Owners planning to have players miked up

From ESPN.com and Wall Street Journal

Review by Steve Robertson III in SRM 435 (section 1)

Over the past few years, the NFL, believe it or not, has been struggling to fill its stadiums. Fan turnout to games is nowhere near as high as they have been in years past; in fact over the past 6 years the a average fan attendance has dropped by 4.5%. Why is this? Some would say the economy, why others believe the prices that are being charged not only for tickets but concession are absurd, but also the advances in the at-home viewing experience has improved immensely too. My group decided to do our presentation on the changes that the NFL plans to make in the coming season and beyond through the use of two articles we found. The first is by Kevin Clark of the Wall Street Journal, whose article is titled, “Game Changer: NFL Scrambles to Fill Seats.” The second article is by Daniel Kaplan, writer for the Sports Business Journal, whose article is titled, “Listen Up: NFL Moving to Mike Players.”

The NFL is pushing out new perks for season ticket holders and well as fan that attend the game at their respected stadium. Some of these new features include, a free NFL RedZone Subscription, In-Booth Camera review (aka Challenge Camera), locker room camera access, Wifi, and now installing microphones on the players! These a drastic improvements that have really caught the fans attention because of all of this up-to-date technology being executed. The only issue is that if the fans can get/or have access to this perks at home, has the NFL really won the competition. I would think not.

If you think about why an average fan would want to watch a game at their own home, typically it is because they enjoy the own comfort of their home. Think about it, you can have people over, you have an unlimited number of snacks that costs a quarter of what you would be charge to eat at the game, and you have some many more options of games to watch, whether it is live streaming of a game or another game being shown on a different network, and let’s not forget you can drink as much as you want and not have to worry about getting home because you are already there! It is insane! Why would a fan ever want to give up an opportunity like that?

I feel it’s because of two reasons, fan loyalty and tradition. If you were to think about it, season ticket holders for fans who have been apart of the Green Bay Packers and Redskins whose seat are on the 50 yard line and 3 rows back from the field, I can guarantee those tickets have been past down for nearly 3 generations. That is where tradition plays a huge role. It is a big way to bring a family together and have them all share an amazing game day atmosphere whether it is 90 degrees outside or even 10 degrees. The fact of the matter is that the loyalty that they have for their team is one that doesn’t truly need all the perks to keep them coming back for more. I mean sure it might help, but the fact of the matter is that a true die-hard fan will attend these football games because these football games impact their lives in so many ways.So in conclusion, I feel with the additions that the NFL has/plan to implement in the coming seasons, I do think it will work but not forever. I feel more fans will begin to get pulled back to the stadiums because of these new perks and I think these new traditions and fan loyalties will grow again among a new generation. If the NFL can keep up with the in-game home experience for the most part, with integrated technology at these games that fans can relate to, I feel the NFL will be just fine!

---

Review by Connor Butler in SRM 435 (section 1)

Having players get mic’d up for a game is a promotional concept the NFL has used for years. Now, NFL teams are attempting to mike players for in-stadium use to go along with many other promotions. Recently, I read two articles: One from the Wall Street Journal article entitled Game Changer: NFL Scrambles to Fill Seats, and one entitled Listen Up: NFL Moving to Mike Players from the Sports Business Journal. This brief review will give a brief summary of both articles, a critical analysis of each article from a marketing and promotional standpoint, and discuss how this is all relevant to our class, SRM 435. 

The first article, Game Changer: NFL Scrambles to Fill Seats, written by Kevin Clark, gives a broad overview of the issues currently affecting the NFL, and the many steps, including miking players, that the NFL is taking to address it. After bluntly stating the issue, the writer offers out many ways in which the NFL is attempting to address the issue, such as miking players and coaches for in-stadium use, stadium wifi, watering down the blackout rule, and “liberalizing” restraints on crowd noise to give stadiums college like atmospheres. As the article wraps up, the article states that some developments in using these new technologies as vehicles may be a long way off.

Fast forward a little over one year when Listen Up: NFL Moving to Mike Players written by Daniel Kaplan, a staff writer for the sports business journal was released. The article, in support of the previous article, begins by stating the NFL is moving to put microphones on players and coaches as another step in the leagues ongoing push to improve fans’ in-stadium experience. The article continues on to compare the situation to NASCAR, stating that the professional racing league has never hesitated to let fans hear the conversation between spotters and drivers, and that multiple teams are equally enthused by the idea. Towards the end of the article, the writer discusses the censorship, or lack of, of the miking. The current debate in player miking is over whether audio should be exclusive stadium use, and whether the audio would be broadly available, or available on an individual basis, like using an online app.

From a sports marketing, promotion, and sales standpoint, I believe that these many new promotions would be a great idea for encouraging the average fan to come spend money in your stadium. Often times, the average fan is a much harder sell than your hardcore follower and is going to need much more promotionally to attract them to an event. These many new features could provide the extra push to help increase ticket sales. This all, of course, hinges on all of these features staying free. If they are not free or will cost extra, I think it serves no purpose in attracting the average fan. When it comes to your hardcore fans, I think that these many new promotions serve no purpose. A team’s hardcore fans will be there no matter what and often times won’t need a promotion to get them there. While the incentives could serve as a cool addition to their experience, I don’t see these things being deal breakers.

When I think of how this relates to class, the first thing I think of is my experience working the St. Francis game with the marketing department. Before the game, some students were going around passing out promotional items, and inside of the gate before kickoff we were all passing out thunder sticks as even more promotional items. Obviously what the NFL is attempting to do is on a much larger scale, but I feel as though it’s a similar concept. Promotions are a very large part of marketing, which helps increase sales; the two main subjects of our course.These articles were two very well written articles that were fun to review and enjoyable to read. Because of these articles, I am now hooked to see where the NFL goes when it comes to the in-stadium experience.