Some interesting facts on Steelers attendance and TV ratings.

Adam Bittner had a column on the Steelers that I got this from.

Local television ratings published by Sports Business Journal on Monday show that the team suffered one of the biggest drops within its own market in the entire NFL, with fully 10% of its audience fleeing between 2020 and 2021.

Only Houston (18%), Chicago (14%), and Seattle (14%) experienced bigger declines within their markets, and none of those teams made the playoffs as the Steelers did.

The Steelers finished 28th in attendance this year. They had 60,448 fans for each game. That's 88.4% of capacity.

COVID-19 may have been a contributing factor to that drop, as 28% of respondents to a Post-Gazette poll in October cited it as an issue. A 53% majority, however, blamed recent mediocrity and early playoff exits.

But the ream doesn't really need fans to come to the game nor do they need their individual ratings to be high. The article stated that around 190 million of the teams value comes from the yearly market. That's only 5 percent of the total.

So in fact the Steelers don't have to worry about the fans? I don't know if this means anything or not. But it's indicative of a fan base that isn't thrilled with the outcomes lately.

I think it's time to reinvigorate this team with new ideas. But with Tomlin calling the defensive side of the ball on we gol

 

wow, that surprises me. It tells a lot. Probably most important is that there's no way Tomlin is not on the hot seat for 2022.

I don't agree with the conclusion that the team doesn't care. No business with that much rev $ would ignore 5% of their rev. that is a lot of $. Don't care how big you are. Especially when that's the % they have total control over. I'm guessing that piece also has a higher profit margin so maybe the profit is higher than 5%? There is a direct correlation with regional support and total value of the franchise. There's a reason why these owners hold cities hostage for new stadiums. The owners cannot be happy about this at all. In fact this could get Tomlin fired real quick if it's not turned around. The Rooney's are not the only share holders either. Once Tomlin loses support from the share holders it is over.

The brand of football we are playing is pretty awful to watch. Sloppy college ball is basically what we play. If Ben, Watt or Cam is not making a play no one is. It's funny because we always post the best ratings nationally . I think national TV ratings for the NFL have declined so now you see the steelers on almost every national broadcast. I purchase NFL ticket to watch the steelers games. I think I actually watched 1 or 2 games on direct tv. Everyone of them was broadcast networks or on espn. I basically paid about $400 to watch one game. Not to mention the $1000's I spent to see them in Pittsburgh and Green Bay. I need to start investing my $ better. jeez.

It also tells you just how much of fair weather steeler fans have become. I'd say it's different than Seattle or the 49er's....Two teams with nothing but fair weather fans. They watch if the team is good, otherwise they don't care. Steeler fans expect greatness and if it's not, they don't spend the $ to go to games. You don't see this in Greenbay. They literally will pack that stadium no matter how bad the crap is on the field.

Stadium ticket sales are also heavily dependent on corporate $. The prices are now so expensive most people can't afford it. Too any company - medium sized and up... a few grand to entertain key customers or executives is nothing. My employer buys a suite for the Brewers and Bucks, and we purchase football tickets whenever anyone wants them, from brokers.

The pandemic probably cut corporate demand in half , f not more. The slack had to be picked up by the average fan wanting to see a game. I think the teams with the biggest drops probably rely more on corporate sales. Wonder were we rank in terms of price? Good seats in Pittsurgh have always seemed crazy expensive to me verses most teams. I also think the steelers rely sales to out of state fans more than most teams, if not all teams. You would think the demand for steeler tickets would rank near the top because of this alone. 28th in attendance is crazy when you consider the national following we have. I'd like to see some validation of these #'s.

 

Not that I don't love them, the Steelers have become hard to watch.
New ideas are needed organizational wise for me. I don't see the type of Steeler football
I want to see.

 

I can't speak for anyone else but when I see ex-players and ex-coaches treated with what I perceive as disrespect it makes me less loyal to the Steelers as a franchise.

Why are fans supposed to be loyal when the team itself isn't?

Also no one wants to watch Tomlin and Canada's offense. The product is hard to watch.

The defense can be even harder to watch. 200+ yards rushing surrendered 4 times?! (Another game 198!)

Don't agree at all that it is the fans' fault. If a band makes a bad album no one buys it (or streams it these days), if an actor makes a bad movie no one watches it and so on.

The Steelers should rely on fielding a solid product over shaming fans in my opinion.

 

Just found the data released regarding ticket sales and tv ratings. It’s shocking if you’re a Steelers fan.

Over all nfl tv ratings are up. Anyone trying to sell the political narrative still is flat out wrong.

Nfl ticket sales were actually higher than the previous 3 years. Guessing the highest ever? (Didn’t look back past 3 years.)

Only a handful of teams had a decline in ticket sales vs 2019. steelers were among the biggest drops as the OP noted.

Steelers were one of a few teams to see a tv rating drop .

What I find interesting is ticket master and stub hub report that the steelers remain one of the top 10 tickets in demand. Guessing this is attributed to the national following ?

Empty sold seats declined across the nfl which Im guessing relates to corporate ticket sales dropping but avg joe fan buying. They show up. The Steelers have actually always had a high amount of no shows. Makes me wonder if we have high % of corporate purchased seats or fans just dont like the stadium experience enough to show up? Add that with the huge tourist demand due to our national following its pretty damning to team management.

I can see why Colbert retired. These #’s would get any front office fired . How Tomlin survives this is beyond me. Im guessing 2022 is do or die for MT.

 

Our attendance and % of empty seats ranks is among the worst franchises in the league. Im talking Jacksonville, Jets, redskins, detroit bad. Add that to a huge drop in regional tv ratings It really tells you just done the fan base (especially the city of Pittsburgh) is with MT and the way this team has been operating.

strangely we have always been among the leaders in no show fans .

Is cant be the stadium? Ive been to a ton of stadiums and I love the Heinz field experience. Id rank it top 5 easily.

National tv ratings for the Steelers is still strong so the fans in other states are still following. The Rooney’s have a problem on their hands.

 

Same ole same ole though, status quo,Steeler Way blah blah blah rubbish!

 

Watching that Steelers offense is beyond pathetic and hard to do even for us die hard fans. It’s brutal

 

Even when we had awesome teams winning Super Bowls the crowds a lot of times were weak or semi empty. More to it than just not being fun to watch now

 

I will always support my team, but seeing what this team did on the field this year was a pathetic display. Not only O and D, but the unprepared and often heartless efforts. It honestly left me far less interested in outcomes and wondering how did we get to this point. Every team has down years, but this crap has been on display for awhile.

 

Im envious. When the Steelers plays out here in Los Angeles, I can’t find a decent seat for less than $400. Furthermore, the stadium is painted in black and gold with all the waving Terrible Towels.

 

I watch the Steelers but nothing else. I gave up on the NFL for 2 years but just couldn't stay away from watching the Steelers. I detest the commissioner with a hatred that is hard to fathom. He's so slimy he makes my skin crawl. But the Steelers were the STeelers before that idiot showed up so I'm hooked on watching the Steelers.

 

When a band I like makes an album I don't like I just wait until they make another one. Hopefully that album is good because sometimes I stop liking the band.

 

A7X

 

The soap opera diva **** doesn't really fit a region with a blue collar, no nonsense, just get after it culture. Just turns off fans.

 

Starts with a culture...The Guys in charge...Rooney and Popcorn the Frauds

 

Two things come to mind regarding this thread. Steelers did lose some fans because of the kneeling incident. Remember the jersey burning in Pittsburgh? I have no idea how many they lost because of that but I'm sure when we started 11-0 two seasons ago most suddenly forgot about that.

As for caring if fans show up or not just look at that other team in Pittsburgh. They don't care because revenue sharing pads Nutbag's pockets.

 

I agree with everything you say, but if you didn't watch the divisional playoffs this past weekend, you missed some of the most exciting football ever. If the NFL was still trotting out the PC crap out front, I would have missed it too, even though the PC crap is still happening in the background.

 

The political narrative might feel good to say but it's just BS. No one quit watching because of kneeling. For everyone that did more new fans came. Ticket sales and tv ratings are actually higher league wide. There are only a hand full of teams with a drop in attendance and ratings. The crap franchise like the Jets, Redskins, Jags, Lions, etc. don't surprise me one bit. No one likes to watch a team choke every week. But the Steelers among this list is a little strange. The snow flakes butt hurt over kneeling talked a big talk but 99% of them were back to the bar every Sunday crying over their coors light about the pre madonna players kneeling. If so many actually were not watching the #'s would have shown up. There was a fake news narrative that the NFL ratings were in the tank and it turned out to be a lie.


We are one of a very short list of teams with a national / global following. Ticket sales and ratings are great outside of PA. In the Pa region and home ticket sales are the issue. I'm sure there are several reasons but you can't ignore the fact that the team has run out the same mediocre crap long enough . Fans are tired of Tomlin and his big talk but can't back it up. The offenses are putrid. The defense is bi polar . The team has lost it's culture of a tough smash mouth big play team. We now run college plays and usually screw those up. We have players doing tick tock videos and screwing up weekly with no accountability, no change, and players act like they don't care. At least care enough. The culture difference on this team vs 10-20 years ago is night and day.

How many times did we see Cam run down a ball carrier 20, 30, 40 yards down field this season? That to me was one of the hardest things to watch. Bush and most of the defense would just give up on the play, players would just start jogging down field in a live play and it was only Watt and Cam playing their hearts out. I couldn't imagine being a player on that defense and seeing Cam out hustling everyone including the secondary to the ball 40 yards down field. That IMO told you everything about what is wrong with this team. That and the lack of preparation was so blatantly obvious when you watched our offense ...especially Claypool and the WR's. The mental errors never stopped all season and happened everywhere.

 

I think more Pittsburgh families who have left the area travel to the Burgh for the games than they realize.

Heinz field isn’t very big of a stadium, and Pittsburgh isn’t that big of a town, they struggle to fill the stadium no matter what.

And Covid messed things up. Either they are afraid of the virus or their income is down. Why make the trip this year?

The Steelers might not need fans, but Pittsburgh sure does. The income small business/hotels make and rely on can’t be underestimated.

How much do you think Pittsburgh makes just on parking each game?

 

You posted exactly what I would have. I've been out of the NFL for nearly 4 yeas (except Steelers) and I can't agree with you more on that pathetic limp noodle of a commish. I think one of the conf championship games is going on right now as i write this and I have no desire to turn it on. JMO>

 

Art Rooney: I couldn't fire Tomlin who would I replace him with?

Complete nobody Zac Taylor says hi. Funny how actually trying to change sometimes works.

 

Its sad seeing all the empty seats on tv and especially when I go to games.

 

Taylor was close to being fired, he's lucky they got the #1 pick in Burrow.