Bend over football fans. The NFL is flexing its schedule
This past Sunday was one of the first I know of where the NFL and NBC took advantage of its flex scheduling policy. This is wonderful stuff, if you're a couch potato.
Flex scheduling works like this. For years the NFL set its schedule before the season and it was cast in stone. The Sunday/Monday night games for national television were positioned to be marquee matchups, but as the season progressed, those matchups weren't necessarily still very marquee. Teams got better or worse than expected and sometimes the night games sucked. The answer...as the season progresses and one of the day games looks like a better match, move that game to the Sunday night spot for the national TV audience...and the associated TV contract. This is great...if you're watching on TV. It sucks for the guy expecting to put his ass in a seat.
Picture this. You buy tickets for you and the family..you, the wife and two kiddies. You're thinkin'...1:00 game, home in time for dinner, baths and in bed for school the next day. Let's say you paid $50 a ticket, so you're in $200 and ducking when the blimp goes by. (I could make the example more extreme by putting us on the 50 yard line with $1500 - $2000 tickets, at least $6000 for the family, but I think I'll still get my point across.) Then the NFL decides your game is more attractive than what they had on Sunday night, and NBC says you're sooo lucky because you've been 'flexed'. Nice attempt at spin, but no you're not. You're flexin' to grab your ankles. Now your game doesn't end until midnight. By the time you get out of your parking spot and back home, it's 2:00 in the morning and it's a school night. Knowing that, you can't take the kiddies anymore. You have to scramble for a baby sitter, maybe. Even if they're old enough that you don't need one, you still need to get to the game early...not to tailgate, mind you. You need to stand in front of the stadium mumbling "anyone need tickets" with all the scalpers, trying to unload those two tickets to recoup some of the $100 you paid for them, arguing with people who, if you tell them the tickets are a quarter, will refuse to give you more than twenty cents for them. Doesn't sound like such a hot deal now, does it?
Yeah, the NFL depends on people filling stadiums. They don't show a game on local TV if it doesn't sell out. The owners and player bitch and moan if the games don't sell out, complaining about the lack of football passion in the city. Yet, they have no problem screwing the people who do buy the tickets and go to the games if it'll get them a better TV contract. Keep taking us for granted NFL...and see where it gets you.
Flex scheduling works like this. For years the NFL set its schedule before the season and it was cast in stone. The Sunday/Monday night games for national television were positioned to be marquee matchups, but as the season progressed, those matchups weren't necessarily still very marquee. Teams got better or worse than expected and sometimes the night games sucked. The answer...as the season progresses and one of the day games looks like a better match, move that game to the Sunday night spot for the national TV audience...and the associated TV contract. This is great...if you're watching on TV. It sucks for the guy expecting to put his ass in a seat.
Picture this. You buy tickets for you and the family..you, the wife and two kiddies. You're thinkin'...1:00 game, home in time for dinner, baths and in bed for school the next day. Let's say you paid $50 a ticket, so you're in $200 and ducking when the blimp goes by. (I could make the example more extreme by putting us on the 50 yard line with $1500 - $2000 tickets, at least $6000 for the family, but I think I'll still get my point across.) Then the NFL decides your game is more attractive than what they had on Sunday night, and NBC says you're sooo lucky because you've been 'flexed'. Nice attempt at spin, but no you're not. You're flexin' to grab your ankles. Now your game doesn't end until midnight. By the time you get out of your parking spot and back home, it's 2:00 in the morning and it's a school night. Knowing that, you can't take the kiddies anymore. You have to scramble for a baby sitter, maybe. Even if they're old enough that you don't need one, you still need to get to the game early...not to tailgate, mind you. You need to stand in front of the stadium mumbling "anyone need tickets" with all the scalpers, trying to unload those two tickets to recoup some of the $100 you paid for them, arguing with people who, if you tell them the tickets are a quarter, will refuse to give you more than twenty cents for them. Doesn't sound like such a hot deal now, does it?
Yeah, the NFL depends on people filling stadiums. They don't show a game on local TV if it doesn't sell out. The owners and player bitch and moan if the games don't sell out, complaining about the lack of football passion in the city. Yet, they have no problem screwing the people who do buy the tickets and go to the games if it'll get them a better TV contract. Keep taking us for granted NFL...and see where it gets you.
John put this out here at 8:57 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home