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Let’s Fill the Seats!

Bobby Bufford said:
You can rationalize it any way you want to, but my eyes work. Fans are not filling the stadium, period. Not even close.
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It’s not rationalization, and it doesn’t matter what your eyes see. This isn’t the 80’s or 90’s any more. You can follow games more than three ways, in person, network TV and local radio. The Information Age has allowed various other avenues to follow the games where seeing them live in person is the only direct medium.

Empty seats has nothing to do with fan base, but rather convenience.

If anything the fan base has increased. There are Steeler lounge or bars everywhere..worldwide.


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Ike Kelly said:
It’s not rationalization, and it doesn’t matter what your eyes see. This isn’t the 80’s or 90’s any more. You can follow games more than three ways, in person, network TV and local radio. The Information Age has allowed various other avenues to follow the games where seeing them live in person is the only direct medium.

Empty seats has nothing to do with fan base, but rather convenience.

If anything the fan base has increased. There are Steeler lounge or bars everywhere..worldwide.


Sent from my iPad using Steeler Nation mobile app
Click to expand...

And Steeler fans are showing up less and less for home games: fact. Stadium looks half full some games.
 
Bobby Bufford said:
And Steeler fans are showing up less and less for home games: fact. Stadium looks half full some games.
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Rather than go with your visual, a simple Google search would have told you they played at a 92.8 percent of capacity last season, which was an increase from the previous season. While time of the game and overall cost are contributors, I still say the biggest reason for the drop in attendance at Heinz Field is too many night games and there are some stats to back that up.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...out-night-games-wants-his-team-playing-fewer/

In 2017...

If you don't count the team's season finale against the Browns, when only 50,704 fans showed up watch the Steelers backups play against an 0-15 Browns team, you can see the giant discrepancy between night and day games. In four day games -- against Minnesota, Jacksonville, Cincinnati and New England -- the Steelers averaged 66,536 fans per game. In their three night games, the team averaged just 60,973 fans.

Rooney thinks part of the problem is that 18 percent of season-ticket holders live outside of the state and thousands more have to make a drive of more than three hours to get to games. That becomes a problem for fans, because it means they're not driving home until midnight or 1 a.m. if they attend a night game.
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In 2018, they averaged 64,334 in 5 day games and 61,993 in 3 night games.

In 2016, excluding the exhibition game against the one-win Browns in which Landry Jones started (55,921), the Steelers averaged 66,217 in six home afternoon games and 61,278 in one night game.
 
SteelerFan448 said:
This is a tough spot. People always ask for tickets and when I come across some for sale (face value), they don't want to pay. You start giving away tickets, that becomes an expectation.
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tickets are not cheap --- even at face value -- I tried to sell GOOD seats last year for face and ended up NOT selling them ... So this year I sold ALL 10 games....with HD TV and the price of parking and beer people are opting to stay home ... the number of NIGHT games also is a problem --- Sunday Afternoon was made for games ...... NOT Thursday night ---
 
Explains my retort to any loss of fan base. Convenience.

Plain and simple...thanks cpollock.


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cpollock said:
Sunday Afternoon was made for games ...... NOT Thursday night ---
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You are absolutely correct, Sunday at 1:00 pm, though the crowds are huge for the big 4:25 games. Believe it or not, Thursday night is the best of the worst night games for me. I get home around 1:00 am from all of them, so only having to make it through Friday makes it more bearable.
 
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Bobby Bufford said:
You can rationalize it any way you want to, but my eyes work. Fans are not filling the stadium, period. Not even close.
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Wake up and try to follow along............TURNSTYLE attendance NOT tickets sold. YES the STEELERS are sold out but their attendance numbers are the ACTUAL people through the turnstiles ................. Maqybe in a day or two some of us here can re-explain that for yaz.......................... Just give out a shout.





Salute the nation
 
steelerfan448 said:
rather than go with your visual, a simple google search would have told you they played at a 92.8 percent of capacity last season, which was an increase from the previous season. While time of the game and overall cost are contributors, i still say the biggest reason for the drop in attendance at heinz field is too many night games and there are some stats to back that up.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...out-night-games-wants-his-team-playing-fewer/

in 2017...



In 2018, they averaged 64,334 in 5 day games and 61,993 in 3 night games.

In 2016, excluding the exhibition game against the one-win browns in which landry jones started (55,921), the steelers averaged 66,217 in six home afternoon games and 61,278 in one night game.
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Bobby Bufford said:
You can rationalize it any way you want to, but my eyes work. Fans are not filling the stadium, period. Not even close.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised no one has questioned the team's underachieving as contributory to the lack of fan buzz. Personally, I think Rooney needs to see the apple cart upset a little and feel some corresponding feedback from fans when results underwhelm.

There should have been some wholesale changes made that were not made after the cumulative blows of the past 2 seasons. They still seem stuck in the Steeler Way and presume that the marks will always fill the seats.
 
SojournerSteel said:
I'm surprised no one has questioned the team's underachieving as contributory to the lack of fan buzz. Personally, I think Rooney needs to see the apple cart upset a little and feel some corresponding feedback from fans when results underwhelm.

There should have been some wholesale changes made that were not made after the cumulative blows of the past 2 seasons. They still seem stuck in the Steeler Way and presume that the marks will always fill the seats.
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I'm going to make an assumption that your fan participation has only been for the last 15 or 20 years. I don't want to get into what a true fan is, but we've been blessed as fans of this team.

Sure, it would be great to make the playoffs and win the lwoB repuS every year, but that's not going to happen. Some of us have lived through some long stretches of really bad teams, so right now, I'm enjoying the ride while it lasts.

I will only add that I see too many of the new fans more interested in fantasy than the actual game, perhaps that can be added to the list of excuses.
 
ZonaBurgh said:
I'm going to make an assumption that your fan participation has only been for the last 15 or 20 years. I don't want to get into what a true fan is, but we've been blessed as fans of this team.

Sure, it would be great to make the playoffs and win the lwoB repuS every year, but that's not going to happen. Some of us have lived through some long stretches of really bad teams, so right now, I'm enjoying the ride while it lasts.

I will only add that I see too many of the new fans more interested in fantasy than the actual game, perhaps that can be added to the list of excuses.
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I lived through through the 80's, but we can't compare then to now. Those teams didn't miss the playoffs with 8 Pro Bowlers and franchise QB. If Tomlin's teams of recent vintage had played with half the tenacity and pluck of the '84 or '89 Noll teams, results could have been special.

I completely understand and appreciate the "fanatic" core of being a fan through thick and thin. At the same time, I can't help but think that sagging ticket sales and empty seats are the only thing that Rooney will take seriously in terms of making needed change if this year leads in that direction.
 
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SojournerSteel said:
I can't help but think that sagging ticket sales and empty seats are the only thing that Rooney will take seriously in terms of making needed change if this year leads in that direction.
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The REALITY is that ticket sales are not sagging .... There is STILL a waiting list to get season tickets .... People NOT wanting to go to night games is a problem ...

The secondary market for ticket sales is not an indication that sales are lagging .......
 
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cpollock said:
The REALITY is that ticket sales are not sagging .... There is STILL a waiting list to get season tickets .... People NOT wanting to go to night games is a problem ...

The secondary market for ticket sales is not an indication that sales are lagging .......
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My thought is that it wouldn't be a bad thing for them to sag if the downward trend continues this year. That, juxtaposed against the unbridled enthusiasm of upstart Cleveland, might cause them to make needed changes to the product.

That would get Rooney's attention the quickest.
 
Your are totally missing the point ..... THE TICKETS are already SOLD and the Rooney's have the money .... so that is not going to make a difference ......
 
Steelers season ticket holders have gotten old and casual. If the weather is bad some won’t bother.

True story:

Several years ago, I took my dog for a walk before a Steelers game. As I walk past the 60 something neighbor, I overhear his conversation with the other neighbor.

“Going to the Steelers game”
“Oh yea, who they playing?”
“Uh, uh” reaches in his pocket and pulls out and looks at the tickets “Tennessee!”

It was 20 minutes before kickoff, he was going to miss most of the first quarter if not first half.
 
cpollock said:
Your are totally missing the point ..... THE TICKETS are already SOLD and the Rooney's have the money .... so that is not going to make a difference ......
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At some point it should if this season ends worse than last. Or at least some ugly Boo Birds along the way.
 
People pay licensing fees for their tickets so they are not going to GIVE them up --- and if they do there are thousands waiting in line to get them ..
 
cpollock said:
Your are totally missing the point ..... THE TICKETS are already SOLD and the Rooney's have the money .... so that is not going to make a difference ......
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Yup. They get paid up front. I wish there was a chance for some of us who come from out of town to get the tickets at more reasonable prices but they have locked in this secondary ticket market and enriched StubHub like sites for resale.
 
And not to forget ticket sales are only a part of the money coming in. Sales revenue, Microsoft,TV revenue, NFL ventures, like NFL.com,Network, etc.

NFL is making their money as is the Steelers.

And as discussed the seats are filled at a better percentage when the games aren't at screwy hours.
 
cpollock said:
People pay licensing fees for their tickets so they are not going to GIVE them up --- and if they do there are thousands waiting in line to get them ..
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So be it, but that doesn't mean they're not paying to watch the bread and circuses phase of the empire and sport for that matter. Just sayin'.
 
Black & Gold Bleeder said:
Can someone besides the look at me twins, translate this for me?
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Slash, cope, Ron burgundy are all pretty good "translators" so maybe one of them could chime in on this..........???





Salute the nation
 
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