Get Ready For Tarps At The CITS
June 1st, 2011
Joe has some good friends in Pittsburgh that he often visits. Joe has been fortunate/unlucky to see a Steelers game at Three Rivers Stadium and a Pirates game at Three Rivers Stadium.
A Steelers game at the old Three Rivers was electric. It was as if Joe was at a Florida-Florida State football game even though the Bengals (with Peter Warrick) were in town. That’s the closest to a college football atmosphere Joe ever experienced at an NFL stadium.
(Just to Joe’s right, two Steelers fans got into a fistfight over Jerome Bettis. One guy thought Bettis was old and washed up and the other thought Bettis was a deity. Can you imagine two Bucs fans getting into a fistfight at The CITS over Cadillac Williams? That’s crazy! Said fistfight over Bettis began when the anti-Bettis dude was whipped in the face with a Terrible Towel after the pro-Bettis began swinging his yellow rag wildly to celebrate a Bettis first down. Naturally being in Pittsburgh, alcohol was involved.)
A Pirates game made Three Rivers transform from a rowdy, packed house going crazy for football to a glorified concrete spittoon that may have had 9,000 baseball fans in it with 60,000 empty seats and these hideous Pirates tarps over the seats in the outfield’s upper deck.
Joe has also been to a Jags game a couple of times, and while Joe thinks the tailgating is the best for any NFL team in Florida (Joe loves the Bud Zone), those ugly-arse tarps in the upper deck of WhateverTheHellTheNameOfTheStadiumIsToday was gross.
Those eyesores could be coming to The CITS.
Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, via Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal, brings word that the NFL may vote later this month on a proposal to allow teams to erect tarps over unsold seats in order to lower official capacity and help qualify for a sellout. If Team Glazer participated, it could allow fans who don’t want to watch a home game at The CITS to watch the game at home.
NFL owners unexpectedly learned last week that the league’s season-ticket sales have moved at a brisker pace in 2011 than 2010, despite the lockout. Even more unexpectedly, the owners also discussed last week the possibility of allowing teams to cover up seats in order to ensure that TV blackouts are lifted.
According to Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal, the measure could result in a vote as soon as June 21, the next date on which owners will meet.
Florio makes two very interesting points:
1) Those tarps could be used to draw in tens of thousands of dollars, maybe more, with ads.
2) If teams use the tarps and there are no ads, the NFL should have the tarps used as a background for TV producers to stick images of fans on there so it looks like people are in the stands.
Joe never thought of Team Glazer erecting tarps to ensure sellouts and thus televise Bucs games locally, but it makes sense. It’s not like other teams haven’t pulled this stunt before.
June 1st, 2011 at 8:32 am
I would rather see “blow-up Buc Fans” waving and giving high 5’s. Just Velcro them to the seats. They could be inserted just about anywhere as opposed to large blocks with a tarp. Have you ever seen a tarp that didn’t smell like mildew or puke after the first week.
June 1st, 2011 at 8:56 am
“2) If teams use the tarps and there are no ads, the NFL should have the tarps used as a background for TV producers to stick images of fans on there so it looks like people are in the stands.”
This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
June 1st, 2011 at 9:03 am
so the nfl who still enforces blackouts are talking about allowing games to be televised as long as the empty seats are covered by a tarp or something along those lines right? how stupid…
I can see the money hungry nfl maybe using the space for advertising,etc but cmon empty seats are empty seats so just because you can squeeze a few dollars out of tarp advertising then you will allow games to be shown? what a crock…
im not positive but isnt the nfl the only league that blacks out non sellouts? I know ive seen nba and mlb games with tons of empty seats on tv before. the nfl sure has a high entitlement of itself putting itself over other major sports so heres hoping the nfl comes out of this lockout a little worse for wear because as they prove with every passing day every dollar matters to them
June 1st, 2011 at 9:33 am
It’s my understanding its not the NFL that requires the blackout – but the TV deal drives that bus…
I wonder what the networks think about it this idea?
June 1st, 2011 at 10:08 am
They love it. More eyeballs.
June 1st, 2011 at 12:01 pm
The whole thing is simply stupid.
IF the owners vote for that…. why can’t they just vote out the entire blackout policy?
You know, come to terms with the fact that the economy is stagnant, salaries are stagnant, & big screen HD TVs at home are the way alot of people are going to go from now on.
They priced themselves out over the past 12 years and now they are whining about it… boo hoo.
BUT, if they continue blackouts, they will do nothing but lose fans. I can sit at home and watch every game except my home town team????????? Ridiculous. Over time, me and my kids would end up being a fan of some other team (not that I would, but they would definately hurt the next generation fan if those kids can’t see their team)
June 1st, 2011 at 1:53 pm
Even worse is the fact that we’re blacked out here on the far east side of Orlando over a hundred miles away.
June 1st, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Lets use those inflatable waving wacky guys that used car lots have.
Better yet, GO TO THE GAMES!!!!
June 1st, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Sounds like Operation Fortitude!
BTW how much would tickets be for me and my inflatable family?
June 1st, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Why all the BS postering?
If a game is a non-sellout, what, am I going to watch on TV and think “gee. there’s a tarp on those upper deck seats, so I guess this is a sellout! Wow!”
If it’s a sellout, its a sellout. Dont put a wig on my uncle and call him my aunt.
They wont lift the blackout rule, but they will put giant sheets of plastic over seats and call it a sellout, if they so desire. Or not. Because we saw how hard team Glazer tried to sell games out last season. Any wonder why there is a lockout when owners were making money hand over fist?
Somehow im guesing this site thinks Jeff Faine is to blame for this
June 1st, 2011 at 6:50 pm
Jeff Faine wants to put tarps over the empty seats????
🙂
June 1st, 2011 at 7:34 pm
Bottom Line ? NFL Football is overpriced, and the fans are speaking with their wallets.
The Internet and various means are negating the blackouts, they can’t force us to attend anymore. Pizza Hut has cut Pizza prices in 1/2. The NFL better get the message, or face more empty seats this year. My Son and I are not buying seasons tickets for Tampa home games this year, like we did last year. Make room for us in the Limo to Ft Myers Joe!
June 1st, 2011 at 8:46 pm
“2) If teams use the tarps and there are no ads, the NFL should have the tarps used as a background for TV producers to stick images of fans on there so it looks like people are in the stands.” I pissed myself Joe thank you.
“Bottom Line ? NFL Football is overpriced, and the fans are speaking with their wallets.” Agreed, plus Huey Dewey and Lewey’s sales team bites. Did you see the pros selling tickets at the kick off party?
The recession changed everything and they to change their business plan or we will not come.
On a lighter note, since there is nothing really awesome to cover on a daily basis, can we get an expose on the new cheer leading squad? I’m just saying..
June 2nd, 2011 at 7:25 pm
Whatever it takes to get the games on TV, do it!