Neither Jets or Giants May Sell Out New Stadium Openers

[Spiral]

From yesterday's NY Post:

Neither the Giants nor the Jets will be blacked out on local TV in Week 1, but there sure are going to be a lot of empty seats at New Meadowlands Stadium.

The Giants say they have sold all non-premium seating for Sunday’s opener against the Panthers, meaning the game will be broadcast locally. But the club admitted yesterday that around 1,200 club seats requiring a PSL remain unsold.

The Jets, meanwhile, are in even worse shape sales-wise for their opener next Monday night against the Ravens, with more than 1,500 non-premium seats still available in the lower sections of their new 82,500-seat home despite a recent 50-percent slash in the price of the required PSL.

That normally would put a team in danger of a local TV blackout, which the Jets haven’t endured since 1977, but the team said yesterday that there is “no chance” the Baltimore game will be blacked out.

That’s because owner Woody Johnson can spend the money to make sure it doesn’t happen.

The Jets can take advantage of a loophole in the NFL’s blackout policy that allows team owners to get their games on local TV by buying up any unsold non-premium seats for 34 cents on the dollar.

If the number of unsold non-premium PSL seats remains unchanged, that means owner Woody Johnson would have to write a check of $100,000 or more for each of the eight homes game this season just to avoid the blackout.

“We do not have to inform the league until 72 hours prior to kickoff whether or not we are blacked out, but as we have said, we will be sold out, and there is no chance of a blackout,” Jets spokesman Bruce Speight said yesterday in an e-mail.

Those tickets the team buys can then be donated to charity or to the military, as the Jaguars have done this season and in previous years.

Though both games will be on local TV, the potential for bigger stretches of empty gray seats Sunday and Monday is high when the secondary ticket market is included.

As of yesterday, there were a combined 12,100 seats for resale online to the Giants-Panthers game and a combined 12,400 tickets for resale online for the Jets-Ravens contest, according to ticket aggregator Fansnap.com.

The Giants and Jets also have several thousand unsold tickets for games later in the season after each team quietly put single-game seats on sale late last month. The Giants angered some of their fans by dropping the longstanding PSL requirement on those seats.

Read more: Jets owner will buy tickets to avert blackout - NYPOST.com

 

[BTTA]

Jets contact Academy Awards about hiring seat fillers. Kramer to get 50 yard line seat.

 

[PatsChamp88]

Neither Jets or Giants Will Win In New Stadium Openers

Now that's something worth reading!

 

[PatsBoy12]

The Giants not selling out doesn't surprise me in the least. The Jet's inability does, however. I thought with all the hype surrounding them that they'd have every seat filled until they started losing.

 

[TheBeers]

Not a big deal.. there was a story on ESPN today that 11 teams may be facing blackouts this season. With HD and 3D tv's and the rising prices of attending a game combined with the bad economy. It probably wont be long before all teams are dealing with this.

 

[goheels22002]

the seats i had in the old stadium,they wanted $40,000.forget that nonsense.i will pick and choose what games i go to for now on

C'mon. Get the checkbook out, man. Rex needs to get a Go#*@mn Snack!

 

[TrueBeliever]

Not a big deal.. there was a story on ESPN today that 11 teams may be facing blackouts this season. With HD and 3D tv's and the rising prices of attending a game combined with the bad economy. It probably wont be long before all teams are dealing with this.

Yeah, but a new stadium usually guarantees a year or two of sell-outs from people who want to see all the bells and whistles. Jacksonville and Detroit are totally different situations.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Jimmy Hoffa is clearly not happy ... and he's showing his displeasure.

 

[The Brandon Five]

I am surprised about the Giants. What was the PSL cost for the club seats?

 

[Wolfpack]

Club seats don't apply to whether or not a stadium is "sold out". Lot of empty seats in the club sections of Gillette on a week to week basis too. All it tells me is there is a shortage of people who can pay $1,200 for a pair of tickets to a football game.

 

[Jackson 2]

Club seats don't apply to whether or not a stadium is "sold out". Lot of empty seats in the club sections of Gillette on a week to week basis too. All it tells me is there is a shortage of people who can pay $1,200 for a pair of tickets to a football game.

There are plenty who can, but few who will.

 

[Spiral]

The league should stop owners from buying out the remaining tickets of games. They buy the tickets and the revenue from them goes right back into their wallets, at least 60% of it if the NFL still uses the 60/40 split between home team and visiting team.

If a team can't sell out a game in this day and age, tough crapola.... the game just isnt shown on local tv.....

Besides, all games can be seen on many of those P2P computer sites I have several of them. Lots of great movies, too. Movies that are just out in the theaters you can watch for zippo

Anyway, if he does buy the tickets, hopefully he will give them to underprivileged kids. But, my guess is that he will give them to his rich cronies.

As I understand the rule, a team can buy out the remaining tickets for an amount that equals the road team's share of the ticket price. I don't think the money goes from one of the owner's pockets to the other.

 

[TrueBeliever]

I read that owners only pay 34 cents on the dollar for tickets in these cases. Which is still a chunk of change, but still...

Wonder how many Jets fans still think Bob Kraft is overrated as an owner? Paid for the $400M-plus stadium himself, no PSLs... meanwhile Jets fans are already paying for their stadium through their taxes (and will be for like 800 years) plus they have to pay PSLs just to get in. But you gotta make sure Woody can feed his family.

 

[Spiral]

But you gotta make sure Woody can feed his family.

Woody is probably more worried about feeding Rex and his family.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Thsi is very bad and ominous for the League. If 1/3 of the teams can't sell out to keep the TV revenue flowing, it holds out little prospect for an early resolution of the CBA. The NFLPA is seemingly oblivious to the implications of all of this.

The CBA was terminated early, because the CAP was growing too fast, and outpacing revenue growth. Now not only are revenues to pay the CAP not growing, they may actually be falling precipitously. The owners were never expecting to make out-of-pocket payments.

Its one thing to negotiate for a stabilized CAP. It is quite another thing to seek a lower CAP number, that would cause all teams to be in CAP hell, immediately.

Not only would the prima donna players not get raises, they would have existing contracts talked or re-negotiations by the owners, seeking to be cut by the Teams. The least likely to comprehend would be the "good citizens", who played hard and "earned" their money, and not be receptive to no raise, they would be resistant to actual cuts.

The real stupid prima donna juveniles and criminals would never understand anyway, and hold out expecting people to bend over backwards for them. Just as they have done all their lives due to athletic ability.

This is an indication of long enduring Labor travail.

 

[TrueBeliever]

On a related note: NFL season tickets decline for 3rd straight season - NFL - Yahoo! Sports