The grill is going and the beer is flowing. People are gathering around the TV in their favorite players’ jerseys. Grown men on the verge of a breakdown with every given play. It’s time for football.
Every Sunday, families and groups of guys all over the United States gather to watch the National Football League. The NFL has taken over as the most popular sport in this country. Yet, average attendance at each game in 2012 was 64,698, which is the lowest average since 2002, according to Yahoo Sports.
The reason? Fans are increasingly choosing to watch the games at home.
“One of our biggest challenges in the league is the experience at home,” the New York Post quoted NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell telling fans in Atlanta. And he noted that, with the rapid growth of large-screen high-definition television, the experience “is only going to get better.”
With TV innovations like NFL Red Zone or NFL Sunday Ticket, fans struggle to leave their couches every Sunday. These programs allow a fan to watch every game at one time. The channel will switch from game-to-game during every crucial play. WFAN sports talk host Rich Herrera watches Red Zone every Sunday. “Why spend $400 going to a game when I can watch every game for just $10 a month in the comfort of my home?” Herrera said.
When you add up parking, food and the increasing ticket prices, it costs a family of four $427 to attend an NFL game––that’s one expensive weekend. In the comfort of your home, on the other hand, a fan can relax, make their own food and never have to worry about Mother Nature. Plus, with the advancements of television and better camera angles, some fans believe they see more of the game at home. You are front and center with the luxury of going to the bathroom without a line of 100 fans.
Does sitting and watching a game at home really give the same rush a game does in person? “To me the difference between high-fiving your boys after seeing the big play on the big screen at home or doing the same thing with 70,000 of your good friends at the stadium is not even a comparison,” said Paul Rosik, a writer for the fan site Bleacher Report. When going to stadiums, you have an opportunity to meet new people with the same passion and love as you. “The fans at games become your best friends. You high-five, chest bump and even hug a complete stranger. There is nothing like it.”
Tampa Bay Bucs season ticket holder Jay Rosa has been attending every Bucs home game since 2008. “There is nothing like being at the game,” Rosa said. “It almost makes you part of the team. Being a part of the atmosphere and screaming your head off is your duty as a football fan.”
To Rosa, it’s worth it-and he can afford it. To make it possible for more fans, teams are trying to figure out a way to make the experience more affordable. The Bucs give every season ticket holder a credit card with a certain amount of money on it for the season. The fan can use that card at any merchandise store or concession at the stadium on game day. If a fan buys the “premium” ticket deal they are also given free parking passes for each game.
There are many perks to having season tickets, but once again, not everyone can afford them.
In recent years, fans do not just root for one team, they have their own team to worry about on Sundays. Fans everywhere, including Herrera, have taken up one of the world’s most popular trends: fantasy football.
Fantasy Football allows a player to root for his own players and own team. It creates a national competition between friends, co-workers and people everywhere. With programs like Red Zone, fans can watch every one of their players. It also makes fans root for games that do not usually matter.
To counteract this issue, the Jacksonville Jaguars are considering putting Red Zone on their stadium’s big screens during their home games so fans at the stadium can not only watch their team play in person, but keep an eye on the other games around the league.
Herrera, for one, doesn’t think that tactic will do the job. “Having Red Zone on at the games defeats the purpose of going to the game,” Herrera said.
He noted that many fans that call into his radio show agree. While you are at the game, a majority of the time you are looking at the big-screen for replays. The people sitting in the “nosebleeds” have to watch the screen to see the play at all. “Eliminating that (big-screens) will not help the NFL. If you are at a stadium you deserve to see every play,” he said.
Many times the angle you have to view the game at the stadium is also far from ideal. Your seat may be in an upper deck or end zone, giving you a view that television cameras rarely bother with. At home you are always in perfect position for every play.
Another major concern for fans is the comfort.
Stadium seats are hard and often little more than a bench. Even in a dome the seating is far from the quality of your favorite chair in your living room. By the end of the game your behind is ready for your favorite chair. “Why should I have to watch a three hour game in a plastic seat with no leg room if I have a couch that sits six at my house?” said Jarrod Morris, football fan for 15 years.
And unless the stadium is domed, you are subjected to the weather (imagine Buffalo in the winter). You may be forced to contend with heat, cold, rain, snow, wind or whatever else Mother Nature can think of to torment fans.
Another impediment to shelling out big bucks for the stadium experience: The NFL has recently just added a list of new safety procedures for fans at games, and many do not agree. Outside of the Bucs preseason game, almost every person did not like the new rules. “I pay all this money and I can only bring a handheld bag. What happened to the land of the free?” said fan D.G Warren.
Prohibited items include but are not limited to: purses larger than a clutch bag, coolers, briefcases, backpacks, fanny packs, cinch bags, non-approved seat cushions, luggage of any kind, computer bags and camera bags or any bag larger than the permissible size.
The security checks just add to the long list of frustration fans face when attending a game––and fans are simply fed up.
No matter what age, race or gender they are, people are going to watch football on Sundays. With the new technological advancements HD TV brings it is almost more clear and precise to watch a game from home. We are in a high-tech age where people always need to “be in the loop.” So stadiums and the NFL are working on ways to make going to the game more enjoyable. Some stadiums are in the process of making wireless networking in every seat. That will allow the fan to connect with Twitter, Facebook and their fantasy teams while at the stadium. It will give the fan the ability to connect with the other fans in the stadium and create more of a collective atmosphere in the game.
But, will that be enough?
Fans are not willing to spend over $400 for one day. Why spend $10 on a beer when you can buy a six pack for less. Why spend over $6 for a hot dog when you can eat way more for way less in the comfort of your home? The NFL needs to make serious changes to the in stadium prices or they will continue to lose fans. Of course, the NFL will never fall apart. It is a multi-billion dollar company but more and more, fans would much rather watch the games from their couches than at stadiums.
James Belluscio can be reached at james.belluscio@spartans.ut.edu.