http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/nfl-alarmed-three-four-playoff-games-including-green-213137570--nfl.html

By Frank Schwab | Shutdown Corner – 9 hours ago

The legend of the waiting list for Packers season tickets in Green Bay has grown over the years. Newborns get put on the list, with parents hoping some day their offspring hits the top of the list.

Green Bay has perhaps the best fans in the NFL ... which is why the league should be very worried that the Packers and two other teams are still struggling to sell out their playoff games.

Green Bay, as of Wednesday morning, was about 8,500 tickets short of a sellout, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Tom Silverstein. If the Packers don't sell out by 3:40 p.m. Thursday, the game will be blacked out on local TV from Green Bay to Milwaukee. That's almost inconceivable. The Press-Gazette said the Packers have sold out every regular-season game since 1959 (a playoff game in January of 1983, at the end of the strike-shortened season, did not). And yet they are having troubles selling out a playoff game a week after Aaron Rodgers returned from injury to beat the Bears for the NFC North title.

The Bengals produced a video with some players urging fans to buy playoff tickets, which you wouldn't think should be necessary for a NFL playoff game. Former Bengals receiver Chad Johnson said he would buy the unsold tickets, of which there are about 8,000 according to reports, but it's unclear if he was serious. As of Wednesday afternoon the Colts needed to sell 5,500 tickets for their game against the Chiefs before Thursday afternoon to become a sellout and avoid a local television blackout.

It would be a tremendous embarrassment to the league to have three of four playoff games blacked out locally, and likely, the tickets will get sold somehow to avoid that scenario. But there's a bigger issue here. Is this the most stark example that NFL fans aren't too excited to go to games anymore?

A quick glance at Ticketmaster on Wednesday afternoon showed the face-value prices for the Packers playoff game ranged from $313 and $102, not counting Ticketmaster fees. If you've attended a NFL game, you know that the cost doesn't end with tickets. Parking is outrageously and insultingly high at most NFL games. Concessions aren't cheap either. NFL teams have gouged and gouged and gouged, and maybe there's a breaking point.

It is supposed to be a high of four degrees in Green Bay on Sunday, when the Packers play the 49ers, with a low of minus-15 degrees. Would you rather spend a few hundred dollars to sit in miserable conditions or stay at home and watch on TV, where the high-definition view is a heck of a lot better than it is better than any vantage point in the stadium? It seems that more fans are asking themselves that question, especially as the in-home experience for watching games has improved with great televisions and easy access to discuss the game with friends online.

The NFL has a serious issue on its hands when three cities are struggling to sell out a playoff game, including the Packers. All three games might sell out and the local television blackout scare will be forgotten. But the NFL better not ignore what's happening this week. It's not a good sign for the future.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

No way footballs version of the worlds greatest fan mantra the Cardinals own will let that happen. Unless maybe they're just the worlds greatest fans of a tv show after all

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I'm one of those terrible fans. I simply don't want to sit through single digit temps.

I guess if all the other "fans" feel the same, you won't be able to watch your favorite television program either.

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Don't take it personally.

You can only price gouge fans so much. At some point it has to turn a bit.

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Good thing the Atlanta Braves never had to worry about blackout rules.

Though it looks as though they are repealing that law soon on blackouts.

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Sure, economics plays a role here, but the mighty NFL marketing machine has made it a television game. That's what they promote- the TV product, not the live show. Is it really any wonder then that so many people would consider that actually attending a game has nothing at all to do with being a fan?

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Don't take it personally.

Are you really comparing the Atlanta Braves, a vagabond team that set up shop in the heart of traditional Cardinals country with the MIGHTY HERITAGE CHARTER MEMBER POWERHOUSE GREEN BAY PACKERS?

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Don't take it personally.

Well both can't sell out playoff games.

Maybe if Green Bay had a dome this wouldn't be an issue

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The frozen tundra of Turner Field just doesn't have the same cachet that's for sure

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Which they are about to tear down for a "modern" tax payer stadium.

Its too cold out and most Pakcer fans know their team isn't going anywhere. Why shell out the 300 bucks for a ticket?

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Well, I did make it up to a game this year. And also went to Cleveland for the Bears game. NFL games are so damn expensive.

Cant beat fun at the old man cave

I went to a Bulls game the other night. Paid a "discounted price" of a 100 dollars for two tickets in the 16th row of the 300 level. Much more enjoyable watching while drinking on my couch.

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For sure.

So everyone is in agreement that going to football games is pretty horrible- too expensive, too annoying, too cold, just really an awful experience. Pretty much, live football sucks and very few people on this board are fans of it. So why then, when I suggest you're a fan of watching TV do you get so angry and defensive?

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Don't take it personally.

That's not a discounted price. I think someone screwed you.

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Not really.

Im talking extreme weather. If its above 20, it's fine

At least the blackout won't affect the legions of Packers fans in Chicago.

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This is different from baseball fans how?

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I read that in Thom Brennaman's voice and added "...and all across this great land of ours"

I think most do enjoy going to games. The prices though have encouraged people to stay home. The NFL is pricing their games to just barely fill the stadiums.

Maybe Wisconsin doesn't like their Gay QB anymore?

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

How the Bulls can charge 77 dollars for 300 level tickets and 47.50 for standing room and sell most of the tickets is amazing to me.

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Agree, but only one teams fans pride themselves on wearing hunting gear, tailgating, etc.

Soldier field is a shit venue, shit facility, terrible to get to, no tailgatting, nothing close, etc etc.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

That's what Mike North has said.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Yeah, the single game prices on ticketmaster are crazy, and I'm not sure why anyone would ever pay them. Even when the team was good over the past couple seasons, you could get tickets on stubhub or craigslist for much lower than that. Since the team is shit this year, you probably could have gotten those 300 level tickets in the $10-$20 range on stubhub.

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Mods please delete.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I got them for 38 each on stubhub. After fees and taxes it came out to $99.50. I bought them before Rose got hurt . Tee same area was going for 31 each the day before the game.

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Check that I bought them through ticketmaster resale. How the fuck did they charge me a shipping fee when I downloaded them online?

Quantity 2 @ $38.00
Merchandise $76.00
Discount $0.00
Gift Certificate $0.00
Service Charge $19.00
Shipping $4.95
Tax $0.00
Order Total $99.95

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