NFL blackouts are a marketing fumble, ad guy says
The St. Louis Rams apparently don’t have to worry about a television blackout for their home opener, but it could become an issue later in the season. Fans of the Jacksonville Jaguars, for example, have already suffered from the National Football League’s policy of not televising games locally if they’re not sold out 72 hours in advance.
Bob Gilbreath, an executive with Cincinnati marketing firm Bridge Worldwide, thinks the NFL is committing a marketing blunder by punishing fans during a recession. On his Marketing with Meaning blog, Gilbreath writes that the blackout policy could “put the country’s most popular spectator sport on a slippery slope downhill.” He continues:
While unsold tickets are an economic reality, the decision to prevent local fans from cheering their team on TV is entirely the NFL’s fault, and it is just plain poor marketing. Look, there is a clear difference between the audience for game attendance and TV viewership. …
Offering “free” viewership at minimum should be considered the most meaningful marketing investment by the league, as it feeds fan frenzy and loyalty. You could even consider it a free sample that helps excite people enough to eventually buy a ticket, and maybe even season tickets when their incomes rise over time. This “free sample” also leads to huge advertising revenues and sales of sports merchandise at huge margins. Why cut off the fans who feed you? Why cut off the most powerful form of marketing you have when you need it the most?
Well, Bob, they don’t call it the No Fun League for nothing.
(7 votes, average: 3.14 out of 5)
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David Nicklaus has covered St. Louis business for more than 25 years. His column appears three days a week on the Post-Dispatch business page. 
The NFL is a joke. It is all about the almighty dollar, which believe me I get it. But to not televise home games whether we are in a recession or not is BS. Roger G. and Paul T. before him are all about power and control. I could care less if the NFL went under.
College Football is #1.
Some good news for STL for a change. There will be a Packer convention coming to St. Louis this weekend. 10,000+ Packer fans in full regalia at the ED. And they said St. Louis couldn’t land big conventions? Ha!
Speaking more as a football fan than a marketing person, I like the blackout policy. If the local team is so bad they can’t sell out, we’ll likely see a better game on TV that weekend.
If you want to watch the game, buy the tickets. The NFL is only punishing themselves and not the fans for not showing the game. Fans could follow the game on radio, premium cable/sattelite packages and the internet. In addition, there are football games on TV that are more competitive than the Rams are. Furthermore, the Rams did not increase ticket prices, in fact, they have been selling discounted tickets through group rates. For example, the city of O’Fallon, MO is offering discounted tickets to its residence. And if you search on Craigslist, you can find good seats to the Packers game for 50 percent off the face value from those desparate to get rid of them. There is no reason to lift the blackout becuase people are not going to watch an untalented team anyway. The NFL, just like all businesses, are optimistic that the economy will recover. Once it does, the blackouts will go away. If you are struggling in this recession, there are more important things to worry about than watching sports on TV.
They are arogant plain and simple.
The theory behind the black out rule is that it will sell tickets, well MLB, NHL and the NBA have all proven that theory incorrect.
I highly doubt that blacking out any game sells more than a handfull of tickets.
Hey Jerry,
Are you employed by the NFL? Also thanks for telling me what I should be doing with my Sunday.
If I am being affected by the recession what should I be watching on Sunday? Should I be watching the financial reports which show my 401k and IRA going down the drain?
Joker.
The NFL should be forced to let home cities see the program if they force the tax payers of these cities to pay for THEIR teams and THEIR stadiums period.
I’m looking forward to this football season in St. Louis…due to the blackout policy I’m hopefully going to get to see an entire season of Chicago Bear games….GO BEARS!!!!
I was thinking of going to visit friends in Jax in October. We would have more fun watching the game at Pete’s Bar instead of at the stadium. May not go if game will be blacked out.
Anyone who thinks that the NFL keeping the blackout rule in effect is a fool. Think outside of St. Louis for a minute….Unemployment is near 20% in Detroit and the team can’t win. How on earth can it be good for them to keep the games off TV locally when no one can afford to buy the tickets..and even if they could, the product isn’t worth the cost. What happens when the economy does turn around there…do you think they’ll flock back to buy Lions tickets? They are shooting themselves in the foot big time.