NFL Twitter Mailbag: Blackouts

The Jacksonville Jaguars might not sell out a single home game this season, and the Washington Redskins might be selling tickets directly to scalpers. NFL teams' ticket sales, and the league-wide blackout policy of refusing to show games on local TV if they're not sold out, are grist for our latest NFL Twitter mailbag.

Your questions and comments, and my responses, are below.

ThunderingBlurb: Until fans stop paying scalpers $200 for a $90 ticket franchises will try to milk the cow to death. Clearly we have money. ... I meant that last part sarcastically. It's just when it comes to tix the usually savvy owners appear blinded by green.
This is an interesting issue: Some franchises, like the Jaguars, can't sell out their games. But other franchises, like the Redskins, sell out their games so easily that thousands of them are scalped for prices far above face value.

Ultimately, you're right: The owners are going to charge whatever they need to charge to maximize their own profits, and if that means some of the loyal fans can't afford to attend the games, so be it. But it is a shame that if those loyal fans live in a place like Jacksonville, they won't get to see any of their favorite team's home games in 2009.

BlogAndTackle: Pressure from other owners to keep the "NFL avg" tix price up - usually cited in releases about club tix increases - "at avg"
This came in response to my tweet about why teams like the Jaguars should lower their ticket prices. BlockAndTackle raises another interesting point: NFL teams sometimes talk about "average ticket prices," but the reality is those "averages" are meaningless. In some cases a few extremely expensive premium seats inflate the average price, and in other cases inexpensive seats that the general public never get a chance to buy bring down the average price. The average price of all tickets doesn't really matter to the average fan; what matters is whether some tickets are affordable and available.

ish45: I'd rather just watch on the dish and my plasma than shell out a few hundred$$ to see in person.
I agree with you. The combination of HD TV and DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket package have made Sundays on the couch an experience that is in many ways superior to Sundays in the stands. The NFL is thrilled with the success of Sunday Ticket and its other TV programming, but the league is also concerned about the inability of many franchises to sell out stadiums.

That's why the folks in the league office feel more strongly than ever that they shouldn't lift the blackout rule: They still want the in-stadium experience to be a big part of their sport, and they think the blackout rule is the best way to protect that experience. Blackouts aren't going anywhere.

Want to be part of our next NFL Twitter mailbag? Post a question or comment on Twitter.com, and be sure to start it with @MichaelDavSmith.