Given their wait-list of 100,000+, I was shocked to read last week that the Packers put 40,000 tickets on sale for this Sunday's WC game. As of right now, they still have something like 8,000 tickets unsold, and they're not alone -- the Colts and Bengals are also having trouble moving tickets for this weekend's games, and they've all requested extensions from the league to sell what's left before blacking out these games locally (which hasn't happened in a playoff game since '02, Baltimore at Miami). Each team had strong immediate on-sales, but they've all but stopped since. The Eagles are the (so far) only team to sell out wild card weekend.
Teams are attributing it to short on-sale turnaround times (though the Bengals had an extra week), and a post-holiday wallet crunch (emphasizing that the NFL sets playoff ticket prices). Some on the internets are throwing the "it's way too expensive to attend a football game / sporting event" line out there, but only *two* games all season failed to sell out. If you've been unable to easily attend a regular season game (e.g. Green Bay), I can't see how demand would be actually be down for the playoffs.
The Patriots don't seem completely immune to this either, at least when put in perspective. As of this post, ten hours after the waiting list presale started, there are still tickets to be had all over the stadium. I don't ever remember tickets being available on the playoff presale this long after it began. What's worse, about five minutes after the presale started, the number of tickets on StubHub jumped from around 4,000 to just over 5,000, so many on the waiting list thought they'd make a quick buck instead). With more than a week to go, tickets are already dropping under face on there, and given the available supply, I suspect they'll drop to a fraction of the face price by day of game -- which is indicative of a larger problem across sports; with all of these distribution outlets, and rising prices, the "value" of having season tickets seems to be dropping dramatically.
So, the NFL, more popular than ever, is having trouble selling tickets to 3 of the 4 playoff games this weekend. Teams are scrambling, local television is concerned, small businesses (i.e. bars) are worried games won't be televised. In the end, we all know the games will be shown; either the tickets are really bought or some local sponsors buy out whatever's left just to get the games televised and pick up some publicity in the process. But it's really strange to me.
Thoughts around solving this, and whether it's indicative of a larger problem, and potentially not just limited to the NFL? (think MFY empty playoff games, back when they used to host postseason games).
For one, the FCC blackout rule has to go. I think most of us will agree there. Second to that, I really think season ticket holders should be required to purchase tickets to playoff games. In some markets (Carolina, I believe) this is the case. In others, including Green Bay, it's not. Where waitlists are so long, I do think teams could get away with requiring payment for the up to two additional games, much like most (all?) do for those meaningless preseason games that ticket holders actually do get stuck with.
Teams are attributing it to short on-sale turnaround times (though the Bengals had an extra week), and a post-holiday wallet crunch (emphasizing that the NFL sets playoff ticket prices). Some on the internets are throwing the "it's way too expensive to attend a football game / sporting event" line out there, but only *two* games all season failed to sell out. If you've been unable to easily attend a regular season game (e.g. Green Bay), I can't see how demand would be actually be down for the playoffs.
The Patriots don't seem completely immune to this either, at least when put in perspective. As of this post, ten hours after the waiting list presale started, there are still tickets to be had all over the stadium. I don't ever remember tickets being available on the playoff presale this long after it began. What's worse, about five minutes after the presale started, the number of tickets on StubHub jumped from around 4,000 to just over 5,000, so many on the waiting list thought they'd make a quick buck instead). With more than a week to go, tickets are already dropping under face on there, and given the available supply, I suspect they'll drop to a fraction of the face price by day of game -- which is indicative of a larger problem across sports; with all of these distribution outlets, and rising prices, the "value" of having season tickets seems to be dropping dramatically.
So, the NFL, more popular than ever, is having trouble selling tickets to 3 of the 4 playoff games this weekend. Teams are scrambling, local television is concerned, small businesses (i.e. bars) are worried games won't be televised. In the end, we all know the games will be shown; either the tickets are really bought or some local sponsors buy out whatever's left just to get the games televised and pick up some publicity in the process. But it's really strange to me.
Thoughts around solving this, and whether it's indicative of a larger problem, and potentially not just limited to the NFL? (think MFY empty playoff games, back when they used to host postseason games).
For one, the FCC blackout rule has to go. I think most of us will agree there. Second to that, I really think season ticket holders should be required to purchase tickets to playoff games. In some markets (Carolina, I believe) this is the case. In others, including Green Bay, it's not. Where waitlists are so long, I do think teams could get away with requiring payment for the up to two additional games, much like most (all?) do for those meaningless preseason games that ticket holders actually do get stuck with.
