State Government Taking On Blackouts?
October 18th, 2011Florida State Senator Mike Fasano, a man who routinely litters the Bay area with unlawfully placed political signs during election season, says he wants to invest time finding a way for government to force all Bucs home games to be televised.
Fasano says taxpayers funded the stadium, therefore the blackout rule shouldn’t exist locally. Joe can’t stand this kind of ridiculous political grandstanding.
The local FOX affiliate put together a report. You can watch it below.
October 18th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
While I would love to see the Bucs games on TV and I did vote for Senator Fasano, I really can’t support this legislation.
The government really has no business being in this issue. It’s an issue between the NFL and their fans.
October 18th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
How’d you like to pay rent and not be able to live there?
NFL is missing out on more than they think. Entire generation of local kids don’t even know what Bucs game looks like on T.V.
Ill say it one more time, I’ll never spend more than $50 on a football game.
Went to the Bolts game last night. Had a blast for less than $40 for two tickets. Pipe organ was SWEET! Take a page Bucs. Bolts know how to do it.
October 18th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
I hate that rule we can’t watch the game in the stadium my tax dollars paid for bout time the government do something besides take my money
October 18th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
I would bet that within a few years blackouts won’t be allowed.
October 18th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Why isn’t is a government issue? The government funded the stadium they play in, and the government allows the NFL to operate a monopoly. The NFL leans on the government for a lot of things. I think it’s only fair for the government to stand up for it’s people when they asked of so much by the NFL.
October 18th, 2011 at 4:58 pm
Why isn’t this a government issue? The government funded the stadium they play in, and the government allows the NFL to operate a monopoly. The NFL leans on the government for a lot of things. I think it’s only fair for the government to stand up for it’s people when they are asked of so much by the NFL.
October 18th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
The NFL will have to make a move very soon. Whether it’s pay per view or a special one time fee by the NFL network or Direct TV; they are already losing Billions of Dollars. Think of the revenue not only from the blacked out games (which will eventually happen with most small market teams), but the potential for legal internet streaming for the Millions of people who have to work on game day & night. This is the wave of the future & I think the NFL realizes what needs to be done.
October 18th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
The NFL cannot do anything until their current contract with Direct TV is up (2014) at which point I am assuming you will be able to watch blacked out game by pay per view which would make sense for all parties involved. If they renew the current system and contract with Direct TV they are fools.
October 18th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
if this country had LESS government everyone would have money of THEIR own monies……bitch slap folks….. budding entrepreneurs could start up without proving to to a pyramid of governmental do gooder agencies.
If this country simply just tapped its own energy resources both oil and natural gas….HELL…..10 years ago no one thought twice about forking over double the cost of a single seat season ticket price….for a season ticket….folks decided over buying a new car…a boat….a kitchen remodel….or all of the above……the federal government borrows 43 cents from the world…..for every dollar it spends..errr correction……the world has not been so eager to buy our debt offering….so the government buys its own debt…..this simply is preposterous
October 18th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
Political grandstanding or not, he is correct. Why Joe are you arguing in support of a senseless rule that punishes local taxpayers imposed by a private company that profits from public money? This position is strange and one that would not be offered by a pure fan.
I thought that the blackout tour wasnt that profitable? If I am wrong I get it. Why not argue to make games available to people in our community who cant afford to go. IE the sick and infirm who contributed tax money to build and maintain the stadium and would like to see a bucs home game.
What a horrible outcome of this legislation? Yes the Glazers dont want it bc 40k might be the new average attendance.
October 18th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
Wow, I kinda agree with Thomas on this one.
October 18th, 2011 at 6:29 pm
Honestly this is all televisions fault. It’s not always so much people can’t afford it. But the made it so much more interesting to watch from home.
I go to games all the time but i also also DVR the games at home so i can re-watch and see anything i missed.
They’ve made it way to attractive to watch on T.V. versus real life. It’s there own fault.
I am on the fence about the Government getting involved. On one hand The NFL is a business and this is between them and us fans. BUT and there is a Big BUT about this.
A. The black out are hurting more then just the fans. They are effecting smaller business that thrive off the games being aired. Thus effecting the already wounded economy of the areas. This is a BIG issue the Government is trying to deal with and will overthrow the NFL if it has to. In order to help the economy again.
B. They are right WE Payed for this stadium. Therefore This Local Area(I am talking specifically the Tampa market) should be allowed to watch home games. Us fans literally pay for every piece of this team. Don’t think we should be punished.(my opinion)
October 18th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Whats the matter Joe? Fasano a democrat?
October 18th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Heck I’m down with the Pay per view style. I would spend what 29.99 to watch it at home.
October 18th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
Hey Joe…Thomas 2.2 just said you’re not a pure fan. You gonna let him get away with that? 😉
October 18th, 2011 at 7:34 pm
Fasiano is correct. We pay a 1c tax for the stadium. There is probably a lawsuit coming because its hurting the economy. After thinking about it, I can’t believe someone hasn’t tried to sue yet. Honestly, I’m sick of talking about it. There are more than a couple bars in my town that pirate the game every Sunday in HD. The NFL will realize its error eventually. Until then, screw them!
October 18th, 2011 at 7:36 pm
Go to the games or don’t, but stop whining about the rules when your side loses. In a free market, we have choices and or choices have economic consequences. I chose to attend the games, because I like the team and the atmosphere only 40k or more people can give. You may like sitting in front of your t.v., and that’s fine too. If enough people stay at home, it will force the NFL to change their blackout rule. Just please stop the whining about the kids, the Glazers and the “little guy”. It smacks of class warfare, populism, and quite honestly a little anti semitic (but not in that order). I could be wrong. Word?
October 18th, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Sounds like a simple deal. Show the game for the folks subsidizing your business or lose the tax breaks. I like it.
October 18th, 2011 at 8:41 pm
Government was brought into this matter when the Glazers asked the government (people) to pay for the stadium. In my book, the normal rules of capitalism are changed. This is NOT a pure argument of government-keep-out.
I have 4 seats and go to every home game. It still bugs me that they are blacked out.
October 18th, 2011 at 9:31 pm
Government should have never used tax money to build the stadium as it should have no business meddling in the affairs of the NFL and broadcasters.
You can’t use more government legislation to fix bad government legislation. All it would do is compound the problem. If the federal government had never gotten into the NFL in the first place none of this would be an issue.
Repeal the faulty legislation that has us in this mess(blackout laws, corporate laws etc). Adding more dirty legislative band-aids to festering legislative wounds just makes the government infection worse.
October 18th, 2011 at 10:00 pm
Umm, the government built the stadium. unless teh NFL wants to buy it from the taxpayers, then this is the issue. The NFL is a league formed by the owners. One owner, the Glazers, basically demanded a tax-payer funded stadium or they would move the team. The tax payers built the stadium and now, due to an outdated NFL rule, the taxpayers cannot watch the games payed in the house they built. The state legislature represents the tax payers. The taxpayers want to see the games and have voiced their frustration. . . so the legislator is hearing the voice of the tax payer and taking up the cause. (He is not going to be successful.)
I’m not sure what part of this is confusing.
The Black-out rule doesn’t make sense for the networks. Think about it, they can get the biggest crowd out of people watching the live game. Many will either watch a pirate feed or listen to Gene and Dave on 103.5. Far fewer will wait until the replay, avoid all forms of media and information to avoid hearing the score and watch the delayed braodcast like live. Further, if they wait for the delayed feed, they’ll likely skip the commercials too.
Game tickets are not the profit position of these games, it’s the TV contract and ad sales. If they get a big enough pattern of black-outs, the value of the TV contract diminishes. But maybe the NFL wants that, so they can migrate all games to the NFL Network.
October 18th, 2011 at 10:20 pm
@Jon It isn’t confusing at all. These blackouts are just another reason why the stadium should never have been built. Florida is in debt and it is because of stupid financial decisions such as this.
Do not give the government any more control over business. Letting them dictate how the NFL runs its business is giving the government a pat on the back for funding a project that the majority of Floridians dis not want. Not because it is blacked out, but because the majority of Floridians do not give a hoot about the Buccaneers yet payed to build the Stadium. They aren’t going to watch it anyways but they still have to pay.
The NFL wouldn’t have the monopoly it has if it weren’t for this exact type of government regulation.
“Game tickets are not the profit position of these games, it’s the TV contract and ad sales” Nail on the head.
October 18th, 2011 at 10:23 pm
And lets not forget that there are plenty of other events that take place at Raymond James year round that are not televised.
October 19th, 2011 at 1:19 am
Someone has to help Joe out. How exactly are blackouts hurting the NFL?
The league has never raked in more cash. TV networks have never paid out more cash; more people are watching NFL games than ever before.
If anything, blackouts may be helping. There are more blackouts in the past couple of years than in decades, yet the NFL has a virtual printing press of cash.
So how are the blackouts hurting?
Again, this rule has been in place for nearly 40 years. Were people this outraged in the pre-Dungy era with blackouts? Wasn’t the old Tampa Stadium also a publicly-funded stadium?
October 19th, 2011 at 1:37 am
The blackout rules were written before cable and satellite TV were invented. That is why the NFL should at least modify the policy. Because of 40 years of TV technological advancements the 75-mile radius encompasses well over 200-miles.
When the rules were written local TV broadcasts would be hard pressed to extend more then 75-miles. Think of Married with Children where Al would say, Fox viewing positions and they will all hold coat hangers and tin-foil all over the living room just to get the signal.
October 19th, 2011 at 3:47 am
@JK: Fasano is a Republican.
And he’s wrong. This is typical short-sightedness. There are tons of potential unintended consequences here that could create a real mess. There’s a reason why government doesn’t have the authority to intervene in a legal contract between private parties. If the government did have that power, then a contract wouldn’t mean anything anymore. no contract would be worth the paper it’s printed on if the government could simply step in at will and change the terms of the agreement. Going for short-sighted, popular fixes is what landed us in the trouble we’re in, in he first place. We have to be smarter, those of us in society and we have to elect smarter representatives. Sorry, Sen. Fasano, but if you’re arguing for more government control then you don’t sound much like a Republican. Time for you to reflect on whether your current motivation is principle or puplism. And while you’re contemplating, maybe you cam let us know when your term is up so we know how much time we have to find someone in the Republican Party with a defined set of principles to run against you in your next Primary. Fool.
October 19th, 2011 at 3:48 am
populism** (not puplism – bad keyboard)
October 19th, 2011 at 5:16 am
Joe, you would be hard pressed to make a case that black outs have increased revenues or popularity. If you can make the argument, I’d love t here it in all sincerity.
Football is simply becoming a more popular sport do to social shifts and fantastic marketing. Baseball is getting old and people are wanting to see more contact. Take MMA for example. Boxing is less popular than ever yet MMA is huge and growing. Peoples interests shift over time. Baseball was once far more popular than football, but it has become stale.
The stagnation will hit football too and it will eventually become a past time.
October 19th, 2011 at 7:51 am
Joe the nfl is making more money now because of television, merchandise and non ticket sales. The only reason game ticket sales revenues have not gone down is more teams and higher prices. The demand for tickets, especially in Tampa since Rah took over, is near an alltime low. The lightning are in greater demand.
October 19th, 2011 at 7:52 am
Blackout’s may not be hurting the NFL, but the potential lost revenue in these bad economic times is stagering. Even if they only allowed businesses to purchase the game @ $49.95; that’s probably several Million dollars just in this market. Then add the legal internet streaming for say $9.95 then you are talking 100’s of Millions on a weekly basis. This would solve several problems between the fans who are not able to make the games and the ownership who continue to look for new revenue streams.
October 19th, 2011 at 8:18 am
This blackout rule is nothing new. It was in place when the taxpayers agreed to fund the stadium. Why is it a problem now?
Government imposes itself in our lives enough. This is one place they don’t belong.
October 19th, 2011 at 8:25 am
I’m one of the people that buys tickets because of the blackout. I’ve been a fan since I got here in 1999. I went to about 5 games from 1999-2009. I haven’t missed one since they took them off TV. IMO, the blackout has a big effect, especially in these larger markets.
October 19th, 2011 at 8:51 am
You guys should not compare Lighning tickets to Bucs tickets. You have to figure in the number of games in a season. Football only has a hand full of home games, so of course it is more expensive.
October 19th, 2011 at 9:55 am
@keith I don’t think the black is the ticket seller so much as all the empty cheap seats still available days before home games. The blackout is just something that comes with it, but the empty seats and cheap prices sell themselves., albeit it takes a while these days where before they were snatched up a month in advance.
October 19th, 2011 at 11:45 am
I blackedout once, and ended up in the club section at the stadium!