NFL Marketing an Oxymoron?

[moochman]

This is a blackout vent. The Lions, as some of you may have heard, SUCK. Also this area is in a recession that threatens to become crippling should the auto Cos not turn it around. So fans aren't buying the crap the Lions are selling. So the NFL marketing strategy is to black out the games so that people can do something else besides pay attention to the Lions. This, the morons feel, will help fan interest and ticket sales.
I kind of liken it to not advertising for something that isn't selling well enough. It isn't going to work. But the NFL are dinosaurs with very poor marketing savy. This brings me to today's venting. Why does this idiotic league insist on the Metro-Detroit 4pm broadcast game be the SeaWretches vs Skins?
Why on Earth would anyone but an addict bother to watch that game?
Wouldn't you thing the NFL marketing team would devise strategies that weren't created when Bart Starr was playing? Wouldn't you think it would be a little more enticing to show the Giants vs Arizona game? A battle of two first place teams, two opposing philosophies? Or would more people tune in to see a bad SeaHawk team go through the motions?
And the morons sit back and wonder why there aren't as many people watching a game that is eroding before our very eyes. Arrgh. Arrogant Dinosaurs are irking the heck out of me today.

[joejlitz]

This is ridiculous. The NYG/ARI game should be national - two 1st place teams going at it.
Even the CAR/ATL game is more interesting than SEA/WAS.

[D3C4K]

I feel the same way, guys. Every year I get worked up about the crappy games that air on our local networks, but this is the last year I'm going to put up with it. I'm getting a dish and Sunday Ticket w/ Superfan in 2009, the new fantasy-focused improvements put it over the top for me. Why watch another Browns-Rams matchup when I can see an actual NFL quality game and have an update tracker of my fantasy players' production, with redzone notices when any team gets into the redzone?

[kale2006]

They are showing the ARI/NYG game in St. Louis. So Im happy. GO WARNER!

[stomperrob]

...and that's why I l aways get Sunday Ticket, so I'm not forced to watch games I don't wanna watch.

I'm actually watching the Lions game right now 'cause my nephew said he was gonna be there and I figured there'd only be 10 or 12 people at the game so I'd be sure to spot him on TV!

[JasonSeahorn]

Don't fret mooch. No more Millen, the Lions future is bright. You will win Super Bowl XXXXLLLIII, I promise you.

[dream_017]

Not sure where you are at Mooch, but when I got home from the game, the NYG/Ari game was on Maybe they switched it at some point.

...and that's why I l aways get Sunday Ticket, so I'm not forced to watch games I don't wanna watch.

I'm actually watching the Lions game right now 'cause my nephew said he was gonna be there and I figured there'd only be 10 or 12 people at the game so I'd be sure to spot him on TV!

Sunday ticket doesn't help with the blackout rule though. By the way your nephew said hi, with 12 of us there we get to know one another pretty good

[flotsamnjetsam]

I'm with you mooch.

I never understood the blackout rule. Luckily I grew up in NY and both the Giants & Jets were on every single week. I never experienced the blackout rule until I lived in West Palm Beach. It was 1998 and Marino was still there. The games used to get blacked out all the time (not that I cared because I loathe Miami ). That year they had a 1st round playoff game hosting Buffalo. You'd think that a playoff game against a division rival would sell out. Nope. The local TV station bought the last 3-5,000 tickets just so they could broadcast the game. I really think the rule makes no sense. A LOT of people & families can't afford to go to the games. The NFL is basically telling these people that they don't care about them....unless people that can afford to go fill up the stadium.

On another note, something weird happened in my area with that game today. I was up at the local sports bar that I go to to watch the Jets & Giants play. I live in Florida now. I'm about 1.5 hours from Tampa, 2 hours from Jax, & 5 hours from Miami. At home they showed the Miami game & the Jax game at 1PM. No Tampa game. I figured that was because all 3 Florida teams were playing at the same time. So we're at the bar watching the Jets/Titans game ( We thought the Jets should've worn their old Titans jerseys...Clash of the Titans ) and we see that Detroit was up 17-0. This bar is awesome and there's 13 flatscreens behind the bar. 1 HUGE one that usually has the Miami game on it, and 6 smaller ones on either side. So we're sitting in front of 6 TV's and we asked the bar manager if he could change one of the games to the Tampa/Lions game. He couldn't! It was blacked out on their Direct TV package...and like I said earlier the local networks had only the Miami & Jax games on. I live 1.5 hours from Tampa and couldn't get the game....even with Direct TV's NFL package.

Is the Thanksgiving game going to be blacked out? Here's an article on that possibility:

http://www.freep.com/article/20081121/S ... 049/SPORTS

From the article it sounds like it might be blacked out in Detroit, but not the rest of the country. The writer is calling for special dispensation if the game doesn't sell out...like the NFL did for the Saints after Hurricane Katrina. Happy Thanksgiving to Detroit from the NFL...you can't watch your team play. That would be unreal.



I think the NFL should get rid of the blackout rule. I think the NFL should buy ALL unsold tickets to every game that isn't sold out and give them away to kids and their families. THAT would be marketing the NFL!

[moochman]

I think the NFL should get rid of the blackout rule. I think the NFL should buy ALL unsold tickets to every game that isn't sold out and give them away to kids and their families. THAT would be marketing the NFL!

Like I said, NFL marketing is an oxymoron. The same fools who sell you over-priced jerseys ignore that fact that when you can't see the games you tend not to want to buy the gear.
I do think that some local business will spring for the tix to allow the Turkeys to be seen on Thanksgiving.

The NFL cannot give away un-sold Lions tix to disadvantaged kids as that would be considered child abuse. Bah-dum bump. Though I would love to see the league use its power for good rather than evil. Instead of punishing fans who are already displeased (hence empty seats) punish the owners. Fine them the price of unsold tix times ten and have that money go to local boys clubs or other charities. Good PR and encourage owners to find a way to make tix more appealing. Like maybe building a good team.