HollandX
11-01-2007, 08:56 PM
Falcons' troubles pile on, force blackout
Vick fallout hurting team's business
By TIM TUCKER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/01/07
In a few tumultuous months, the Atlanta Falcons have gone from a franchise that claimed to have 90,000 fans on a season-ticket waiting list to a franchise that won't be allowed to televise this week's game because of insufficient ticket demand.
The Falcons said Thursday that their game against the San Francisco 49ers at the Georgia Dome on Sunday will be blacked out on Atlanta television because it did not sell out 72 hours in advance as required by the NFL's television policy.
The game will be the Falcons' first in six years to be blacked out, and it is the latest indication of the jarring hit that the team's business has taken in the aftermath of the Michael Vick dogfighting scandal.
According to the Falcons' 2007 media guide, published before quarterback Vick was indicted and pleaded guilty, the team had a season-ticket waiting list of "over 90,000 fans." But the team now says it has "gone through" that list and isn't sure how many, if any, of the names on it remain in the market for tickets.
"We won't know until next year whether it's zero or 50,000," said **** Sullivan, the Falcons' executive vice president of marketing.
What is clear is that the Falcons, losers of six of seven games this season, couldn't find the 3,000 or so buyers they needed this week to keep alive their streak of selling out 43 consecutive regular-season games.
Sunday's game will be the first to be blacked out on Atlanta television since Arthur Blank bought the team -- and Vick became the starting quarterback -- in 2002. Longer term, the difficulty selling tickets could foreshadow the challenge the Falcons will face next year when they try to re-up their season-ticket base.
Under the NFL's 34-year-old TV policy, a team's home games cannot be shown on television within 75 miles of its stadium unless all tickets -- not including suites and club seats -- are sold three days in advance.
While Major League Baseball, the NBA and the NHL routinely allow games to be televised in local markets even if they fall far short of sellouts, the NFL strictly enforces its policy.
"The purpose of the policy is to ensure teams' ability to sell ... game tickets, as well as to make televised games more attractive to viewers," NFL spokesman Dan Masonson said. "Playing in full stadiums ... is an important part of what makes NFL games an exciting and special entertainment event, both live and on television."
Masonson said only 3 percent of NFL games (seven of 256) were blacked out last season, down from 33 percent a decade earlier. Through last weekend, he said, five games had been blacked out this season -- two in Jacksonville (5-2), two in St. Louis (0-8) and one in Oakland (2-5).
Sunday's blackout here will be reminiscent of the pre-Blank, pre-Vick days, when Falcons games routinely failed to sell out. The last Falcons game blacked out here was on Dec. 23, 2001.
Fox, which was to have televised the Falcons-49ers game here, said it instead will show the Green Bay-Kansas City game in this market.
When Blank bought the Falcons, one of his first priorities was to ensure local telecasts of all the games.
He initially considered putting a tarp over large expanses of seats in the upper deck of the Georgia Dome so they would be taken out of the ticket inventory and not subject to the NFL's blackout requirements. The league allows such a strategy, but it requires that the seats go unsold for an entire season, not just select games.
So Blank instead famously slashed ticket prices in the upper deck to as little as $10 per game in 2002, starting the Falcons on their sellout streak that lasted until this week.
"It's sort of a unique circumstance we're dealing with here," Sullivan said. "On one hand, we sold more season tickets this year than any year in the history of the franchise. On the other hand, the demand for single-game tickets is lower than any other year."
Not coincidentally, season-ticket sales were completed before Vick's indictment was handed down. Single-game tickets went on sale thereafter.
The Falcons sold a franchise-record 60,000-plus season tickets, Sullivan said, by offering seats to a large number of people on the waiting list. Some fans have told the Journal-Constitution that they were offered season tickets after being on the list for two or three years. Sullivan said he does not know how far down the list the Falcons got, but he said many people passed up tickets after learning the available seats were in the upper corners of the stadium.
People remain on the list unless they pass up tickets several times, Sullivan said, and will be offered available tickets again next year.
Single-game tickets also have been offered to people on the wait list, he said.
Once season-ticket sales were cut off, the Falcons had about 5,000 tickets to sell for each home game this season, Sullivan said. They sold those tickets for the first three games, against Carolina, Houston and the New York Giants.
Single-game sales often get a boost from fans of the visiting team -- particularly if that team is relatively close to Atlanta or has a strong national following. The 49ers do not stir sales here, Sullivan noted.
The Falcons said tickets remain available for the four home games after Sunday. Sullivan said 2,000 tickets remain for the Nov. 18 game against Tampa Bay and 1,100 for the Thanksgiving Night game against Indianapolis.
He said he believes both can sell out.
The Falcons' struggles on and off the field in the wake of the Vick case raise longer-term questions about the team's sales prospects for next season and beyond.
"Unless something momentous happens -- a good winning streak or signing a really exciting player to build hope -- I'd expect a big falloff" in season ticket sales, said longtime Atlanta sports marketer Bob Hope, president of Hope-Beckham.
Sullivan insisted he does not see the current difficulties as a harbinger.
"This is a very unique circumstance," he said. "You have a commitment from the organization ... that we will do everything we can to [put] the best product we can on the field. What happened this past summer obviously didn't allow the time to be able to react for the 2007 season.
"What we are going to do in 2008 is totally different than 2007."
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/stories/2007/11/01/falconstix_1102.html
Vick fallout hurting team's business
By TIM TUCKER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/01/07
In a few tumultuous months, the Atlanta Falcons have gone from a franchise that claimed to have 90,000 fans on a season-ticket waiting list to a franchise that won't be allowed to televise this week's game because of insufficient ticket demand.
The Falcons said Thursday that their game against the San Francisco 49ers at the Georgia Dome on Sunday will be blacked out on Atlanta television because it did not sell out 72 hours in advance as required by the NFL's television policy.
The game will be the Falcons' first in six years to be blacked out, and it is the latest indication of the jarring hit that the team's business has taken in the aftermath of the Michael Vick dogfighting scandal.
According to the Falcons' 2007 media guide, published before quarterback Vick was indicted and pleaded guilty, the team had a season-ticket waiting list of "over 90,000 fans." But the team now says it has "gone through" that list and isn't sure how many, if any, of the names on it remain in the market for tickets.
"We won't know until next year whether it's zero or 50,000," said **** Sullivan, the Falcons' executive vice president of marketing.
What is clear is that the Falcons, losers of six of seven games this season, couldn't find the 3,000 or so buyers they needed this week to keep alive their streak of selling out 43 consecutive regular-season games.
Sunday's game will be the first to be blacked out on Atlanta television since Arthur Blank bought the team -- and Vick became the starting quarterback -- in 2002. Longer term, the difficulty selling tickets could foreshadow the challenge the Falcons will face next year when they try to re-up their season-ticket base.
Under the NFL's 34-year-old TV policy, a team's home games cannot be shown on television within 75 miles of its stadium unless all tickets -- not including suites and club seats -- are sold three days in advance.
While Major League Baseball, the NBA and the NHL routinely allow games to be televised in local markets even if they fall far short of sellouts, the NFL strictly enforces its policy.
"The purpose of the policy is to ensure teams' ability to sell ... game tickets, as well as to make televised games more attractive to viewers," NFL spokesman Dan Masonson said. "Playing in full stadiums ... is an important part of what makes NFL games an exciting and special entertainment event, both live and on television."
Masonson said only 3 percent of NFL games (seven of 256) were blacked out last season, down from 33 percent a decade earlier. Through last weekend, he said, five games had been blacked out this season -- two in Jacksonville (5-2), two in St. Louis (0-8) and one in Oakland (2-5).
Sunday's blackout here will be reminiscent of the pre-Blank, pre-Vick days, when Falcons games routinely failed to sell out. The last Falcons game blacked out here was on Dec. 23, 2001.
Fox, which was to have televised the Falcons-49ers game here, said it instead will show the Green Bay-Kansas City game in this market.
When Blank bought the Falcons, one of his first priorities was to ensure local telecasts of all the games.
He initially considered putting a tarp over large expanses of seats in the upper deck of the Georgia Dome so they would be taken out of the ticket inventory and not subject to the NFL's blackout requirements. The league allows such a strategy, but it requires that the seats go unsold for an entire season, not just select games.
So Blank instead famously slashed ticket prices in the upper deck to as little as $10 per game in 2002, starting the Falcons on their sellout streak that lasted until this week.
"It's sort of a unique circumstance we're dealing with here," Sullivan said. "On one hand, we sold more season tickets this year than any year in the history of the franchise. On the other hand, the demand for single-game tickets is lower than any other year."
Not coincidentally, season-ticket sales were completed before Vick's indictment was handed down. Single-game tickets went on sale thereafter.
The Falcons sold a franchise-record 60,000-plus season tickets, Sullivan said, by offering seats to a large number of people on the waiting list. Some fans have told the Journal-Constitution that they were offered season tickets after being on the list for two or three years. Sullivan said he does not know how far down the list the Falcons got, but he said many people passed up tickets after learning the available seats were in the upper corners of the stadium.
People remain on the list unless they pass up tickets several times, Sullivan said, and will be offered available tickets again next year.
Single-game tickets also have been offered to people on the wait list, he said.
Once season-ticket sales were cut off, the Falcons had about 5,000 tickets to sell for each home game this season, Sullivan said. They sold those tickets for the first three games, against Carolina, Houston and the New York Giants.
Single-game sales often get a boost from fans of the visiting team -- particularly if that team is relatively close to Atlanta or has a strong national following. The 49ers do not stir sales here, Sullivan noted.
The Falcons said tickets remain available for the four home games after Sunday. Sullivan said 2,000 tickets remain for the Nov. 18 game against Tampa Bay and 1,100 for the Thanksgiving Night game against Indianapolis.
He said he believes both can sell out.
The Falcons' struggles on and off the field in the wake of the Vick case raise longer-term questions about the team's sales prospects for next season and beyond.
"Unless something momentous happens -- a good winning streak or signing a really exciting player to build hope -- I'd expect a big falloff" in season ticket sales, said longtime Atlanta sports marketer Bob Hope, president of Hope-Beckham.
Sullivan insisted he does not see the current difficulties as a harbinger.
"This is a very unique circumstance," he said. "You have a commitment from the organization ... that we will do everything we can to [put] the best product we can on the field. What happened this past summer obviously didn't allow the time to be able to react for the 2007 season.
"What we are going to do in 2008 is totally different than 2007."
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/stories/2007/11/01/falconstix_1102.html