NFL Merry-Go-Round: Relocation Roundelay

[Gothamite]

Fair enough. National media reports aren't exactly a barometer of anything besides what the national media thinks will sell.

[STL FANATIC]

Nevermind. Florio went back to trolling on the issue.

Still done in the connect the dots and speculate manner without substance, of course.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/07/rams-to-become-free-agents-in-two-seasons-but-where-will-they-go/

[Gothamite]

The only thing less informative than national sports media is local sports media.

EDIT: having read it, it's not a terrible article. Bit of fluff, but still. He appears correct on the facts, and labels speculation as such.

[theSLVRBCK]

Florio is such a tool...

...also in the news is this.

The Jags are thinking about putting the new video boards to use once they are installed by using a portion of them to run the NFL RedZone network during games. Which of course has brought out all of the "har, har ... it'd be the most popular game in the stadium, hurr durr" comments from all over the place. I have seen tweets and comments about San Francisco considering doing the same once their new house is built. Say what you want, The 'Stasche is certainly creative when it comes to finding ways to get the city/fans excited about this team again.

[IceCap]

I'm not sure "getting people to go to your stadium so they can watch a giant tv" is the best endorsement for your local fanbase.

[STL FANATIC]

Eh. It's all about enhancing the fan experience.

It's not secret that football suffers perhaps more than any other sport from all the modern advances in at-home viewing and the complimentary internet items (such as Twitter and monitoring fantasy, etc., etc.). The NFL's popularity and small schedule helps make up for some of this, but it's still a very real thing.

This is not a Jacksonville problem, this is a sport-wide problem. Big name collegiate programs are worrying about it, and I'm sure NFL teams are as well. There are a handful of teams that can probably always count on being a destination/event that don't need to worry about it, but for most organizations, the experience matters.

You certainly aren't trying to get fans to come to the stadium to watch other games, but the idea that the fans that are there watching your game can also keep tabs on the other games going on league-wide through the Red Zone channel seems like a good one to me. I think it's where the in-stadium experience is heading.

[Gothamite]

Yeah, that's not a Jacksonville problem. But swaths of empty seats while the team's trying to secure a playoff berth is.

I thought it was interesting that the team, in announcing the board, admitted that they're in a market where a significant percentage of football fans aren't fans of the Jags.

I don't begrudge Khan getting creative in trying to engage a moribund fanbase. I just hope they respond in kind.

[Island_Style]

Yeah, that's not a Jacksonville problem. But swaths of empty seats while the team's trying to secure a playoff berth is.

I thought it was interesting that the team, in announcing the board, admitted that they're in a market where a significant percentage of fans are actually fans of other teams.

I don't begrudge Khan getting creative in trying to engage a moribund fanbase. I just hope they respond in kind.

You always bring that up. One game. One game that needed very rare odds to happen for there to be playoff hopes. Odds that weren't even close to met even if the Jags had won. One game were the tickets were SOLD but record weather kept a lot home. It reminded me of this.

They were still playoff eligible. Why didn't they show up? Move them to LA!

[Gothamite]

False equivalencies are not, and have never been, your friend.

I didn't effectively say that the Jaguars were in a market full of fans of other teams. The Jaguars did. Good for them for finding a way to engage those fans, but the admission itself tells us a lot about how they view their own market.

Maybe they can turn it around there. Khan has done an awful lot already to do just that, and as I said before I hope the city responds in kind.

[dfwabel]

20+ years ago, "Touchdown Jacksonville" touted to the NFL that there were 10,000 Club Seats sold in under ten days and that the rebuilt Gator Bowl was to have the most seats between the goal lines.

What is the club's retention rate on club seats equal what it was during years 1-6?

I need to see which teams meet or surpass the CPI for ticket increases over the last 20 years or kept it the same only to "make good" on the CPI when they move into a new stadium.

[rams80]

I'm not sure "getting people to go to your stadium so they can watch a giant tv" is the best endorsement for your local fanbase.

Works for colleges.

Also, its as American as apple pie.

[STL FANATIC]

Yeah, that's not a Jacksonville problem. But swaths of empty seats while the team's trying to secure a playoff berth is.

Rather than debate the last point (as I don't have a perspective on it), I'll just say that wasn't the issue at hand. The issue at hand was whether increasing the in-stadium fan experience in ways beyond the on-field product is an overly desperate move or a relative necessity in todays environment.

I think it's the latter significantly more than the former.

[IceCap]

People stay at home to watch NFL football because it's more comfortable, they have easier access to the bathroom, and they have cheaper access to food and beverages. Not to mention that they don't have to pay for parking or worry about how much alcohol they consume. Equipping the stadium with better wifi and playing Red Zone on the screens doesn't negate the advantages that watching from home has over going to the stadium.

[STL FANATIC]

If that's truly the case, then the football game is the football game and there's no sense having anything more than a field and bleachers.

The truth is of course in the middle. You won't get someone to come to a game just because their phone works and they can see highlights of other games, but it will enhance their experience. And if they're sitting on the fence over whether or not to buy that ticket, the fact that they enjoyed their last experience to the stadium or were told by a friend how enjoyable it was, might be enough to make them go through with the purchase.

I agree it doesn't solve everything, and that's why football more than any other sport seems to be facing this issue with attendance. (Again, the short schedule and overall popularity buys them quite a bit of time to solve this issue, but it doesn't eliminate it.) But it's definitely the sort of thinking that has to happen to combat that.

[Still MIGHTY]

It won't entice more people to come to the games, but it won't deter them, either.

You might have someone saying, "I don't go to the games because I can't check on the other games and my wifi doesn't work so the experience kind of sucks just being trapped at this one game." So you take away some of those detriments. You're not going to have someone going, "They're gonna show RedZone on the big screen? WE GOTTA GET TO A JAGS GAME!" but it's a perk.

[Gothamite]

I agree it doesn't solve everything, and that's why football more than any other sport seems to be facing this issue with attendance.

Well, I also think that the attendance problem is the inevitable result of making the game more tv-friendly.

I don't go to games anymore because the pacing of games is so bad. The TV Timeouts just kill any sense of momentum from the stands.

The NFL is a victim of its own success; they worked so hard to create a product optimized for television that the product suffers when watched in person.

Is showing the Red Zone in the stadium a move born out of panic and desperation? Of course it is. But that doesn't necessarily make it a bad idea.

[LAWeaver]

If that's truly the case, then the football game is the football game and there's no sense having anything more than a field and bleachers.

The truth is of course in the middle. You won't get someone to come to a game just because their phone works and they can see highlights of other games, but it will enhance their experience. And if they're sitting on the fence over whether or not to buy that ticket, the fact that they enjoyed their last experience to the stadium or were told by a friend how enjoyable it was, might be enough to make them go through with the purchase.

I agree it doesn't solve everything, and that's why football more than any other sport seems to be facing this issue with attendance. (Again, the short schedule and overall popularity buys them quite a bit of time to solve this issue, but it doesn't eliminate it.) But it's definitely the sort of thinking that has to happen to combat that.

Id love to go to a Bengals game, but after I saw a show that said the average ticket is about 80-90 bucks, I'm just gonna wait till I've got a job first... And a car!

[The_Admiral]

Hey, let's go to a game to watch a giant TV. We're a nation of suckers.

This post was regarding the Jaguars' new video board. It applies even more now.

[rams80]

Oh come on now. "Dollar Beer Nite" is fueled by the same fiscal illogic.

[bosrs1]

Well it looks like Roski's LA stadium MIGHT be getting a push from the Raiders of all teams. Apparently Mark Davis and Roski have been having discussions about Davis selling half his controlling stake in the Raiders to Roski in exchange for the team moving into Roski's long on hold Industry Stadium. At the same time the preliminary numbers on the Raiders new stadium in Oakland aren't looking good. Apparently the cheapest option the team wants to use would cost $900 million+ and the city still wants a dome which would cost even more. Meanwhile they're starting to realize they don't have the money to pay for such a venue in either case in Oakland especially since the last full portion of the G4 funding is now slated to go to Atlanta leaving G4 all but tapped out.

The NFL would still prefer the Raiders move to Santa Clara, but that doesn't look like it's in the Raiders cards. Would Industry be a tempting target for the Rams as an additional team?

http://www.newballpark.org/2013/07/08/coliseum-city-already-running-into-financing-problems/