Bad News for Non-Season Ticket holders - A first in 10 yrs...BLACKOUTS!

[Magnaccia]

They'll buy them out themselves, there won't be blackouts, that hurts the revenue.  

Ticket sales aren't down because of the price, it's because the media has everyone in town hating the coach and FO and thinking we're gonna stink.  There's no passion there.  


Hardcore fans know better, but casuals don't.  And we need the casuals to fill the seats.

ENGH. Wrong buddy.

They're down because the economy sucks. It's just a wee bit harder to justify going to an NFL game when gas is outrageous, seats are outrageous, concessions are outrageous, etc etc etc.

There are pretty much two types of people who goto an NFL game. People who are diehard fans who will be there regardless and people who do it for entertainment. When the economy sucks, the entertainment well dries up.

[Madman]

Let's not discount the state of the economy. People are out of work. Businesses are closing. Even freakin' Starbucks is closing some of their locations.

Expensive football tickets are a luxury not a necessity.

[Madman]

In better news...

Women's beach volleyball is on now

[Boid Fink]

NFL package rules...

This team lacks "star power"..... it we had players to be excited about, people would find a way to buy tix. Tampa isn't the only city feeling the crunch of a saggin economy.

NFL package rules...

Without a doubt. Have had it for 10 yrs and don't know what i'd do without it.

[bradentonian]

They'll buy them out themselves, there won't be blackouts, that hurts the revenue.

Ticket sales aren't down because of the price, it's because the media has everyone in town hating the coach and FO and thinking we're gonna stink. There's no passion there.


Hardcore fans know better, but casuals don't. And we need the casuals to fill the seats.

Unbelievable.  I was going to make a flippant comment about it being the media's fault, but here is someone positing it as fact.  Unbelievable.

They'll buy them out themselves, there won't be blackouts, that hurts the revenue.

Ticket sales aren't down because of the price, it's because the media has everyone in town hating the coach and FO and thinking we're gonna stink. There's no passion there.


Hardcore fans know better, but casuals don't. And we need the casuals to fill the seats.

Unbelievable.  I was going to make a flippant comment about it being the media's fault, but here is someone positing it as fact.  Unbelievable.

I've made the same point before, many times.  And it is the primary cause. 

 

Let's not discount the state of the economy. People are out of work. Businesses are closing. Even freakin' Starbucks is closing some of their locations.

Expensive football tickets are a luxury not a necessity.

The economy is nowhere near as bad as the perception of the state of the economy.  People think this is bad, have never been through a real recession.  There are still more than enough people who can easily afford tickets. I'm sorry if you are making minimum wage, but not everyone sees dropping the price on these seats as an unaffordable luxury.  The problem is they have little interest in going.  As 'hate" mentions there's little star power.  And the up-and-down ride of the last few years has hurt as well.  But the portrayal in our local media is morbid, people expect us to royally stink this year, and have no confidence in the FO to move forward, so they're not buying early.  They will buy more when we start winning, regardless of your opinion on the economy.  But now they expect us to stink, so they're not buyin in.

They'll buy them out themselves, there won't be blackouts, that hurts the revenue.

Ticket sales aren't down because of the price, it's because the media has everyone in town hating the coach and FO and thinking we're gonna stink. There's no passion there.


Hardcore fans know better, but casuals don't. And we need the casuals to fill the seats.

Unbelievable. �I was going to make a flippant comment about it being the media's fault, but here is someone positing it as fact. �Unbelievable.

Blaming the media is really lame, and insulting to many Bucs fans.  You are trying to say fans are not savvy enough to draw their own conclusions about the team.   After 6 years in Tampa our offensive genius has yet to produce the slightest flicker of a dynamic offense.  People do not believe in the hype anymore, and that is 100% understandable.

BTW - $4 gas and the state of the economy is having far more impact on many fans than the local media could ever dream of having.

The economy is nowhere near as bad as the perception of the state of the economy.  People think this is bad, have never been through a real recession. 

Wrong thread for it really but its not just about a recession this time around.  The average American has seen wages not keeping pace with inflation for close to a decade now.  Now we have fairly high inflation, especially at the gas pumps, and many are suffering.

[stereochemistry]

Let's not discount the state of the economy. People are out of work. Businesses are closing. Even freakin' Starbucks is closing some of their locations.

Expensive football tickets are a luxury not a necessity.

I wouldn't be shocked to see the NFL find a way to keep all of their games on TV, blackout rules be damned.

Or does everyone think it's just the Bucs who are in danger of not selling out?  There's probably more  than a handful of teams in the same situation.

[ufojoe]

The Packer game is sold out. Part of that is Packer fans coming down but a lot of it, IMO, is from the
brokers buying up all of the tickets, thinking that was the game of the century with Favre vs. his old
team. I think there's going to be a glut of tickets for that game on CL and Stub.

[ufojoe]

Let's not discount the state of the economy. People are out of work. Businesses are closing. Even freakin' Starbucks is closing some of their locations.

Expensive football tickets are a luxury not a necessity.

I wouldn't be shocked to see the NFL find a way to keep all of their games on TV, blackout rules be damned.

Or does everyone think it's just the Bucs who are in danger of not selling out?  There's probably more  than a handful of teams in the same situation.

Games have been blacked out before and the NFL hasn't done anything to stop it. It's a fact of tv life.

[JavaBuc]

Blaming the media is really lame, and insulting to many Bucs fans.  You are trying to say fans are not savvy enough to draw their own conclusions about the team.

In my opinion, this is accurate for the most part.   People who visit boards like this are exceptions.   But the average Tampa "fan" only knows what the media tells them.   Remember when the media reported that Chris Simms was a sissy because he grunted when hit by Ray Lewis?   Nobody had questioned Simms' toughness prior to that media comment.   The very next home game, the fans were quite vocal in calling Simms a sissy etc.   Turns out he was the toughest guy on the field and played through a ruptured spleen.   But Tampa fans believe whatever the media tells them.    It happens pretty much every time.   I think the media has a HUGE effect on fan perception in Tampa.

[MVP]

Winning = No More Blackouts

[Madman]

They'll buy them out themselves, there won't be blackouts, that hurts the revenue.

Ticket sales aren't down because of the price, it's because the media has everyone in town hating the coach and FO and thinking we're gonna stink. There's no passion there.


Hardcore fans know better, but casuals don't. And we need the casuals to fill the seats.

Unbelievable.  I was going to make a flippant comment about it being the media's fault, but here is someone positing it as fact.  Unbelievable.

I've made the same point before, many times.  And it is the primary cause. 

 

Let's not discount the state of the economy. People are out of work. Businesses are closing. Even freakin' Starbucks is closing some of their locations.

Expensive football tickets are a luxury not a necessity.

The economy is nowhere near as bad as the perception of the state of the economy.  People think this is bad, have never been through a real recession.  There are still more than enough people who can easily afford tickets. I'm sorry if you are making minimum wage, but not everyone sees dropping the price on these seats as an unaffordable luxury.  The problem is they have little interest in going.  As 'hate" mentions there's little star power.  And the up-and-down ride of the last few years has hurt as well.  But the portrayal in our local media is morbid, people expect us to royally stink this year, and have no confidence in the FO to move forward, so they're not buying early.  They will buy more when we start winning, regardless of your opinion on the economy.  But now they expect us to stink, so they're not buyin in.

You're right, the economy is fantastic. The record high gas prices, unprecedented housing foreclosures, and rising jobless rates are a fixture of my imagination.

I'm fortunate. I have club seats and drive an Escalade - but I'm not blind to the world around me.  I have to believe it's a factor for slow ticket sales.