Should the NFL consider altering their Blackout rule?

[Jangler]

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/11800373

The bad economy is hurting NFL ticket sales.

In a recent sideline chat with Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank during one of his team's practices, he expressed concern to me about his team's ticket sales, although he said they aren't as bad as some teams. What's concerning is that Blank has a hot team with a young star in the making in Matt Ryan and the Falcons are coming off a playoff season.

He is not alone in his concern.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The waiting list doesn't exist anymore.

In Jacksonville, where I live, the Jaguars have sold roughly 35,000 season tickets. That's behind the pace of last season, and could lead to all 10 home games being blacked out.

It's the same in a lot of other cities.

[Carolina Mike]

They need to really change the rules on this. I was looking a tickets at different games like the Panthers@Dallas game and Panthers@Arizona game......tickets start at $75 for Dallas....and $50 in Arizona. Those are the Cheap seats too. With the economy being as bad as it is it would help the NFL look as though they understand and want to help the fans. Be nice to the fans in the hard times and when things turn around the fans will be back in the seats.

[pstall]

I have said it a billion times. During this particular economy you have to make it easy to business.

GET PEOPLE IN THE DOOR. Make it cheaper and easier to come to the game. Look at the lost opporunity if there are no shows. No beer, food, soda's, collectibles sold.

[Bobby]

I always figured that they should cut prices when they have a lot of empty seats. Even if he doesn't pay as much, he might still buy your overpriced food and drinks.

[dimbee]

These are the times that the teams look to businesses and corporations to scoop up tix at a premium to avoid the blackouts... with the current economic conditions, said businesses and corporations aren't nearly as willing to shell it out. Dramatically dropping prices on tickets unfortunately isn't realistic in the NFL's context, IMO. They have a monopoly on the market. They are THE commodity. The NFL controls these rules, not the individual teams, and the NFL is doing well. Their income steams are multiple and the rev shared from ticket sales is a small part of it, I would think. Thus, I don't really see the black out rule changing. I would love to be proven wrong.