More on the 49ers
More on the Raiders
From Brodie to Stabler to Plunkett to Montana to Young to Gannon, the NFL ruled the region.
From Madden to Flores to Walsh to Seifert to Mariucci to Gruden, the league was the boss of the bay.
Like so many other franchises, the Raiders and Niners could take their fans for granted. They rarely hesitated to raise prices for tickets and parking and concessions because they always knew you could not and would not stay away.
But after the 49ers and Raiders spent several decades flexing their might and captivating us, the declining popularity of tickets has both teams staring into a cloud of uncertainty.
Attending an NFL game, a tradition in every city with a franchise, has lost much of the magnetism it once held. As the Raiders and 49ers begin a new season, you can bet their home games will feature empty seats. NFL viewership is up, attendance down.
No-shows and unsold tickets are sure to be more visible around here in 2011. Much of the blame can be placed on bad football. The Raiders, who won two Super Bowls while posting 16 consecutive winning seasons in Oakland , have zero winning seasons since 2002. During those same eight years, the 49ers, who won five Super Bowls between 1980 and 1995, also haven't sniffed the postseason.
Here in the 21st
century, though, fans have another compelling and legitimate reason to stay away from Candlestick Park and Makes the game ticket kind of overrated, eh?No sport provides a more vivid and comprehensive TV experience than football, and TVs have never been more vivid and complete than they are in the 21st century. In the NFL and at the highest levels of college, football has evolved into the practically perfect TV sport.
You choose your seat. You control the number of replays. With the press of a button on your remote control, you can put the game on hold until you're ready for it to resume. You control your stadium, choosing and preparing the food, selecting the drinks, determining the noise level of broadcasters, fans at the game or in your living room.
And then there is the big, broad beauty of flat-screen hi-definition TV, perhaps with enhanced audio. The NFL sold, we bought and now it's more popular than a ticket.
The average cost for a family of four to attend an NFL game is more than $400. DirecTV's Sunday Ticket package, offering a full schedule of games for the entire regular season, costs a little more than $300.
A ticket means traffic, before and after the game. It means paying a steep price for parking. It means bracing for the possibility of unruly and possibly dangerous patrons. It means standing and waiting and wincing before getting to a bathroom you can't wait to leave.
Still want to bring the kids?
In recent years, I've gotten hundreds of emails from fans complaining about the hassle and discomfort of going to local NFL games. They've corresponded with both teams. The decreasing number of fans showing up for games in San Francisco and Oakland indicates many have responded by staying home.
Though NFL season ticket numbers declined three straight years, league spokesman Brian McCarthy recently told USA Today that the 2011 sales appear to be better.
"Following a summer of uncertainty, fans have come back with even more enthusiasm and passion than before," he said. "We're not settling for back to normal, we're looking to accelerate everything we do."
Don't count on those numbers rising, Brian.
Neither local team provides specific figures regarding season tickets, but both are trying to sell fans on coming back. They hold meet-and-greet functions for season-ticket holders. Team executives such as the Raiders' Amy Trask and the 49ers' Jed York make personally address concerns.
They have before them a long and difficult fight, for the task of regaining fans in a drooping economy is massive. The Bay Area is no exception, unless you're talking defending World Series champion Giants or NHL contender Sharks. They manage to consistently sell out in what has been an NFL-dominated region.
Baseball and hockey, however, do not televise as well as football. They aren't as threatened by the home TV experience.
The NFL still owns Sundays. Monday nights, too. The Raiders and 49ers still command attention from a large audience. The numbers will grow if they win.
Most of the audience, though, likely will remain in front of the TV. The game ticket, once treated as a family heirloom, is becoming ever more marginalized by technology.
Contact Monte Poole at mpoole@bayareanewsgroup.com .
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