2010 NFL Redzone and Sunday Ticket Affecting Stadium Attendance & Ticket Sales

   During these economic times, people are finding alternative entertainment at home to save money and time. The NFL is one of the alternatives for the modern at home fun. Many families are looking to high definition television and surround sound systems to produce the look and feel of going to the movie theatre. While the complete experience of the being at the theatre is not there, the time and money saved from driving can be appreciated for a person who has kids and works 10-hour shifts. The film industry has taken a huge hit because of the new technology at our disposal. These growing trends also seemingly affect ticket sales in the NFL.

   The NFL has made their league very accessible. While the hard-core fan will pick up the $200 plus Sunday Ticket, now the NFL Redzone can be purchased through Dish Network for a measly $7 a month. The Redzone is a frenetically paced channel that gives you all the action conveniently packaged where every game is highlighted when a team is in scoring position. It is an excellent alternative to spending money on the Sunday Ticket or packing everybody up in the car and driving to the stadium.

   You can watch the NFL in so many distinctive formats. A viewer can pick up his cell phone a watch games and highlights. Also, new technology called Sportsvision is like an iPod for the sports fanatic, which is still in its infancy. Even the businessman working a Sunday can pick up the game on his Mac or PC or on satellite radio. With so many options, the current tendency of staying home and watching games could be a correlation with declining NFL ticket sales.

   NFL attendance has fallen in the past three years. This level hasn’t been observed since 1998. In 2007, the NFL posted a record high of 17.4 million in ticket sales and 67,755 in average game attendance. The numbers have been on the way out since the recession began. This is due in part to economic issues and the new trend of home entertainment technology, that is leaps and bounds in front of what it was just five years ago. One ticket to an NFL game averages $75.00, so a group of four pays $300. That alone is just for the ticket. That doesn’t include the twenty-dollar parking and the food and drinks with highly inflated prices. Sometimes, the traffic and stress of going to the game just doesn’t seem worth it when everybody can be in the comfort of their own home, with the pause button and the bathroom within steps of the HDTV or 3-DTV .

   While ticket sales are going down, the TV ratings are at an all-time high.  The 2009 regular season saw a 9% increase and if currents trends stay; the 2010 season will grow its viewership by 15%. They already own the highest cable TV ratings this year.

   The NFL has problems that most of us would love to have. They have created a product that can be sold to a consumer in so many different ways, so the stadium experience to some is overpriced and a bad investment. They are trying to implement the same digital technology into the stadiums, so fans that are gambling or are just interested in multiple games can stay current. There will be a time when high priced seating will have screens with them like the forgotten movie drive-in speakers. Also, with smart phones and the new app-craze, the NFL is currently trying to storm that market so the fan can use an app at the stadium much like the Redzone is used for home viewers.

   If you took the average ticket price for a group of 5 and added 2 drinks and a meal for each, it would fall around the area of $500. That doesn’t even include the gas, tailgating supplies or parking. If the family were to spend and average of $700 on three Sunday games, they could have of bought a reasonably priced HDTV and with some bells and whistles.

   While some love the experience of being at the game or at the theatre, other consumers see the whole day as a bad investment when other paths of entertainment can be taken. Until the economic issues in our country are figured out, many families will choose to stay at home for entertainment. No matter what the TV ratings or tickets sales are for the NFL, the sport is growing popularity at an incredible rate no matter how each demographic gets their football fix.