money per team than the salary cap. The rare team that can't sell out can just lower prices if they are interested in doing so.

 

[TyWebb]

I was a little curious when the Falcons bought ad space in our paper to sell tickets. It all makes sense now.

As a Falcons fan, I kind of appreciated that off week last Sunday. A blackout would be like an extended vacation. Do I really want to watch this?