Jaguars' Entire Home Slate Blacked Out on TV; Beginning of the End in Jacksonville?

This is the business(ugly)side of the NFL that I simply dislike, the fans deserve better!

And to think Jacksonville led the USFL in attendance.

I’m a Jag fan living in Phoenix.
I love this!
Hopefully they move to L.A so I could attend every home game.

I guess if the fans don’t really support the Jags then they should move. Not to L.A. though. At one time they had the Rams & Raiders and of course they are both gone. Why give that city a third chance with an NFL team? What would be so different this time? Sure the fans probably would show up for the first two or three seasons. If they don’t become a regular in the playoff picture year in and year out how quickly will the fans stop supporting them?

Chicago dealt with all the Blackhawks home games being blacked out for years, and we’re talking about an Original Six franchise. It’s going to sting for Jaguar fans, but this is a blip on the radar of things that have gone south on Goodell’s watch. Just wait until there are teams in Mexico (and teams thought the dreaded East-to-West cost trip was bad) and it costs $49.95 to watch the Super Bowl…from London.

unfortunately for the jags fans, though, the blackouts are not due simply to a greedy old man…. there is no bill wirtz in this situation.  unless you count goodell…and i doubt he will be passing any time soon.

Jacksonville never was a NFL city. The Super Bowl there was a JHOKE! They had to bring in cruise ships because there wasn’t enough hotel rooms.
 When’s the last time someone said "LET’S GO TO JACKSONVILLE!!" for anything.
 The East Coast version of Oakland.  "There is no THERE there"!
 THis franchise should have been awarded to Los Angeles or Memphis. Or even Columbus,Ohio. Places that would have been much better.

its a shame because i think they are one of the most instantly successful expansion teams ever, at least on the field. sell the team to jim ballsillie and let him bring them to toronto. lots of moola up here.

LA needs a team, this seems like a good candidate.

With that said, I agree with everything the writer says.  It’s inconsiderate of the NFL to black out games in the difficult times.  There are reasons beyond disinterest that are affecting attendance.  Especially in cities like Detroit, where theyve gone to Lions games for decades despite the fact that the team has never won anything.

I’m not sure L.A. needs a team. Sometimes cities can only support so many franchises and L.A. has quite a few(2 NBA/2 MLB/ NHL).

As for the NFL and there blackouts, I don’t agree with it, but the NFL is like the king it will do what it wants and I don’t think that it really matters what the fans do. They(NFL) have rights to all thier stuff and what they do with it is primarily up to them. Until something major happens this stuff will happen.

It is a HUGE misconception that the Rams and Raiders left because their fans didn’t support them.  Those teams left because two greedy owners tried to leverage each other against L.A. and ultimately left for what they thought would be more profitable situations with better stadiums.  The irony is that BOTH teams were rumored to have explored returning to L.A. in the past few years because they weren’t happy with their situations.  I guess they didn’t do their homework.

Also, L.A. fans seem to have figured something out that a lot of other people haven’t.  First, fans should NEVER have to foot the bill for a new stadium for a professional sports team.  NFL teams make enough from T.V. deals, merchandise, ad revenue, etc. without having to receive a sweetheart deal (and taxpayer money) to build a new stadium.  How can anyone be o.k. with using your tax money to build a stadium for your team while they charge you $100 for a ticket, $14 for a beer, $8 for a hot dog and $20 for parking?  

Second, the NFL will NEVER put a team in L.A. until all of the teams that are still complaining about their stadiums have new ones.  L.A. is the NFL’s only leverage to use against the other NFL cities.  This has been the case since the Rams and Raiders left, and L.A. fans are very aware of it.  Remember the rumors about Arizona moving to L.A.? Tampa Bay and other teams?  As mentioned earlier, the Rams and Raiders?  And of course (most recently) the Vikings and Chargers?

It’s not that L.A. fans didn’t support their teams or don’t want a future team.  We just don’t want to foot the bill, especially after we’ve been used as leverage so many times already. 

The blackout rule is an anachronism from a time when taems had problems selling tickets, and even then it was counterintuitive. How is cutting the team off from potential fans going to increase the fan base? Shouldn’t ownership and the NFL be trying to expand interest? Just do away with the rule and the problem is solved. When attendance was the vast majority of revenue, this made a little more sense, but the league is so much more now. Or perhaps a move is already in place and they wanna poison the well a little bit.

I don’t get it. Last time the Eagles were bad it was a week-to-week thing, deciding if games were blacked out or not based on whether they were sold out. Has league policy changed? Does anyone know the answer to this? That aside, I think the NFL is becoming increasingly arrogant. They seem to think their product is invincible, but I grew up watching football, I played football, and, personally, the pro game is becoming increasingly boring to me. The games stretch on for well over three hours, laden with yet more advertising and instant replay absurdities, and now I hear they want to expand the regular season to eighteen games. Cut out the preseason. How much punishment can one body take?

Blackout rules penalize the cities with large stadiums (Which J’ville paid for). 70,000+ seats for the Fla./ Georgia game each year. A more fair rule would be a set minimum number no mater what city/team. The 72 hour rule doesn’t allow for game-day sales either. The game will be televised anyway, just not locally.

"Blackout’ is what happens when all the Jaguar players move to Los Angeles, at least in the good part(s?) of town.

MrLaloosh…bonehead-Jacksonville never was an NFL city"..then he proceeds to trash Jacksonville….Then he saves his worst for last….Even though jacksonville "never was an NFL city" that ass mentions THREE cities and ALL of them are as bad or worse than Jacksonville….Thinks there should be a team in LA even though they had a team that LEFT, pictures MEMPHIS as a major sports town when the population is much smaller AND they arent doing that great in supporting the pro bball team. I guess MrLaloosh is blinded by that now zero win season by the Tigers…THEN he mentions Columbus…The Browns left town and the Bengals attendance has always sucked…again, another person who is blinded by OSU significance and its relation to pro sports…Its funny that the knock on Jacksonville was that it was more of a college town and where does MrLaloosh mention as 2 of his 3 destinations? 2 more college towns(and a place that cant keep a pro team)…

good analysis Mr Laloosh

You can look at it one of 2 ways:  it’s an embarrassment for the NFL, or it’s an embarrassment for the city of and the fans of Jacksonville.  In either case, it shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

Porky got it right- this is an old and dumb rule.  With broadcast channels, ESPN, the NFL network, Dish’s season pass, incredible merchandise sales, and huge sponsorship sales, what percentage of revenue comes from the ticket gate?  And that’s besides the at least 5 ways I can think of getting around a local broadcast blackout.  My guess is that the owners want to maximize local revenue at their stadiums.  Guess what, $12 beers, $7 hot dogs, and $20 parking on top of whatever the ticket costs nowadays is not helping.  For example, the Phillies have "Dollar Dog Night" where a hot dog is $1, and those games are always packed.  SRO tickets sell out.  Just for a stupid $1 hot dog; nothing else is cheaper, just the soggy roll with some mysterious meat stuffed in.  If the NFL spent their money a little more wisely (say, like a $1.2billion stadium that DIDN’T have a scoreboard in the way?) they would not need to try and pillage average fans.  Also, is Jacksonville that big of a football town to begin with? 

i always thought the rule was the game had to be sold out 72 hours prior to kickoff. If it wasn’t then the blackout would take place.

I think NFL has to take into consideration the unemployment rate and the financial impact that the country is going through and give jacksonville a break by showing at least some games. A think the article is correct in saying if all games are blackout it will promote more disinterest end result we could have London Jaguars, LA Jaguars, or the Toronto Jaguars.

I hope NFL does the right thing for Jacksonville.

I have always thought the blackout rule in the NFL was ridiculous.  If Jacksonville is struggling to support the team, how is making the team impossible to watch on TV going to help that.  That will reduce the number fans, and thus reduce the number of people that might actually start going to the game.

Attention: Mr. Laloosh (what kind of name is that?)

WGullett, great response to Mr. Lal’s ignorant comments.  I can add to that.  First of all, hotels were an issue in the core area of the city, not overall.  When the city of Jacksonville, proposed this concept, the NFL was very impressed and thought that this new concept would create a vacation type atmosphere that no one had ever done before.  I mean, gulible yankees are always impressed by Central Florida’s over-hyped amusement parks, and South Florida’s novelty including cruise lines.  Second, Mr. LaL, were you at the SuperBowl in Jax in 2005? Well I was and the presentation was very solid.  I covered both sides of the St. Johns River downtown, on the riverwalk, and the Jax Landing, and all of the Eagles fans(and the vastly out-numbered Patriots fans) I talked to and observed had a great time.  Nice comfortable weather during the day, and cool nights.  A very good party atmosphere.  Street Party on northbank was great also.  Beats the heck out of Philly, Boston, or Providence in early February, that’s for sure.  The game was excellent as well.  The Fox News broadcasters gave alot of credit to the City of Jax for job they did putting this together.  Also, at least it wasn’t like the last SB in Miami, where there was a torrental downpour of rain during the Superbowl.   Facts remain, Jacksonville has an NFL team, and we also had a superbowl, very few cities can or will ever say that. 

 Let’s face it the situation is when the NFL expanded lsat it put the teams in the wrong cities.  Charlotte and Jacksonville.  Give me a break!  Baltimore had the best deal on the table and STL was obviously a bona fide NFL city.  So now the Browns and Rams pull up stakes.  The whole regionalization things is a farce.  The biggest cities that want them should get teams period.  The NFL is getting what it asked for and Jacksonville should be thankful  it got to have an NFL franchise for a few years.

 Let’s face it. The situation is that when the NFL expanded last it put the teams in the wrong cities.  Charlotte and Jacksonville.  Give me a break!  Baltimore had the best deal on the table and STL was obviously a bona fide NFL city.  So now the Browns and Rams pull up stakes.  The whole regionalization thing is a farce.  The biggest cities that want them should get teams period.  The NFL is getting what it asked for and Jacksonville should be thankful  it got to have an NFL franchise for a few years.

Jaguar28gator15.  What a ridiculous thing to take credit for … the weather?  That’s the ONLY reason you got a Super Bowl.  Everyone with a warm climate or a dome eventually gets one.  The reality is that J-ville was too small to have a team to begin with and the problems started waaay before the current economic downturn.  By the way it’s much harder to win a super bowl then host one.