NFL blackouts are in effect even in the most populated areas of the US - no sellout then a blackout.
I find it funny that all the so called fans that complain about a blackout probably are not season ticket holders. If you are on this site and you don't buy a ticket to a game "shame shame" and don't give me this garbage about tickets being expensive etc. Go out and buy a ticket.
When the Ticats with access to the largest market in Canada can only average 21 - 23,000 fans a game something is wrong.
You should be worried, Bob can only put up with so much. When Bob saved this team there weren't too many people line up to buy this team.
There has been good marketing, low ticket prices, give aways, good competitive team this last year.
What is wrong?
Blackouts should not be about boosting revenues. I don't think they do that.
It's about punishing the fans for not showing up. I agree with the blackouts - if you don't buy a ticket to the game and support CFL football you shouldn't get to watch it on TV. Tough Luck.
Actually what it’s about is if you don’t buy a 20$ ticket to 2 out of 18 games (or 9 at home) you don’t get to see it.
Do you realistically think that watching the team on TSN is supporting it?
What blackouts say in essense is…“For two games a season, the tigercats have decided to reward those fans who financially support the team by buying tickets, by giving them the exclusive right to see two games a year which will not be made available to the public at large. Those fans who wish to see these games are more than welcome to purchase tickets starting at 20$”
Its not about punishing, rather its about rewarding.
A statement that blackouts do not or never have worked is not accurate. If you were to ask many of the older season ticket holders what one of the major reasons for them buying their first season tickets, they will say it was to be able to watch all the home games. Maybe some of the fans here don't remember or know that at one time most ,if not all home games were blacked out.
Televised games in the 50's and 60's were rare as it was, never mind home games. Maybe a CFL game or two on Saturday. Sunday games were a no -no in most cities for a long time. Not much changed until the late 60's and 70's, when more games were televised on the weekends, but again, few homers. Many of those record breaking crowds at IWS that you read about (36,000) were because that was the only way to see the Labour Day/Thanksgiving Day games against the Argos and the Riders. Believe it or not, and some here will remember, Home Playoff Games were BLACKED OUT! So in that era, yes blackouts did put A.I.Ss.
Maybe blackouts were part of losing a generation of fans, but I think the biggest reason was the emergence of the NFL as a major player on the sports scene in the USA. Aggressive marketing, big budgets, enormous tv contracts and a full slate of games, packaged and presented to a new generation of fans. And of course, Monday Night Football.
Nowdays though I am not sure of their value. A whole generation has grownup use to seeing just about everygame they chose to watch. Recent blackouts have seemed to have garnished a small growth in sales over what was expected, but nothing significant. No sense blacking out big games because the crowds for those contests have started to come back up anyway. Blacking out games where a lower attendance is expect, not so sure if it would work, because there is all ready a reason why a lower attendance is expected; a team coming in with a poor record, or team with a history of low interest and attendance in the past.
As a season ticket holder, it really won't bother me one way or the other. But if the team does decide on a blackout, announce the decision early and stick with. Don't say the game is blacked out unless we sell 95% of the tickets,or some such thing. If it is blacked out and people see the need to buy tickets because they really want to see it, don't turn the tables on them after they bought tickets and then show the game. Not much or a reward there for fans who ponied up to see the team.
Totally agree, if you want to see the best team in the CFL, then buy a ticket! Support your team or shut the hell up!
Your not supporting the team by watching it on TV, anyone can flip a channel, but only TRUE fans go to the games! So get out there and cheer them on! Oskee Wee Wee, Oskee Wha Wha, Holly Macinaw, Tigers eatem RAW!!
Always found the "blackouts killed a generation of fans" argument kind of lame. CFL was always on somewhere for a kid to get interested. I did, and all my friends did.
The argument doesnt hold up in most if not all of the west teams. And the gradual dropoff in attendence in Ontario in the late 70s early 80's had much to wit h the rise in popularity of the NFL on TV and later the emerging popularity of the Blue Jays and MLB which pushed Canadian football off the front pages.
What really hurt attendence in those days was the CFL never pushed back with aggressive marketing.
Zontar, your last statement is very true. The CFL powers to-be of the time were content with the "Status Quo" and went ahead believing nothing would change and everything would be all right. Well they were wrong, as the later great experiment into the States clearly showed. Again, blackouts were not the major contributor to the "Lost Generation".
When the Hall of Fame Game was blacked out, did it not only effect the Hamilton Broadcast area? It wasn't a National blackout. Even then people that did watch wouldn't have seen much as the networks show more of the "Talking Heads" during halftime than the actual haltime show anyway.
I don't like when they black out games, as I can't make it to all of them, but that said IMO I don't believe it has that big an impact on the marketing of the team, and I do think it generates more revenue. I'm pretty sure the game that was blacked out last year had more attendance than some that weren't. When the game is blacked out there are other options like radio and watching the game streamed at a later time. It may not be live TV, but these are still options for those who can't make the game.
I really don't have a big problem with this as long as it is not a significant number of games. I think the broadcast should not be blacked out to a larger viewing area than the local radio station covers, which I don't think is the case (ie. I can't get CHML at my house near London, but blacked out games are not on TV).
Wasn't the Hall of Fame game in Calgary last year. Aren't they tying to make the Hall of Fame game a national event rather than been held in Hamilton every year. This year the Hall of Fame Game will be held in Saskatchewan.
It's about time it went outside of Hamilton and it gets national exposure. I'm sure when its held in Regina there will be a lot of fans involved and you can guarantee it will be a sellout. I don't think the Hall of fame game was ever a sell out in Hamilton and only the die hard fans showed that much interest.
It doesn’t matter this year since the 2010 Hall of Fame weekend and Game will be held in Saskatchewan.
You are correct there will be more interest in Saskatchewan than Hamilton.
Yes, the Hall of Fame Game is on the road for awhile, and I think that a good thing. It was only mentioned here earlier by one of the posters as one of the effects of a blackout in years past.
You may think it’s a lame excuse, but I wouldn’t dismiss it. Out of my generation (30 and under) I am the only one in family that really follows the Cats. Some go to the Classic, but for the most part they don’t care. They scooped up the NFL when it became a juggernaut because the CFL wasn’t on TV. I know this because when I ask them (and a lot of my non-CFL-fan friends) why they don’t watch the CFL they inevitably say “I didn’t watch it as a kid.”
Also, kids don’t have a choice to go to a game or not, they need their Mom or Dad to take them and some Moms and Dads don’t have the means to attend a game, let alone every game.
They might not have watched it as a kid, but can you be sure that’s because of the blackout? After all, not all games were blacked out, only the home games and only in a 56 km radius. They still could have watched the away games as well as games from other teams. Why weren’t they watching those?
All I know is what they tell me, and what they tell me is that the games weren’t on TV as much as the NBA or NFL, therefore they didn’t watch them and didn’t make a connection with the team.
The last phrase of your posts hits on it.One good year is’nt a trend.Let’s have a few consecutive winning seasons,and then we’ll talk…
Blackouts are a bad idea period.That is the reason for the “lost generation” of CFL fans who did not get to watch their team during the late '70’s and '80’s.It was the most obvious reason for why the league almost went belly up in the early '90’s.The NFL does have blackout rules,but there are some contingencies.Mainly,that the game must be sold out within 72 hours before noon on game day if the game is to be televised in the local market.If they do want to go the blackout route,I would suggest something like that,and make it an incentive to by tickets before a blackout rule goes into effect.
eg.If the Tiger-Cats sell 25,000 tickets 72 hours before kick off,the game will be seen in the area,if not…It’s blacked out…This has helped the Bills sell most of their seats for a bad football team for a long time.It seems to work!
There's a reason the Leafs are still the pre-eminent team in Canada. Their games were and continue to be televised week after week across Canada. It's the same reason why other Canadian teams are complaining about not being the national game on CBC more often. To be popular (and make $$) you have to get your brand out there as often as possible to as many people as possible. That means show your games and not limit fan access to them by blacking them out.
I can recall regular crowds of 40,000 at the CNE for Argo games. Then came the blackout years which coincided with the rise of NFL football and the result is a franchise which has fallen to the status of a niche sport. So when the Argos should've been doing everything they could to maintain their profile, they did their best to disappear by blacking out their games. Most of my buddies no longer follow the CFL, their interest having dropped off during the blackout years.
I realize they're only talking about 2 games but still.........