The NFL Is Seriously Concerned With Empty Stadiums

[Eleazar]

The NFL Is Seriously Concerned With Empty Stadiums

By: Ryan Phillips | September 13, 2017


Week 1 of the NFL season had plenty of important stories worth following, but maybe the most entertaining was the mostly empty stadiums in Los Angeles and Santa Clara. Both the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers had sparse crowds for their home openers, and that has not gone unnoticed by the NFL.


Ian Rapoport ✔ @RapSheet
NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart on the attendance in LA & SF: “Any time we empty seats that something we want to address.” Focused on sellouts.
10:29 AM - Sep 13, 2017


Ian Rapoport’s report (try and say that fast five times) above shows that the league is clearly worried about the optics of half-filled stadiums. And they should be. It’s embarrassing for the league.

This is what the 49ers crowd looked like at the start of the second half in Week 1:



And here’s what the Rams crowd looked like in the first quarter:



Here’s the thing, the NFL’s plans for relocating teams have been hilariously ham-fisted. Moving the 49ers to Santa Clara, 45 minutes from San Francisco was a moronic decision. Levi’s Stadium is also positioned so roughly 70 percent of the stadium bakes in the sun with no chance of shade.

Meanwhile, the Rams might actually have decent attendance once they move into their new stadium, but that’s a huge gamble. Until then, they’ll likely be dealing with sparse crowds at the Coliseum for the next three seasons. It’s terrible optics for the NFL to have empty stadiums and absolutely no atmosphere for games.

And we haven’t even gotten to the Los Angeles Chargers, who haven’t even been able to sellout a 27,000-seat stadium. No one wanted the Chargers in Los Angeles, and it has shown so far. Dean Spanos and his family have consistently claimed they are pleased with ticket sales and “excited” about what’s happened with the franchise in LA, but look at the following picture for the team’s first ever official game in Los Angeles:



That was taken just before publishing this piece. Everything in color there is a ticket on sale for the team’s Week 2 matchup with the Miami Dolphins. Many of them are “re-sale” tickets that were likely snagged up by brokers when season tickets went on sale. Those brokers will likely aim to sell those seats to opposing fans all season. That graphic is stunning because it comes from just one ticket selling website, and there are several others that each have hundreds of tickets available.

The fact that the Chargers can’t find 27,000 fans to fill their tiny soccer stadium home for their opener in a new city would be shocking if you hadn’t followed this move from the beginning. But, let’s be real: there is zero buzz around the team, fan outreach efforts have been widely mocked and San Diego fans have abandoned the franchise en masse after the way the team’s ownership treated its former city. No matter how much lipstick the NFL tries to put on that situation, it’s always going to look like a pig.

Empty stadiums are a huge deal to the NFL. Yes, the league makes its money off of TV contracts, but when fans aren’t at games it has a detrimental impact on the product. It sends the message that games are boring, uninteresting and that people don’t want to have anything to do with them in person. That kind of message hurts the product as a whole.

Not to mention, players don’t want to play in empty stadiums, so those franchises will suffer when it comes time to lure free agents. That could lead to some teams being buried at the bottom of the league year after year and creating a cycle that leaves fans even less incentive to show up.

This is a major problem for the NFL. Maybe owners around the league will finally realize that their big, bold stadium and relocation plans should actually have more thought attached to them.


http://thebiglead.com/2017/09/13/the...mpty-stadiums/

[Prison Bitch]

"Hey look guys, I told you those gold seats were empty" - McLoudmouth

[Marcellus]

Lots of Eagles fans yesterday but the stadium was full and rocking pretty good.

A lot like Arrowhead in the 90's.

I didn't see a single belligerent drunk asshole or anything rowdy before, during, or after the game.

I did see a lot of fans chatting with the Eagles fans and talking football.

All in all a great time.

[The Franchise]

At this point....even if the Chiefs played the 49ers here....I wouldn't go see them. I'm not spending that amount of money and time to drive into that shithole of a city to be surrounded by a bunch of drunk ****ing idiots.

Unless it's a special trip to KC.....I don't plan on watching a live football game for a LONG time.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

At this point....even if the Chiefs played the 49ers here....I wouldn't go see them. I'm not spending that amount of money and time to drive into that shithole of a city to be surrounded by a bunch of drunk ****ing idiots.

Unless it's a special trip to KC.....I don't plan on watching a live football game for a LONG time.

I think it's not necessarily one thing but all of them combined.

Hd capability now sitting on the coach, the price of games and such etc. the league has overplayed its hand a bit imo

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

"Hey look guys, I told you those gold seats were empty" - McLoudmouth

Shut the **** up.

What the ****'s wrong with you, besides the obvious?

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Lots of Eagles fans yesterday but the stadium was full and rocking pretty good.

A lot like Arrowhead in the 90's.

I didn't see a single belligerent drunk asshole or anything rowdy before, during, or after the game.

I did see a lot of fans chatting with the Eagles fans and talking football.

All in all a great time.

Except in the 90's there wasn't alot of opposing fans showing up. It seems to me that is becoming more the norm these days.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

Except in the 90's there wasn't alot of opposing fans showing up. It seems to me that is becoming more the norm these days.

I went in 2005 vs Eagles and they were all out in force. And shrouded the Plaza the night before. I don't think this is new.


In the 80s, Raiders and Donkey fans were everywhere and whenever the 49ers or Cowboys or premier team came, it was 50-50

[O.city]

It's a lot easier to get tickets now with StubHub and Ticketmaster etc

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

I went in 2005 vs Eagles and they were all out in force. And shrouded the Plaza the night before. I don't think this is new.


In the 80s, Raiders and Donkey fans were everywhere and whenever the 49ers or Cowboys or premier team came, it was 50-50

I worked Security for the Chiefs for 6 years in the 90's and don't really remember that many opposing fans showing up but my memory could be failing me. I know tickets were hard to come by and back then there was no Stubhub like there is now. The last game I went to was in Oct 2015 against the Steelers and half the stadium was Steeler fans.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by O.city

It's a lot easier to get tickets now with StubHub and Ticketmaster etc

Plus, certain teams travel better than others.

A friend of mine that lives in SoCal purchased Club Level seats at Arrowhead for the Steelers game this October, which cost him $350 per ticket.

Isn't that way more than face value?

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Plus, certain teams travel better than others.

A friend of mine that lives in SoCal purchased Club Level seats at Arrowhead for the Steelers game this October, which cost him $350 per ticket.

Isn't that way more than face value?

For club level seats, I don't think so. Not sure tho

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by O.city

For club level seats, I don't think so. Not sure tho

Yeah, I have no idea.

The tickets are sold out via the Chiefs, so it's Stub Hub or the like for tickets at this point, which are usually jacked up (at least out here).

[Chief_For_Life58]

I mean the chiefs stadium yesterday was 80% full. Drop the ticket prices reeruns. Don't need a economic masters degree to realize you need to drop the price to increase the demand

[O.city]

Drop the price and fill up the stadium will end up making them the same money as an 80% full stadium at current prices

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Chief_For_Life58

I mean the chiefs stadium yesterday was 80% full. Drop the ticket prices reeruns. Don't need a economic masters degree to realize you need to drop the price to increase the demand

Don't tell that to Prison Bitch or she'll neg rep you