NFL attendance reached its peak in 2007 when it hit 17,345,205. For the next four years, there was a slow decline. Meanwhile, ticket prices are increasing along with in-home TV viewership. One of the great problems facing NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is how to navigate the problem of competing with himself.
The stadium vs. couch debate rages on in the minds of fans all over the country. More and more, fans are choosing to remain in their homes to watch games on gigantic HDTVs rather than spend the time and money to attend a game in person. The cost of tickets, travel, parking and concessions has gotten to be too much for many people to rationalize.
In 2012, Goodell said, “one of our biggest challenges in the league is the experience at home. HD is only going to get better.” The NFL has tried to counter the trend toward the couch in recent years. For example, Goodell has mandated better wi-fi capabilities in all NFL stadiums for 2014. Already in place are in-stadium replay capabilities and locker room camera access for fans.
Not only is the NFL competing with itself on the stadium vs. couch debate, but mobile viewing has joined the mix and made things really interesting. Now, not only do you not have to be at the stadium to see a game – you don’t have to be on your couch either.
This year, Fox will stream Super Bowl XLVIII live via the Fox Sports GO app, but it’s not the first time the big game has been streamed live to computers and mobile devices. In 2012, NBC became the first network to stream the Super Bowl online for free and attracted 2.1 million viewers. Last year, CBS replicated the effort and enjoyed a 43 percent increase in viewership from the previous year.
Fox will once again follow suit, but the setup is a bit different. The Fox Sports GO app was launched in October, 2013, and generally provides live streaming of content from Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2 and other Fox Sports broadcast events. The usual setup is that app users must authenticate a subscription with a certain cable provider before being able to view content. As it stands, Fox only has agreements with six providers, leaving many fans out of luck.
NBC and CBS both streamed the Super Bowl for free to everyone, and Fox will do the same, but it’s a limited-time deal. They will offer a free trial period of the app between 12 a.m. on Sunday, February 2 and 3 a.m. on Monday, February 3. Content will include not only the game, but pre and post-game coverage as well as the halftime show.
During the playoffs, games were made available via Fox Sports GO. In fact, the wild card game this year between the Packers and 49ers was the first NFL game streamed to mobile devices by Fox. However, the subscription authentication was still needed for access. This was not the case for NBC and CBS, both of which streamed all games online for free throughout the playoffs.
A few other things to consider regarding the Fox Sports GO app – the NFL’s agreement with Verizon stipulates that the game cannot be streamed to smartphones, but only to tablets. In addition, the app is only compatible with Apple products – iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Fans who have smartphones or non-Apple devices can still stream the game through the NFL Mobile app. For $5.00, fans can access the Super Bowl from any mobile device. The catch is that they have to be Verizon customers.
Fans who choose to view the Super Bowl with Fox Sports GO will also see different ads than general TV viewers. Fox has been selling the digital inventory separately from the TV ads. The TV ads have been sold out since December, but digital ads are still available, according to Clark Pierce, senior VP of mobile and advanced platforms for Fox Sports.
The real question here is, how is this going to impact game viewing in the future, not just for the NFL, but for all sports? It’s a real conundrum for the NFL at this point. On the one hand, it’s great that TV and online viewership is rising so dramatically, but on the other hand, owners are losing money as fans attend games with less and less frequency.
Long before mandating better wi-fi in stadiums, the NFL tried to remedy the problem by imposing the blackout rules for games broadcasts in local markets. From 1973 through the 2012 season, the league mandated that a home game cannot be televised in its own market if the game is not sold out 72 hours before game time. After the 2012 season, the league eased up a bit, and now states that teams must fill the stadium to 85 percent capacity in order to have games televised locally.
Because of the blackout rules in place, games are often sold out but not fully attended. Attrition rates are high, meaning teams lose out on valuable revenue from concessions, parking and merchandise sales.
There seems to be one solution that is having some success, and that is, put simply, to have an awesome stadium. Since the opening of AT&T Stadium in Dallas in 2009, the Cowboys have averaged over 86,000 fans per game, a figure that is higher than 100 percent capacity. This is despite the fact that the Cowboys, as a football team, have been bathing in mediocrity that entire time.
In fact, more teams are attempting to follow Jerry Jones’ lead, but the inevitable question of stadium financing always rears its ugly head. In Atlanta, the Falcons came to an agreement with the city to demolish the Georgia Dome and replace it with a $1.2 billion dollar, open air stadium.
A mere toddler in stadium years, the Georgia Dome has only been around since 1992. But the Falcons owner Arthur Blank has hopes of attracting another Super Bowl to his new venue, and the city of Atlanta thinks this could go a long way to securing an MLS team. The maximum public contribution to the project is set at $200 million, and construction is scheduled to be completed by 2017.
Still, this isn’t a feasible solution for every team and city. So far, it seems to be the only thing that has worked in terms of putting butts in seats. Maybe the solution isn’t building bigger and better stadiums, but building smaller ones. Perhaps the NFL should accept its fate.
As Goodell said, HD is only going to get better. Further, technology is only going to get better and more advanced. Instead of spending billions of dollars on big new stadiums, perhaps the NFL and its teams should consider going smaller when new stadiums become necessary in the future.
The impact of the trend toward home, and now mobile, viewing is already being felt. Advertising revenues are rising with the addition of separate digital bundles. Cable companies are fostering relationships with leagues to facilitate mobile viewing. Even though CBS and NBC don’t currently require a cable subscription to view their live streams, it’s entirely possible that that’s where we are headed.
If things go well with Fox Sports GO, other networks will likely see the value in lucrative agreements with cable companies. As long as the networks can partner with enough companies to provide widespread access for fans, then there’s really no downside for them.
The hope should be that in the future, online streaming of live sporting events becomes even more commonplace and that standards are put into place. One thing is for sure – more people than ever are watching sports on the go, and that is a trend that will surely continue.