Memo to the NFL – if you want to address the issue of fans staying home on game day, lower your ticket prices! While you’re at it, stop charging $9 for a glass of beer!
We’ve gone through an era of escalating ticket prices across all of the major sports, and given the fallout of the 2008 economic crisis, expensive sports tickets have had to compete with other family dollars, and in many cases they are losing out. Throw in obsene prices for beer, soda and food and you end up with a pretty expensive proposition for families in particular.
But when you listen to NFL executives, you hear about making the stadium experience better, particularly with easy Wi-Fi access and all sorts of cool apps relating to the game. That all sounds great, but let’s not pretend it’s going to move the needle on decisions to attend a cold game for a bad team versus watching it on a big screeen television. This recent article throws cold water on the notion that fans care much about team apps or sports apps while they’re at the game. Developing a cool team app is not a silver bullet here.
I think plenty of fans will be happy to be able to upload Facebook photos and check fantasy football scores during an NFL game. But I suspect making the game day experience less expensive will go much further to bring the fans back.
I don’t read Mike Freeman much, but I’m sure the CBS NFL Insider has plenty of solid columns. His latest one, however, ends with one of the dumbest predictions I’ve heard in years.
What the NFL is doing is smart. It makes total sense. It also won’t stop the inevitable. Technology is getting so good that one day (very soon) stadiums will be vastly less populated and the fan experience will mostly be limited to watching the game in HD, on a couch, roast beef sandwich in hand, no line for the bathroom, no traffic, no huge fees for tickets or parking. In other words, technology and comfort will actually trump the excitement of being at a game.
One executive said the league’s relaxing of the blackout rule was a sign that the NFL sees the inevitable. “If you can’t beat ’em,” the person said, “join ’em.”
The route football is taking, to me, has a predictable end. The technology will only get better, and what makes things worse for the NFL is that it’s only a matter of time before tablets get better as well. One day you’ll be able to carry a game into the bathroom on an HD tablet, with game paused, then after the bathroom, kiss your girlfriend or boyfriend or both, answer the doorbell, get the nachos, cool the beer, then resume the game at your own leisure.
All happening in the palm of your hand. Can’t do that in a stadium.
So, judging by the NFL’s strategy, it looks like Schramm might be right. And if that’s so, it’s only a matter of time until we see the end of stadium football.
Not 50 years from now, but maybe within a decade or two.
The end of stadium football? Really?
This is a good example of someone noticing an important trend, the emergence of technology and how it affects our viewing habits, and then extrapolating the most extreme and ridiculous conclusion.
Look, there’s no doubt that with bigger and better HD TVs and the emergence of live games on phones and tablets we now have much better options that will compete with the stadium experience. And yes, as I get older, I’m much happier sometimes watching a game with friends in front of a big TV.
But, these experiences won’t completely replace the in-stadium experience. If you’ve been to an NFL game lately, you’ll notice that some things haven’t changed. For many people it’s more of an excuse to have a party, from the tailgating to the bar scene near many stadiums. In most cities, football Sunday is an event!
Also, there’s nothing like being there for a huge victory or seeing an amazing play live right in front of you. The wild euphoria you experience in the stands is hard to replicate when watching a game on your phone. Sports fans crave these experiences and we want to enjoy them with other fans.
Now, the real issue with attendance has more to do with the economy and grossly inflated ticket prices. Technology in the stadiums is also a factor, and of course the NFL is doing the right thing by giving fans more options with things like wi-fi.
But the stadium experience isn’t going away. That’s ridiculous. If attendance suffers due to competition from gadgets, then the greedy owners will just have to lower ticket prices, and maybe charge less than $6 for a friggin beer!
But that’s how the market works. Prices get adjusted to what people are willing to pay. Owners will make less from ticket revenues, but they’ll more than make up for it by charging for streaming rights!
