Quote:
Originally Posted by CoryB
A business decision the CFL made sometime in the last 20 years is doing more to hurt in person attendance than anything else, they ended local market tv blackouts because the cheques TSN would write got big enough.
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The CFL blackout rule has been gone for a long time now, someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I think 2007 was the first season where there were no blackouts in place?
For what it's worth CFL attendance generally did quite well in the years after the rule was removed... it's not as though attendance plummeted. Which in some respects would have been the rational outcome... I mean, why spend $40-$180 a ticket to attend in person when you could see the game just as well at home? But people don't seem to mind. The in-stadium experience is enticing enough that people will still pay. And sure enough, tonight's game is nearly sold out.
That said, I think there is a better understanding of the long-term value that comes from TV exposure than there was back in the 70s. It was long said that blackouts hurt teams like the Toronto Argonauts that were effectively hidden from sight much of the time in their home market. A sports event on TV is basically a two to three hour commercial for your product, so there is certainly value there. Not to mention the fat cheques you get from the broadcasters themselves.