OT: The end of the NFL Playoffs as we know them?
Dino Gramps
Posts: 0
Three out of four playoffs still not sold out - one of them being Green Bay at home? Blackouts for playoff games possible? Wow! I guess the age of HD TV sports has arrived.
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
The Green Bay game is the one that blows my mind. Packers fans are usually pretty rabid, and tickets to games are notoriously hard to get. It makes me almost want to buy a tickets to the game and a plane ticket to Green Bay as this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity.... Then again, I think Utah falls under the Bronco's market, so I don't have to worry if my Packers get blacked out as I can still watch them from the comfort of my own home.
That's the one that blows my mind, too. I live 100 miles west of Chicago and a Bears fan, while my two adult sons are Packer fans (I don't know where I went wrong.) Maybe the weather is a factor. The predicted high for Chicago is -7 for Sunday so you can imagine what that means for GB. I don't remember a game that has not sold out for the Packers or the Bears in the regular season, let alone playoffs, ever! Maybe some nice person with lots of money will buy the remaining tickets. It would be a shame for Green Bay to be blacked out - the town is a huge part of the NFL.
I don't think playoff games are subject to blackout rules.... and one last time just for fun.... How bout dem Cowboys!!!
According to deadspin playoff games are still subject to blackouts: http://deadspin.com/three-of-four-nfl-playoff-games-could-be-blacked-out-1493124005
Maybe Greenbay fans expect the Packers to get bounced by the Niners again.
I bet those rules get "bent", I doubt that they dare not show play-off games. Personally, I don't much care for football, so it's only interesting to me for how the network TV dollars talk in this instance.
From what I understand it's a pretty hard and fast rule. The NFL puts it in place to make sure that teams sell tickets rather than having the local market rely on watching the game on TV for free.
The games only get blacked out for the local area, and not the rest of the country, so the big networks and NFL still make their money. The only people that lose out are those that are part of the local market - the fans, the local network affiliate, and the team. Fans know that this is a possibility, so if they don't buy tickets to the game there is really no one to blame but themselves.
It is interesting how the local TV affiliates work. Just this past Sunday there was a bit of a controversy here with our local CBS affiliate. They decided to show the Broncos/Raiders game because there are a lot of Broncos fans in Utah. The game was pretty much over by halftime and CBS had rights to another much more interesting game (Chiefs/Chargers), but the local affiliate refused to switch the game over. They claimed they weren't allowed to since they had requested the Broncos/Raiders game they were essentially stuck with it until its conclusion.
...I imagine part of the reason for all the empty seats in Lambeau earlier this week is that nobody expected the season to end like it did.
Season Ticket holders got first choice for playoff tickets with invoices being sent out back when it appeared Aaron Rodgers wasn't going to be back for most if not the the rest of the season and the team was in the midst of a freefall.
Back then any hopes of Green Bay making the playoffs hinged on the performance of Matt Flynn who was the third quarterback to start for the Packers in as many weeks since Rodgers went down in early November (originally Flynn who used to be Rodgers' backup, was re-signed by Green Bay after being let go first by Seattle, then Oakland). With a banged up O-Line, the best wide receiver out (as it looked for the season) and at the time, GB's best player on defence injured (Clay Matthews), if you said the Packers were a playoff bound team, the people in white suits would be called in to show you to a nice comfortable padded room. In short, at the time, nothing outside of a major miracle (like the parting of Lake Michigan or Herb Kohl selling the Milwaukee Bucks to a deep pocketed investor) would help the Packers make the post season. There were the two come from behind wins against Atlanta and Dallas and the odd tie with Minnesota, but Green Bay still had Pittsburgh and Chicago to go through with yet no indication Rodgers would suit up at all. So it made sense that few if any season ticket holders would respond with order confirmations.
The loss to Pittsburgh apparently ended the season and dashed any remaining hopes of a division title (which was the only way Green Bay could make it in)...
...well...
...that was until Philadelphia walloped Chicago later that Sunday night, giving Green Bay's postseason chances a pulse again, albeit a weak one. It was down to the bottom line, Green Bay vs. Chicago, one would move on the other would go home. At the time Matt Flynn was still the designated Starting QB and WR Randall Cobb was still on the injured list so things didn't look all that favourable for the Green and Gold's chances as they had to travel to the very unfreindly confines of Soldier Field. The Disaster in Detroit on Thanksgiving, aside, Flynn showed he could hold his own and even win. However, he still lacked the experience, presence, leadership, and knack for creativity that Rodgers had which would be critical with everything on the line in Chicago.
It wasn't disclosed until late last Thursday that Rodgers had been cleared to play. It was another day before news that his favourite target, Randall Cobb was given the green light. It was also the midst holidays as well so the thought of pre-ordering playoff tickets was still probably not on the minds of even the most faithful.
Agreeably the game was the most classic of matchups between the two oldest rivals in the league for the NFC "Norris" Division crown. As the game progressed, it looked pretty bleak for it seemed every time the Packers scored and grabbed the momentum Da Bears would respond with a TD. The contest looked to go down to the wire. With just over six minutes to go after forcing Chicago to punt with the Bears still ahead 28 - 27, Green Bay found themselves starting in the shadow of their goalpost. All that was needed was to get into field goal range, but score too quickly, and Chicago would have plenty of time to make a last minute comeback. Yes Green Bay had Aaron Rodgers, yes they had Eddy Lacy, yes they had Randall Cobb, but the Bears defence made the going tough, forcing three consecutive fourth down conversions with the game on the line.
Third down conversions are tough enough, Fourth down conversions, are even tougher, for they tend to be a desperate attempt to keep a drive alive.
...that was when the miracle happened which everyone in the land flowing with Cheese and Beer was hoping for. Fourth and eight less than a minute to go, Rodgers gets flushed, slips a potential game ending tackle and delivers a strike to a wide open Cobb for the go ahead (and ultimately winning) score.
Chicago still had a chance especially with the explosive Devin Hester who returned the ensuing kickoff to the 40, but following a 15 yard gain into GB territory, two incomplete passes and a "hail Mary" that was intercepted sealed the deal for the most improbable victory of the season in a game which had some memorable moments (like the fumble that Jarrett Boykin ran in for a TD while Da Bears were all standing around thinking the play was over).
Steven Spielberg couldn't have scripted a more seemingly impossible and incredible storybook ending.
So, Green Bay, which looked down for the count and out of the picture less than a week beforehand, not only found themselves in the post season but hosting the first round matchup against the San Francisco 49ers (according to the forecast, in conditions that will give validity to the stadium's moniker "The Frozen Tundra")
In the end it most likely took a couple days for the reality of what had just occurred to sink in (as well as the effects of numerous New Year's Eve celebrations to wear off) for fans who had literally been on the most gut wrenching roller coaster ride of a season. Even the most "faithful" (like yours truly here) have a notion of what reality is. Wish I could have gone but unless I get a windfall by tomorrow morning (and there's still a ticket or two left as well as a seat on a plane back there) will have to just be satisfied watching the game at the local pub.
There is also the fact of whether fans from the temperate Bay Area would want to follow their 49ers to frigid Green Bay (even if they could get a decent airfare on such short a notice) to sit in sub zero temperatures rather than the comfort of home or the local sports pub. I'm sure if the game were against say, New Orleans or even Carolina, there'd be takers.
Anyway, as of earlier today, the game is officially sold out.
Go Pack Go!.
This... This is poetry.... I teared up a little bit reading it.
Go Packers!!!!!!!
According to what I saw on ESPN, some business -- they didn't say which -- bought out all of the unsold tickets for all three games, and are planning to give them all to service members and their families.
I realize that Green Bay fans are notoriously dedicated to their team and all that, but watching a game in -10 to -20 degree weather would certainly be a ... challenging experience.
@DAZ_Jared: Thank you.
Guess there's a little Steve Sabol in me. Always loved watching NFL films, he and his Father Ed were masters at capturing the feeling of the game.
Maybe I should have thought about sports writing when I was back in college.
...read that too. Nice idea.
Went to the Championship game against Dallas back in '67. -15° at kickoff. Was 14 years old at the time. Bundled up heavily and took a huge thermos of Hot Cocoa which ran out by halftime. Early in the third quarter when the cocoa I got from the concession stand was empty, the fellow sitting next to me poured me a cup of coffee from his thermos, one sip of which told me there was a little more than just coffee in that cup. Didn't feel the cold so much after that.
Still have a red nose from first degree frostbite.
I guess all of this makes me glad that when I am not working over here in Iraq I live in the Seattle area and the games are always sold out. Now if I could just convince AFN to play all of their games during t the regular season.
...well the Hawks have the #1 seed so the NFC path to the big game goes through Quest Field, not a fun place if you are the visiting team.
Loudest outdoor stadium in the league.
Got to love that 12th man! Kind of like the Bronco's having the advantage at home.
...for Green Bay it usually is the weather that makes it daunting to go there in the post season.
Tomorrow will be real interesting as on ESPN they are saying that the game will be be one of the coldest ever played, possibly even rivalling the infamous 'Ice Bowl" of 67.
Got to love that 12th man! Kind of like the Bronco's having the advantage at home.
The Hawks are going to be formidable, as usual, at home. Not much of a fan of theirs, so I hope they are knocked off anyway.
My not likely favorite Superbowl possibility: Green Bay vs. Denver with Denver winning in below freezing temps and snow drifts on the field.
...I look at it the other way around. Looking for payback for the last time Elway and Denver beat us. ;-)
Can't wait for the games to start today. 1 more hour. Go Bangles tomorrow
I'm not a big Chiefs fan but I'm still bitter with Indi getting rid of Manning so I gotta go with the chiefs on this first game. Kind of a middle finger to Indi