NFL: Television vs Stadium Experience

[sodbuster]

I like to go camping too, but I'd rather do it in my living room. Nothing quite like gathering around the iPad with the campfire app roaring. All the quaintness without having to deal with all that nasty outdoors crap.

[Ronin]

Until they invent a TV where you can smell the tailgating BBQ, there is no comparison.

 

However, I do understand the point that is made about the benifits of TV

 

 

CBF

 

I'll tell you what, I'm tempted just to hit the tailgating and then go back home to watch the game, but they're taking the fun out of tailgating now too from what I understand, or at least making it more difficult for people to meet up and park together, etc.

 

Problem with that approach is that you can't make it back home in time to watch the game. Do they even allow anyone to leave the parking lot that early?

 

I like to go camping too, but I'd rather do it in my living room. Nothing quite like gathering around the iPad with the campfire app roaring. All the quaintness without having to deal with all that nasty outdoors crap.

 

LOL

 

That's just so American.

[chris heff]

I went to a Bills, Dolphins game a few years ago at Robbie Pro Dolphin Shark Sun Stadium. We had luxury box tickets, there was a Dolphin fan in the box that spent the entire game on a couch watching the game on a small TV. I kept wondering why he bothered to come to the game at all.

 

I've had great experiences at stadiums and some bad. I love to see games live, but I also like the comfort of my own home. I will admit that I will never go to a night game again.

[C.Biscuit97]

To me the NFL stadium experience has boiled down to getting hammered or having to deal with all the others around you that are hammered. It's just not something that appeals to me even though I would prefer being there from a football aspect. I live in Charlotte now so I don't make that choice every week but I always chose not to go when I return home and I never make a special trip to go to a game. Not sure how Buffalo compares to most stadiums but I do know games in Charlotte are a lot more tame. I know I know you'll say their fans don't compare to ours and you're right they don't, but it is for me the much better game time experience because the fans are not able to get too out of control. JMO

 

I went to a Panthers again and agree with this. Their tailgates are very mild but they are a very well behaved fanbase. I love our rowdiness but some of the stuff that happens is pathetic. It's like high school kids drinking for the first time.

 

I struggled with this. I normally always attend the opener and then a game or 2 later. But personally, I'd rather just tailgate and then go somewhere else to watch the game. Better picture, cheaper beer, no bathroom lines, or drunk idiots. That said, if the Bills clinched a playoff spot at home, there would be no better place in the world to be than the Ralph.

[Canadian Bills Fan]

I went to a Panthers again and agree with this. Their tailgates are very mild but they are a very well behaved fanbase. I love our rowdiness but some of the stuff that happens is pathetic. It's like high school kids drinking for the first time.

 

I struggled with this. I normally always attend the opener and then a game or 2 later. But personally, I'd rather just tailgate and then go somewhere else to watch the game. Better picture, cheaper beer, no bathroom lines, or drunk idiots. That said, if the Bills clinched a playoff spot at home, there would be no better place in the world to be than the Ralph.

 

This

 

 

CBF

[mountainwampus]

I went to several games last year and noticed they screw us out of most of the replays. Anytime a big play happens, even a coaches challenge, all eyes go up to the jumbotron and what do they give us? A replay? NOPE. A Microsoft Surface commercial for 2 minutes followed be a blurry 10 second replay, played one time. I could be at home watching the replays from every angle in slo-mo!! I blame Russ Brandon. He see the replays as a chance to make money and doesn't care about the fan experience.

[nucci]

This.

 

 

And this.

 

 

 

I'll add one more thing that gives attending a game the edge over watching it on TV: NO COMMERCIALS!

What about the 2 minute break for TV commercials and it's 20 degrees out and you're sitting watching players stand around? There are still commercials on the scoreboard, also

[26CornerBlitz]

Rich Deitsch: Even Better Than the Real Thing <20:51>

Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch joined The John Murphy Show to discuss his recent article regarding the future of NFL viewing on TV and how technology could make the game that much more impressive.

[plenzmd1]

I like to go camping too, but I'd rather do it in my living room. Nothing quite like gathering around the iPad with the campfire app roaring. All the quaintness without having to deal with all that nasty outdoors crap.

 

Hah...this is awesome!

 

I am sure by the opener I will have replied in 10 threads how I have gone to games since 69, have brought my kids to at least one game a year since 2005, ( they will be 15 and 13 this fall), and I have never ever seen a reason not to bring them.

 

We start the tailgate at 8.30, very rarely leave before 6:30, have a great party and a great time...and yes not as convenient as watching at home, but I get 10 great hours with my family where they actually think I don't suck 24/7.

 

I know my kids an anomaly , but even they can't wait to go to games live.....

Edited June 19, 2014 by plenzmd1

[mrags]

TV > Stadium as Technology continues to improve...

 

All Pros (When watching on a big screen in your basement with wonderful surround sound)

- Get to watch with your best friends and family without paying for each one of them

- Beer costs 20% of what you pay at the stadium (and that too for very limited crap)

- Anything else that you would buy would cost 10% at your local grocery store.

- Go out and play with your kids once the game is done, instead of sitting in a parking lot or thruway or beltway for the next two hours.

 

The "Whole field view" is way over rated. The actual play is on for 2-3 seconds and very few people usually spot "holes" and open WRs. You can hardly see where the ball is, especially when you sitting way up in the upper decks.

- Cold Weather. Horrible! Horrible!

 

What you get for being at the stadium:

- A chance to meet players as they enter/leave stadium and get autographs

- To be part of (always emotional) renderings of National Anthems.

- To be able to watch the half-time shows by Celebrities.

these sound more like your personal cons to going to a game than pros to staying home. And they are all your opinion.

 

Some people just don't like the crowds. Some people just like having things out in front of them instead of figuring out what's going on, on their own. Some people just don't like the live action or the weather. And that's fine but don't make them out to be only opinions and expect it to come across as definite.

 

There are things at the stadium you cannot experience at home. There is virtually nothing that can be experienced at home that cannot be experienced at the stadium at this point with the exception of the elements, and the comfort of being in your own home.

 

If you order good out, you would spend just as much on pizza and wings (large pie and 20 wings), $20-30 depending on where you order as you would at the stadium on a few slices. The beer isn't that outrageous. If people are worried about spending $5 on a beer, then chances are, they don't have a big screen HDTV at home to get all the great quality of the game. So to me that doesn't sound like someone doesn't like the experience, but they cannot afford it in a regular basis.

 

To each their own.

 

I went to several games last year and noticed they screw us out of most of the replays. Anytime a big play happens, even a coaches challenge, all eyes go up to the jumbotron and what do they give us? A replay? NOPE. A Microsoft Surface commercial for 2 minutes followed be a blurry 10 second replay, played one time. I could be at home watching the replays from every angle in slo-mo!! I blame Russ Brandon. He see the replays as a chance to make money and doesn't care about the fan experience.

this opinion os ridiculous at best. The thought that Russ Brandon is pumping ads instead of replays is comical. All stadiums do the same thing. I have had season tickets since 2006 and I think your extremely overexagerrating. But regardless, they have built 2 new scoreboards at the stadium this year (just drove by the stadium today and noticed them up already) that will be constantly playing replays, out of town scores, and the Red Zone highlights of other teams games.

[CodeMonkey]

While a great thing TV, will never replace being there and enjoying the moment with 70,000 of your best new friends.

Well not 70,000 maybe, but watching with old friends and family at home works for me

 

Attending the game live vs. watching it on television? I don't care how impressive your television is, there is no comparison.

There is no comparison for me either, home on TV hands down. Has been for the past few years (particularly since I got the big screen HD TV).

 

The stadium experience includes seeing more field. Which allows you to see plays develop. On TV you only see what's in the frame, and they dictate what your seeing. I went to a game in Miami several years ago, Terrance McGee took the opening kickoff in for a TD. From where I was sitting you could see the hole, and see it was going to happen.You don't see that hole on TV..... Then I got to high five random strangers also dressed in Bills gear. Stadium experience is better then TV IMO.

They are working on that with selectable field views on TV. I think ESPN might have something like that working now but only online I think. And it is only going to get better.

 

This. And this. I'll add one more thing that gives attending a game the edge over watching it on TV: NO COMMERCIALS!

There's an app for that I don't watch 1pm games with commercials. Besides, they do run commercials at the stadium on the scoreboard. And even if they didn't, the game still delays just the same amount of time while they are broadcast on TV.

 

If you order good out, you would spend just as much on pizza and wings (large pie and 20 wings), $20-30 depending on where you order as you would at the stadium on a few slices. The beer isn't that outrageous. If people are worried about spending $5 on a beer, then chances are, they don't have a big screen HDTV at home to get all the great quality of the game. So to me that doesn't sound like someone doesn't like the experience, but they cannot afford it in a regular basis.

 

I'm feeding a family of 5 for that $30 (actually closer to $50 with wings). It is much more to feed them at the stadium.

Can you get a beer for $5 at the Ralph? if so, that really isn't bad!

 

With the advent of HD and all the different camera's that they have at the stadiums now, you absolutely see the game better on TV. There is really no arguing that. What you miss out on staying at home is the stadium atmosphere, the "game day experience" if you will which includes tailgating. I do miss the tailgating for sure and so does my family. But the better view of the game, the comfort of home, the ability to not have to endure commercials and/or the associated time delay, no travel to/from the stadium, the ability to watch with my entire family and friends, and the ridiculous money savings more than makes up for it to me. To others the game day experience outweighs all the other things, to each his/her own.

 

The NFL is painfully aware of this I am sure and will do whatever it can, short of crippling the TV broadcast by knocking down the resolution for example (can't bite the multi-billion dollar hand that feeds you), to attract in stadium attendance. It remains to be seen as to how effective it will be.

Edited June 19, 2014 by CodeMonkey

[Hplarrm]

This thread reminds me of one my favorite NFL fan experiences when I was a kid, which was there was a set of contractual disputes between the TV nets and the growing number of big star announcers as folks like Cosell, and Dandy Don Meredith were demanding that the nets pay them big bucks.

 

The nets wanting to keep hold of every last dollar broadcast a game without any announcers whatsoever. The feed was merely the camera work and the actual ambient sound of the game.

 

It was fairly primitive and actually compared to being at the game was quite bad. The network critics simply savaged the effort in their columns. We then embarked into the modern world where folks like John Madden used telestrators and a hyperventilated style to add value to the game.

 

BUT

 

I for one miss the announcerless games. On only has to listen to Dan Dierdorf drone on with his biased analysis of the game to as quick as you can turn down the sound on the TV down and watch the TV feed while listening to Van Miller do his radio feed (also biased but at least in the Bills direction).

 

With today's modern technology (having the score/time continuously posted in the corner of the screen, rotating displays of the down and distance for each play, the yellow line automagically showing you the point that must be reached for a 1st down, intermittent crawls of scores across the league in other games, and outstanding individual performances that day) I would not miss doing without Dan Dierdorf at all.

 

It will likely never happen because the TV announcers as stars are simply part of the game now. There is so much money involved, the nets do not mind cutting in these announcer/stars for part of the take, the TV pundits will always lambast transfers of info to the viewer using "mere" technology because they are paid big bucks to point out the latest Phil Simms commentary idiocy.

 

However, I would love it if they broadcast an announcerless game with the person doing the hardwork being the TV show director who chooses the camera angles and uses the ample graphics available to let the viewer have game info and know what is happening around the league.

 

A TV announcer might interrupt your viewing once or twice a quarter to explain an on field game situation (involving something like a challenge) that explains what is happening because it cannot be signaled or easily explained by the ref post play.

 

If I had this readily available stuff I could happily do without the blather of the announcer.

 

Announcers do add to the game from time to time (Alex Karras voicing over a photo of a sweating steaming Otis Sistrunk by deadpanning that Sistrunk played his college ball at the University of Mars is one of the funniest things I ever heard)but in general, I feel I can do without the TV announcers, but I love the TV's ability to do replays or focus on details like the battle in the trenches between the OL/DL.

 

The good news is that us fans really do not have to choose between the game experience at the Stadium and watching games on TV. The best answer is to do both and between portable TVs (and soon ubiquitous Google glasses) one can get both.

 

One only has to experience virtually every eye turning to the big board in the stadium when a useful replay is shown to understand that both TV and being in the stadium have their value.

[mrags]

 

Well not 70,000 maybe, but watching with old friends and family at home works for me

 

 

There is no comparison for me either, home on TV hands down. Has been for the past few years (particularly since I got the big screen HD TV).

 

 

They are working on that with selectable field views on TV. I think ESPN might have something like that working now but only online I think. And it is only going to get better.

 

 

There's an app for that I don't watch 1pm games with commercials. Besides, they do run commercials at the stadium on the scoreboard. And even if they didn't, the game still delays just the same amount of time while they are broadcast on TV.

 

 

 

I'm feeding a family of 5 for that $30 (actually closer to $50 with wings). It is much more to feed them at the stadium.

Can you get a beer for $5 at the Ralph? if so, that really isn't bad!

 

With the advent of HD and all the different camera's that they have at the stadiums now, you absolutely see the game better on TV. There is really no arguing that. What you miss out on staying at home is the stadium atmosphere, the "game day experience" if you will which includes tailgating. I do miss the tailgating for sure and so does my family. But the better view of the game, the comfort of home, the ability to not have to endure commercials and/or the associated time delay, no travel to/from the stadium, the ability to watch with my entire family and friends, and the ridiculous money savings more than makes up for it to me. To others the game day experience outweighs all the other things, to each his/her own.

 

The NFL is painfully aware of this I am sure and will do whatever it can, short of crippling the TV broadcast by knocking down the resolution for example (can't bite the multi-billion dollar hand that feeds you), to attract in stadium attendance. It remains to be seen as to how effective it will be.

the beer has gone up over the past few year hit I think I remember last year was $9 and change for a 24oz can right outside my tunnel (section 123). That comes to less than $5 a beer. I get 2 of those early on and I'm good until halftime. It's another $5-8 for a basket of fingers at halftime. Another 3-5 for a Pepsi and I'm good. So with $30 or so I've had 4 beers, chicken fingers, and a Pepsi. As far as the tailgating goes, I buy all my tailgate food from Wegmans so I'm essentially paying the same price as anyone else that sits at home. Sometimes I eat so much and drink enough that I don't spend a dime in the stadium or spend just a few dollars on some pepsis throughout the game.

 

As far as feeding a family of 5. No. It's not gonna happen. But there's not too any people taking a family of 5 to the games either. So in that case it's a once a season type of experience maybe just to give the kids something to experience.

 

For everyone else that's just paying for themselves or maybe a girlfriend/wife, it's almost no different.

[CodeMonkey]

As far as feeding a family of 5. No. It's not gonna happen. But there's not too any people taking a family of 5 to the games either. So in that case it's a once a season type of experience maybe just to give the kids something to experience.

Yeah we do the kids day preseason game every year. The crowd is obviously more subdued (to put it mildly) than for a regular season game. But the crowd is also generally much more sober as well which is a plus when bringing kids.

 

I enjoy watching with my family which is a big reason I greatly enjoy the at home experience more.

Edited June 19, 2014 by CodeMonkey

[Mr Info]

Hah...this is awesome!

 

I am sure by the opener I will have replied in 10 threads how I have gone to games since 69, have brought my kids to at least one game a year since 2005, ( they will be 15 and 13 this fall), and I have never ever seen a reason not to bring them.

 

We start the tailgate at 8.30, very rarely leave before 6:30, have a great party and a great time...and yes not as convenient as watching at home, but I get 10 great hours with my family where they actually think I don't suck 24/7.

 

I know my kids an anomaly , but even they can't wait to go to games live.....

 

+1 I am a long-time remote season ticket holder and can only make a few games a year but there is nothing like being at a Bills game. I have Sunday Ticket which is outstanding but it's not the same as a home Bills game. I have been at some other NFL stadiums when the Bills are visiting but it pales in comparison to the whole sun-up/sun-down game-day Bills experience. I have taken my kids (now 17 & 19) and my wife every year to a game and they always want to return. I guess I am fortunate where my tix are located because there have not been any incidents close by where we were uncomfortable. Either tailgating or inside the stadium we always encounter some unique game-day experience every time we go. Maybe it's the dead fish heads on a wire Xmas tree outside the stadium before a Fins game in December, or a player showing up at Hammer's lot after a game, or being offered some incredible grilled food outside the stadium by a couple celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving Day a day early (btw - second Monday in Oct) but I can't wait to return to a few games at the Ralph this year.

[Mark Vader]

What about the 2 minute break for TV commercials and it's 20 degrees out and you're sitting watching players stand around? There are still commercials on the scoreboard, also

Yes, but I still have the option to watch the field instead of whatever commercials are played at the stadium.

 

With television, I have no choice but to watch commercials.

[White Linen]

I went to a Panthers again and agree with this. Their tailgates are very mild but they are a very well behaved fanbase. I love our rowdiness but some of the stuff that happens is pathetic. It's like high school kids drinking for the first time.

 

I struggled with this. I normally always attend the opener and then a game or 2 later. But personally, I'd rather just tailgate and then go somewhere else to watch the game. Better picture, cheaper beer, no bathroom lines, or drunk idiots. That said, if the Bills clinched a playoff spot at home, there would be no better place in the world to be than the Ralph.

 

Obviously we by in large agree, you said it much better.

[sodbuster]

I had to read the articles several times. Neither one made the argument that the home experience is better. It might be cheaper or more convenient, but better?

 

Does convenience really make something better? It's more convenient for me to look up some dirty videos online and take care of business myself, and cheaper and way easier than going out to pick someone up at the bar or a party or keep a woman around in a relationship, but does that make it better?

 

Edit: and now that I think about it, for all the same reasons. Dealing with drunks, beer is more expensive there, and the picture on my computer is high definition.

Edited June 20, 2014 by sodbuster

[kasper13]

I think TV is better now. In fact, two TV's. One with the Bills game, one with Red Zone. There goes the commercial argument. Why can't you tailgate in your backyard? Just call it a BBQ. When the weather is nice, I do it all the time. Have about 10-12 people over. Mostly the same ones that I went to the games with. Food on a grill is food on a grill. Beer is cheaper. Bathroom lines are shorter. Parking is free. Don't have drunks that I don't know to deal with. It's cheaper, easier and more fun. Never miss the start of the 4pm games either. When it gets cold and they are out of playoff contention, it's all the better to just watch it on TV. If they were a playoff team it might be different. Nothing like the atmosphere at a playoff game. Of course it's been 18 years since they had a home playoff game.

[bbb]

I went to a Panthers again and agree with this. Their tailgates are very mild but they are a very well behaved fanbase. I love our rowdiness but some of the stuff that happens is pathetic. It's like high school kids drinking for the first time.

 

I struggled with this. I normally always attend the opener and then a game or 2 later. But personally, I'd rather just tailgate and then go somewhere else to watch the game. Better picture, cheaper beer, no bathroom lines, or drunk idiots. That said, if the Bills clinched a playoff spot at home, there would be no better place in the world to be than the Ralph.

 

I was on the field the last time they did that after a long drought: