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/

[Hoover]

Chargers charged 100 bucks to park. WTF?

[DaneMcCloud]

it's official - @chargers San Diego TV ratings OFF 53% vs 2016's 1st home game also week 2 @troyhirschfox5 @fredNBCLA @sdutPosner @SInow pic.twitter.com/5CpvYdB4qG

— NotAtAllUnited (@NotAtAllUnited) September 18, 2017

[DaneMcCloud]

This isn't Fargo. It's LA. 25,000 for home opener is pathetic & it's not because of anthem protests. It's called jerking around your fans

— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) September 18, 2017

[DaneMcCloud]

One player noted how loud visiting fans were when Chargers offense had ball on last drive. Just wait until next week with Chiefs coming

— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) September 18, 2017

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by scho63

Surprised you posted this here and not in one of the KC threads....

Eh.. seemed like a good place to put it.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

One player noted how loud visiting fans were when Chargers offense had ball on last drive. Just wait until next week with Chiefs coming

— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) September 18, 2017

Seriously. I bet CBS does all it can to not show on TV how 60-70% of that stadium is decked out in red.

You going?

[Eleazar]

I hope there are enough Chiefs fans there to make them use a silent count

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Seriously. I bet CBS does all it can to not show on TV how 60-70% of that stadium is decked out in red.

You going?

I watched most of the Dolphins-Chargers game yesterday. When CBS broke for and came back from a commercial break, they showed the Palm trees outside of the Stub Hub center and had a HUGE block sized graphic that covered the stadium. Very rarely did they show any seats above the lower level.

I thought about going but it's a just too much of a hassle. Good seats are $250+ and parking is $100 dollars. Sunday traffic on the 405 is ridiculous, too. If I Uber'd from my house, it would easily be more than $100.

I went to a Rams game last year and arrived early. There was literally nothing to do while waiting for the game to start, other than bake in the 90 degree sun. I think I'll wait until Kroenke world opens.

[lcarus]

Originally Posted by BryanBusby

It's 95% price.

**** paying 35 dollars to park a car, 11 dollars a beer and 100 something a ticket for a decent seat.

Between parking, food and drinks for a family of 4 you're easily out around $500 for everything.

$500 is a lot of money to most people.

$500 is a lot of money to me, but even if it wasn't, I would still rather watch it on tv. When I was a kid there was nothing better than going to a Chiefs game on a cold Sunday morning. Even in my shitty section 110 under the row of televisions where you couldn't see a thing, it was fun. Last game I went to people were complaining about the people in front of them standing up on a defensive 3rd down. The atmosphere just isn't the same. Or I'm not perceiving it the same. I haven't been up there in 2 years. Probably won't go this year either.

[Otter]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I watched most of the Dolphins-Chargers game yesterday. When CBS broke for and came back from a commercial break, they showed the Palm trees outside of the Stub Hub center and had a HUGE block sized graphic that covered the stadium. Very rarely did they show any seats above the lower level.

I thought about going but it's a just too much of a hassle. Good seats are $250+ and parking is $100 dollars. Sunday traffic on the 405 is ridiculous, too. If I Uber'd from my house, it would easily be more than $100.

I went to a Rams game last year and arrived early. There was literally nothing to do while waiting for the game to start, other than bake in the 90 degree sun. I think I'll wait until Kroenke world opens.

If you ever find yourself on the east coast the Baltimore Ravens stadium is easily one of the coolest game day experience I've seen. Park your car and walk to pretty much anything you want to do before and after the game. Just keep the kids in tight tow because the good and bad side of the tracks happen real quick.

[TripleThreat]

I heard it was 95+ degrees in santaclara yesterday, and I am sure LA was even hotter, so at "start of half" when most ppl are refilling drinks/bathroom breaks/food breaks, its hard to judge that picture at face value...

I do agree though, that ratings and people attending games have lowered all-over, and I for one think its a good thing, and will help to remind the big guys running the NFL that ultimately we are the reason they are rich, so don't treat us like cattle.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by TripleThreat

I heard it was 95+ degrees in santaclara yesterday, and I am sure LA was even hotter, so at "start of half" when most ppl are refilling drinks/bathroom breaks/food breaks, its hard to judge that picture at face value...

It was 73 degrees where I live in Los Angeles yesterday. I had friends at the game yesterday and it was 74 degrees in Carson.

[dirk digler]

I see SDSU drew 43k at Qualcomm on Saturday. How embarrassing for the Chargers.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Most likely the people that belonged to those empty seats were inside the club level enjoying the amenities in there. Lots of big screens inside the club level with some decent bars and couches to watch the game.

Sad that this had to be explained to Dane

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Sad that this had to be explained to Dane

I haven't been to Arrowhead Stadium since 1992, Bitch.

What's "sad" is that you're a pathetic ****.