When the NFL kicks off the 2010 season next week, about 1 million fans will turn out to watch games in stadiums across the nation.
And in their living rooms, an average of 16 million fans will gather to watch each of the 16 opening-weekend games in what has become the golden age for NFL consumption.
That's because of big-screen, high-definition TVs, surround-sound systems, channels that allow viewers to watch multiple games at the same time and check on players' stats, and the NFL's RedZone Channel — a commercial-free, subscription-based channel that cuts to the most exciting game at anytime.
Together, such innovations during the past decade — driven in part by the NFL's efforts to expand its reach as the most popular professional sports enterprise — have made the at-home experience better, and cheaper, than going to a stadium for many.
At-home viewing has become so attractive that the NFL — mindful of a 2.4% drop in attendance last season, the second consecutive year with a small decline — is increasingly concerned about making sure that fans consider trips to the stadium to be worth the effort.
It's a significant challenge: The average cost to take a family of four to an NFL game was $413 in 2009. Throw in traffic jams, misbehaving fans, long lines for expensive concessions and the possibility of bad weather, and it's not difficult to see why the league's TV viewership exploded last season to its highest level since 1990.
"They make it mighty attractive to just be at home on a fall Sunday," says Jody Males, 38, of Pittsburgh. "It's one of those deals where you're perfectly content just to sit at the couch and access the stuff they throw at you."
NFL Commissioner
Roger Goodell has acknowledged that the league helped to create this situation through its much-envied TV promotions. The league and its partners have made it more affordable — and many say more enjoyable — to recline at home.
DirecTV sells its season-long Sunday Ticket package — which makes every game available each week — for $300.
A report by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) this year said 35% of fans preferred to watch a football game on a high-definition television than attend in person. And
3-D TVs could boost that percentage if they become popular. The NFL will televise its first game in that format Thursday, when the
New England Patriots visit the
New York Giants in a preseason contest.
"The NFL has done an unbelievable job of making our homes our stadiums," sports business analyst Bill Sutton says.
"It is attractive to sit at home with HDTVs," says Goodell, who is pushing NFL teams to improve the stadium experience for fans. "That makes for a great experience. But it's terrific to be in our stadiums. And we have to bring technology to our stadiums and make that experience better."
Many teams are getting aggressive about Goodell's directive to make trips to stadiums more appealing.
They are offering handheld mobile units and smartphone applications that deliver replays, the RedZone Channel, broadcasts of other games, fantasy stats and other information exclusively to fans inside the stadium.
The
Dallas Cowboys set a new standard with a massive overhead HD video board that was unveiled last year at the team's new $1.2 billion stadium in Arlington, Texas. The
New York Jets and Giants opened a shared, $1.6 billion stadium with HD boards this season, and the
Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots and
Washington Redskins installed giant HD boards this year that cost millions of dollars and will offer fans not just live action and replays but also the RedZone Channel.
The Ravens are among several teams wiring their stadium so fans can use Wi-Fi with their cellphones.
Meanwhile, some teams are testing mobile units that will allow fans to see replays and other games from their seats.
The Patriots are among the teams trying a free smartphone application called YinzCam that fans in club seats can access via a Wi-Fi network. The
Miami Dolphins use a handheld unit called FanVision that they distribute to season ticketholders.
"There's no reason a fan should feel they're going to miss anything by going to a game live," says Brian Rolapp, the NFL's vice president for digital media.
Today, however, the stadium experience has become a tough sell for some fans.
Chicago resident Rich Rahn, 64, a former season ticketholder of the
Los Angeles Rams and Raiders, says he now avoids stadiums.
"I'm 10 feet away from five screens," he says of his living room setup. "It's so much better than paying $65 and up for a ticket. I've just lost the enthusiasm to go out and sit in the crowd when I know I could be sitting in front of my TVs and enjoying it much better."
"People want it, and they want it now," Dolphins CEO Mike Dee says of fans' demands for real-time news.
"Other than the fact that video boards are larger and clearer, the stadium experience really hasn't evolved and improved at the same rate" as the viewing experience from home.
'We've come a long way'
Ten years ago, the at-home experience wasn't that different from what it had been for decades.
Video streaming on the Internet was too slow. The vast majority of TVs still had a tube. Cellphone updates often came in the form of a friend calling from the stadium.
A decade later, with high-definition TV available in 68% of U.S. homes (up from 21% in 2006), watching NFL games has been transformed:
• At home? Put on the RedZone Channel and see what amounts to a real-time highlight video.
• Wondering about your fantasy team? Track its progress and tally your points on one of several sports websites or watch in-progress video highlights at
NFL.com.
• Out with the kids? Watch games on your phone via DirecTV's Sunday Ticket (which provides access to every afternoon game) or NFL.com (which streams Sunday night games).
"We've come a long way from huddling around a 23-inch TV," says Shawn DuBravac, an analyst for the CEA.
And that's just for now. With new technologies emerging every year, even Rolapp, the NFL's digital media man, concedes he can't predict what viewers' consumption of the NFL will look like in five or 10 years.
"Your mind can race," Rolapp says of the possibilities. "There's no reason a fan should feel they're going to miss anything by going to a game live."
Many in the NFL cite the camaraderie among fans on game days as something that should attract people to stadiums.
"There's nothing like being there," Redskins owner
Daniel Snyder says. "The experience of being with 90,000 (other fans) is still the best."
But even with the enhancements, stadiums struggle to re-create the creature comforts — and the affordability — of fans' living rooms. They lack what Sutton calls the "you-have-to-be-there experience."
"The broader issue,"
Houston Texans President Jamey Rootes says, "is how do you make an experience where sitting at home and watching pales in comparison."
'Just miserable' at some stadiums
It's not just technology that can make staying at home more attractive.
Rootes says the Texans prioritize reducing "friction points" that might be seen as disadvantages to the stadium, such as the high cost of food and boorish behavior among fans.
The NFL has tried to root out some problems by creating text hotlines on which fans can report misbehavior to security.
Ravens President Dick Cass says he has encountered suffocating traffic at some NFL stadiums.
"It's just miserable," Cass says. "You have a great parking spot, and then it takes you two hours to get out to the highway. I would not go to those games."
The growth in the at-home market and TV ratings comes even as the league provides more avenues for following games via digital media. It's "added consumption," Rolapp says. "(Fans) are doing more and more things simultaneously."
Rolapp says the NFL doesn't feel conflicted as it pursues what he calls a dual-responsibility strategy to enhance fans' experiences outside and inside stadiums.
"We aren't just going to invest on new technologies that serve people at home," Rolapp says. "We will continue to invest to make the stadium experience better."
Dee says he feels no frustration with the NFL's digital media strategy even as he has to work harder to attract fans to the stadium.
"I view it as a challenge for us to provide a better stadium experience," Dee says. "It's driving teams to be more aggressive."
Besides the mobile FanVision unit, the Dolphins have tried to create a festival on game days, with concerts by
Jimmy Buffett and other artists. The team also is opening a Miami Beach-style nightclub inside the stadium on game days.
"It's incumbent upon teams and stadiums to enhance their product to make it desirable," Dee says. "We shouldn't stall technology that's good for the fans just because it might be competition to individual markets."
Fred Kirsch, who oversaw the Patriots' introduction of an in-stadium mobile app, says he expects iPad-like tablets to be essential in future years for fans tracking fantasy teams and other games.
"The idea is they can watch it whenever the want, wherever they want," Kirsch says.
That would please Joe Hyak, 39, a Stockton, Calif., resident who has been dissatisfied with the updates provided in stadiums in recent years.
"You're kind of in the dark," says Hyak, a
Green Bay Packers fan. "You need to know what's happening as a fan."
And Rootes is counting on not just improved technology but also the passion of fans to keep his stadium filled.
"If it's all just about a transaction that you want to sit and see who won the game, I would say there is no way to win," Rootes says. "But it isn't all about that. Going to a game has to be a tribal experience for our fans."
Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem announced Tuesday the suspension for the rest of the season the pro-am policy that disqualified Jim Furyk from playing in last week's The Barclays, the first of four FedExCup playoffs events. Furyk was disqualified for missing his tee time for the tournament's pro-am on Aug. 25. Furyk, who arrived at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J., five minutes late, overslept after his cellphone lost power and the alarm did not sound.
