Bengals: Unless there's a significant increase in ticket sales, game against Houston unlikely to sellout

by Kirkendall on Oct 13, 2009 9:48 AM EDT in Media Comment 20 comments

It was funny. After the Bengals beat the Ravens Sunday, I sent a friend a text saying, "Do you believe yet?" He responds, "Who-Dey Morpheus" (if you don't get the reference, watch the Matrix). Like most people, he's hesitant (my friend, not Morpheus) to get on board with the Bengals right now. It's the whole, they always break your heart defense mechanism. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. Fool me about 20 times, then shame on, well, Mike Brown? Are the Bengals going to make the playoffs? I'll bet if you ask yourself that, then the defense mechanism kicks into gear. "Well, we're only 4-1 and there's a lot of football to play." That's the funny thing about belief. Or faith. There's no reasoning behind believing what you believe in. You just do it. The more your annual belief is broken, the more you resist the urge to believe. So the question is now, do you believe now?

Apparently, many don't. Even with wins against the Browns, the Ravens, the Packers and the Steelers, the Bengals have announced that a blackout will be likely against the Houston Texans unless there's a "significant increase" in sales this week.

Without “a significant increase” in the pace of ticket sales this week, Sunday’s Bengals vs. Houston game at Paul Brown Stadium will not be a sellout, the team’s ticket office announced today.

Under NFL policy, if the 1 p.m. Sunday game is not sold out 72 hours before kickoff -- by 1 p.m. this Thursday -- the CBS television broadcast will be blacked out in the Bengals home market, which includes Cincinnati, Dayton and Lexington, Ky.

UPDATE: Joe Reedy writes that the amount of tickets available against the Houston Texans "is closer to 7,000"

UPDATE II: Now it's just getting embarrassing.

Let's see if we understand this one. The Cincinnati Bengals are one of the hottest teams in the league, perched atop the AFC North at 4-1, despite the presence of the Ravens and Steelers. After winning two hard-fought road games, the Bengals return home for a game against the Texans. And they might not sell out Paul Brown Stadium.

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recession is still hitting cincy hard

ohio is among tops in unemployment in the country. games have been sold out from other teams fans buying tickets too. houston has nobody coming to see this game, but for their families.

don’t expect this game to sell out.

by palewook on Oct 13, 2009 11:01 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i still wonder why reds fans haven’t developed this same defense mechanism, since once again they performed their annual ballet of win early, lose a lot in the middle, and finish strong enough to be a losing team again. to me, that’d be far more heartbreaking than the usual bengals season, which is generally over before the midway point.

i'm going to go america all over your ass!

by Raging Clue on Oct 13, 2009 11:17 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I don’t get my hopes up for the Reds, but I like when they contend until training camp starts, gives me something to do.

by jim0ijk on Oct 13, 2009 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

They really need to improve the game experience at PBS. I love going to all games, Louisville, UC, etc etc and the bengals are the worst.

Same tired music every game (not talking about welcome to te jungle) same tired announcing, same tired adds and features. No highlights of other games, poor stat updates from around the league. Same tired fireworks and ugly cheerleaders.

The only thing except the turf that has changed in the stadium itself is the banner on the wall. The place is a concrete cell. We have 2 conference championships, multiple division and wild card winners and yet no banners. We have no ring of fame… Nothing in the place except faded pictures and some banners of former players that haven’t been cleaned since 96.

They haven’t given away anything at the gate for years and years. I remember getting towels blankets ear warmers etc etc. The reds utilize that tactic well with bobble heads.

They could easily start a ring of fame and add someone each week and honor them and maybe give out commerative posters or shirts or something. I would definitely make the trek for boomer or munoz.

It’s the game experience that is just lacking. And as a result more people drink and are obnoxious to everyone.

It all needs to change.

by jrscheper on Oct 13, 2009 1:29 PM EDT via mobile reply actions 1 recs

the lack of a bengals HOF

is just stupid.

by palewook on Oct 13, 2009 1:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I 100% agree… Simple things like that could be accomplished by one college grad in a PR position. Instead we will pay an incompetent long snapper 900K.

by jrscheper on Oct 13, 2009 1:36 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

WTF

This is a bizarre, if not idiotic comment. Door prizes? A ring of fame? Banners? Oh, I know, after last year’s horror show of a season in which every home game sold out, they haven’t sold out the Houston game because Paul Brown Stadium doesn’t have a fan-friendly game experience? A winning team and loyal, enthusiastic crowds make the stadium experience thrilling-not banners ,new music or door prizes. This jrsscheper person says he won’t go to a home game because the “game experience is…lacking” because the team doesn’t give away free stuff at the gate? What a tool. He’s just a loser. He has a loser’s mentality. You have to turn a homegame into a game show to get this yahoo’s attention. But what’s everyone else’s excuse? Why sell out every horrible game last season, yet allow a potential blackout to happen this Sunday when the Bengals are coming home in first place after a huge road win? It is almost disgraceful. Get off your ass people. After years of incessant complaining about the Bengals being losers or a laughingstock, who are the losers now? P.S., I think the Ben Gals are hot.

by virginiastripes on Oct 13, 2009 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wow, you're being ...

pretty brutal on jrscheper. You don’t have to belittle and call him names, do you? If you have another opinion, fine … that’s what this blog is for … but maybe you can state it without attacking the other person? He makes good points, because Mike Brown is marketing retarded, and there are things the team could do to jazz up the environment/experience. You make some good points, too, in between all the insults.

by Timzilla on Oct 13, 2009 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

actually, the biggest problem with the stadium experience is the fans themselves. it drives me nuts that bengals fans don’t understand the basics of cheering for your team (e.g., when your team has a tough third-down situation, you should be quiet, but when the other team is on offense, you should be as loud as possible the entire time, beginning with when they’re in the huddle); i’m always jealous when we play at baltimore, and can’t help but wonder why bengals fans don’t support their team that way at the stadium. i also don’t really care if they don’t hand anything out as long as the team wins, but i won’t belittle you for that opinion. definitely agree about the ring of honor.

i'm going to go america all over your ass!

by Raging Clue on Oct 13, 2009 7:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I Looked for Tickets

Of the 7,000 tickets that are still unsold non of them are in the 200 or 100 levels. I’m not paying 72.50 for a ticket in the 300 section, plus parking and 7 dollar beers, LOL. From ticketmaster it asks you if you want to go through a re-seller. There is where you can get level 100 or 200 tickets, but of course they are not at face value.

by El_Danimal on Oct 13, 2009 3:37 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Loser looked for tickets

Buy a ticket and go to the game asshat. Support the team. Don’t quibble about whether you think you’re supposed to get some kind of bargain and don’t buy the 7 dollar beers. Jerk. You sound like a real loser: “I can’t get the right tickets. I can’t afford the beer.” You are a loser. And Greater Cincinnati would have to be a real hotbed of losers not to support the Bengals now!

by virginiastripes on Oct 13, 2009 4:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Are you on some kind ...

of “Ima big jerk” drug today? Do you talk to your parents like this?

by Timzilla on Oct 13, 2009 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

WOW

I was just making a point. If there are only 7,000 tickets left and all are in the nose bleed seats then maybe they should lower the ticket price. They have obviously already made a nice cut percentage wise by allowing secondary parties buy tickets in bulk of the better and best seats that are available.

As for not being able to afford anything I never said that. For the most part I don’t even think the drink prices are controlled by the team or front office, they are controlled by the vendor.

by El_Danimal on Oct 13, 2009 5:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

you only have to worry about parking and beer if you choose to park near the stadium and buy beer at the stadium. 72.50 is four dollars more per ticket than what i pay for season tickets, but i never feel ripped off, because the excellent design of pbs means there’s really not a bad seat in the place. in fact, i prefer my seats to the lower-level endzone seats because you can actually see what’s going on.

i'm going to go america all over your ass!

by Raging Clue on Oct 13, 2009 7:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t doubt that you have great seats from there. If it were Cleveland you’d be in the quote on quote dawg pound, LOL. (Which is nothing at all like it was at there old stadium, just sayin’) . But for someone like me that only goes to a couple games a season, season tickets aren’t in the future. I like to gamble and have a nice setup to watch all the games to see what’s going on.

When I go to a game, I drive from Troy, OH and deal with the traffic, (hard for my road rage), and then because I don’t know enough about Cincy I am stuck with using a garage to be somewhat close to the stadium, which has never been a big deal, my car has never been broken into or anything like that.

For lower endzone seats though I can get from tickemaster, 1 ticket for 72 buck plus fee’s and charges, in section 222, Row 33. It’s not lower and was up there for when they played the Titans. On the NFL ticket exchange scam doohicke I can get near the field in the endzone for 100 bucks a ticket, which isn’t bad at all really.

I was just making an overall point. No stadium should ever be blackout. It’s rediculous. If there are 7,000 seats available then the team should do something to make them available, i.e. Jacksonville tried giving away ticket, LOL, didn’t work I know, I know, but they are not a winning team.

So my next question really would be; If there are 7,000 tickets available, then how many tickets are available and will remain empty that have already been purchased by the re-sellers?

by El_Danimal on Oct 13, 2009 9:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah, if i were coming from that far away then it’d be a pain in the ass to buy tickets that weren’t near the action.

i don’t know why they wouldn’t just buy the seats at this point in order to avoid embarrassment.

i'm going to go america all over your ass!

by Raging Clue on Oct 14, 2009 7:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Get off your ass and sell out he stadium for the Texans game you fucking losers!

by virginiastripes on Oct 13, 2009 4:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

why so you can watch the game on tv?

Some of us fans can’t afford these tickets you asshole!!!!!! Some of us fans need to pay the utility bills and mortgage payments, take care of our kids and feed them so they can grow up, find you, and kick your ass!!!! Seems to me, you are the one that is a loser!!!! I take care of my family first, not MB’s family. I don’t have the money right now to go, but I did find a way to go to the first game against the Broncos. These poor economic times have bent me for a couple of months, but things have changed and I should be going to a lot more games in the future. But for now, one game is going to have to do, unless you buy me a ticket so we both can go!!!!!

by WHYUS!! on Oct 13, 2009 6:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me

It’s Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

You typed it wrong.

by Monkeyfeng on Oct 13, 2009 6:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

For the jackass

I have actually been to both home games this year as well as many in past years. I am obviously not any kind of weak fan. I grew up in Cincy and moved to Louisville for work. All I am trying to say is that if Mike Brown wants to fill the stadium win or pose he needs to develop some sort of product.

I can sit at home and watch the game in HD and get the same if not better experience than a $150 trip to CIncy. I went to the broncos, the opening game draws itself and the steelers which is a rivalry which if we don’t fill the steeler fans will.

To get the gray area fans… Which the Reds target well, we need to have some sort of draw.

The game experience itself is atrocious for any demographic. There isn’t a thing inside PBS that isn’t merchaise or concessions. There is nothing for kids to look at or do, nothing to look at and revel in the history of the bengals, and nothing that makes the $70+ ticket worth it.

All I’m saying is the HOF, kids playground and fun area, giveaways, entertainment in intermissions, college and beer specials, and overall fun of the Reds games is a much better draw than the concrete cell of PBS.

I’ll go regardless (7 of 8 home games in 2-14 season) and get to see games regardless since I live in Louisville. Just the font office needs to develop a product and a relationship with the fans which is non-existant.

Who dey.

by jrscheper on Oct 13, 2009 11:27 PM EDT via mobile reply actions 0 recs