I don't understand why anyone would try and argue that Seattle is getting "punished" for having road prime time games. NFL = Money Seattle home games are boring for the majority of NFL fans because the game is over after the 1st quarter, which means fans turn the channel. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with showcasing a city. Even if it was about showcasing a city, what good does that do when most fans turn the game off or find something else to watch? It's about one thing...$$$$.
If it was your favorite team I'm sure you would feel cheated not to have PT home games besides the opening game. The Champs "deserve " atleast 2-3 home games on national stage. I totally understand the $$$$ aspect.... Trust me I do. But gotta reward greatness!
So, what if Seattle starts blowing the teams out on the road as well. Is the solution to just not put them on national TV at all? The NFL makes money hand over foot no matter who is playing. They're the highest rated show on TV no matter what the game is. Sure, it "helps" when its a close game... if that's all they cared about, they should just flex the closest point spread game to national TV every week. There's enough people that will watch any game on for gambling/fantasy purposes. This is a STORY because it has never happened before... and the NFL has been all about the $$$ for more than 20+ years now. Its an even bigger story in Seattle...so not sure why anybody wouldn't "understand" why there is uproar. Its there... the uproar has happened.
I remember when the Oilers were in a four-way tie for best record in the league and got three or four Monday night games: then they traded away Warren Moon and got shellacked over and over in prime time.
What, specifically, is the effect? What is the extra effort involved? You're suggesting all the teams really really crave playing primetime home games to the point where its a punishment to not have them, but say that playing primetime road games is so horrible that no one wants to do it? Who cares, though? This is one of those random stats that has no bearing or relevance to anything. And there's probably not ever been a Superbowl champion that had such an extreme winning margin differential between home and road games. Again, TV decisions are designed for TV audiences. The networks are not stupid - they know what gets ratings and what doesn't. They've seen ratings from past years. They can do the analysis. Simplistically, Superbowl Champions = good ratings. Blowouts = bad ratings. How to address that? Put the SB Champions' most likely competitive games on TV.
More exposure for the city, the stadium, and the team. Any national primetime game already shortens the week... add travel to that, and the week is even shorter. Yes, I'm saying a road primetime game is more of a disadvantage than simply a road noon or 3pm game. So by that logic, if Seattle starts blowing out road opponents too, they simply won't put them on primetime TV anymore? Its rare that the networks get the "best" game of the week for the spotlight... they can only guarantee the best opponents. Trying to get the best opponents AND the best possible game is a lesson in randomness. I foresee the Denver @ Seattle and the San Fran @ Seattle games being better than any of the Seattle prime-time games this year.
Because first of all, you're more likely to win the home game... second of all, if you live in the city (and esp. if you're going to the game), its a more hyped up atmosphere. Why put any game in primetime if you don't think its "different"? It is.
You could also look at it like this: Pacific teams usually have trouble playing early games - Seattle only gets 3, in part because of several road games being moved to later time slots. Only once do they play an early game on the East Coast.
So when there's a primetime game for Reliant, there's "exposure" for the stadium? What does that mean? In the 3 hour broadcast, how is the city promoted? Agree on exposure for the team itself - but that applies to the road team too. If it shortens the next week, it lengthens the previous one. And the teams still have 8 home games and 8 road games - they are going to have travel for 8 of them regardless. If they play a prime-time road game, it shortens that week; but if they play a prime-time home game, it would shorten that week too. There's no road disadvantage there. Yeah, if you're winning all your games 40-0, you probably won't be on national TV too much if the networks can avoid it, unless you have other selling points like being the SB winner or having superstars that people want to see. This seems like common sense. Of course there are no guarantees. But that's not going to stop them from trying. When you have a clearly established pattern of Seattle playing crappy games vs competitive games, why pick the ones that have a great chance of being crappy when you can just as easily pick the ones that are more likely to be competitive?
LOL, By your logic, the next Seattle Super Bowl won't be on national tv because of "low" ratings due to a likely blow out. The best teams, especially the SB champs, deserve an equal distribution of home and road national TV games. Trying to "fix" it so that they only put the better team at a disadvantage to try to get the more competitive game is a total screw job. Also, these games are a showcase for the host city... overhead shots of the stadium/downtown/city more-so than any other game. Broadcast crews stay here all week to prepare. Especially important for cities like Houston, where people in the North still believe cattle roam the street. Its akin to the honor/exposure cities get when they host Super Bowls or Final Fours (albeit on a much smaller level). These games are "events", and the city puts its best foot forward when hosting them.
If it was the Texans who had this sort of schedule. People would be screaming bloody murder ... Don't deny that opinion Texans fans.
Most definitely.... especially if they were the defending SB champs who were forced to play more road night games simply because they were too "good" at home. As I said before, night games mess up travel schedules and the following week more-so than day games. If a team has a bunch of night games (which any SB champ will have), its unfair to make them all mostly road games (especially with the distance Seattle has to travel to their closest opponent as is). Frankly, if ratings are the only determining factor.... why put their first game at home against the Packers (who they will annihilate)? Make that a road game... just like Baltimore was forced to do last year (where they promptly got annihilated).
