Sometimes sports can channel some sort of Dionysian spirit, filling the sports fan with an ecstasy impossible to describe but best captured in moments – for me, these include Mario Chalmers’ 3-point shot to lift KU into overtime and onto the NCAA title and Landon Donovan’s last-minute goal against Algeria to advance the U.S. in the World Cup.

Such moments are few and far between, however. When was the last time a diehard Detroit Lions fan really got to experience such euphoria?

Sadly, the typical sporting experience for most sports fans these days consists of paying way too much for tickets and parking, sitting in the nosebleeds while the front rows and corporate boxes sit empty, and drinking an $8 warm beer while watching a perennially losing team that has been mismanaged. All while sitting in a taxpayer-funded stadium that was only built because a greedy owner threatened to move the team to another city.

Fun times.

And if we simply cannot or choose not to spend money at the ballparks anymore, the leagues and media corporations blackout our games so we can’t see them on TV. (And sometimes we cannot even see the games on our TVs because we don’t have the right cable package.)

Yet, we still go to games and watch them on TV. Why? Because we love sports. Because we love the camaraderie sports gives us. If we are going to be miserable Kansas City Royals fans, we are going to be miserable Royals fans together.

And it is that spirit of camaraderie and teamwork that we must channel if we are going to take sports back and make them fun again.

In his must-read new book, Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love, SFC board member Dave Zirin writes: “Fandom doesn’t have to be a slouching, passive exercise and club supporters the world over don’t need to just meekly consume whatever thin gruel owners serve.”

If you’re tired of the “thin gruel” you’ve been served by the owners of your favorite teams, it’s time to take action. Join Sports Fans Coalition and tell your friends. All you have to do is provide your email and zip code. That’s it.

No spam. No dues.

The more members we have, the louder our voice and the greater our power to hold owners and corporations accountable.

If you want to become more involved, reach out to me. How can Sports Fans Coalition help you? Let me know in the comments section below or send me an email at sportsfanscoalition@gmail.com.

Over the next few months, we will be working tirelessly to get as many people signed up and involved as we can. But there are just a few of us. There are many more of you. And there are countless sports fans out there who would love to see someone fighting for them. All you have to do is tell them to come to the website and sign up. That’s it.

In the meantime, know that we’ll be fighting to give you a voice in the political arena. Our mission is simple –

Lower ticket prices.

No blackouts.

And for the love of God, let’s get a college football playoff system already.

But it’s going to take some work. There is no magic bullet. This is a game of inches.

And we are going to fight for every inch.

Brian Frederick is the Executive Director of Sports Fans Coalition. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication and lives in Washington, D.C. His favorite teams are the Kansas Jayhawks, North Carolina Tar Heels, and whichever team his brother is coaching for. And the underdog.

By Scott Kornberg

Even with the country in its worst recession since the Great Depression, 18 NFL teams have increased ticket prices for the upcoming season. While USA Today proposes that the main motivation of ticket price increases is for teams to stay competitive, it shows that teams continue to overlook the needs of their blue-collar fans.  The economy may be slightly better than it was last year, but its still not enough for sports fans to rationalize spending such a large portion of their income on football tickets.

A perfect example of a team misunderstanding their blue-collar fans is the Minnesota Vikings. While they continue to sell the league’s cheapest nosebleeds at $15, the Vikings raised prices on 85% of their tickets, and are raising ticket prices for the second time in three seasons.

The Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers are also raising prices heavily on tickets, with an average increase of 6.67% and 7%, respectively. Both teams, with rabid fan bases that routinely sell out games, are banking on the fact that fans will pony up extra money in the recession to watch football. Both teams do not understand that to raise prices in this unstable economic climate, they are pricing out some of their blue-collar fans.

The only way for teams in the NFL to stay competitive is to create as much revenue for themselves as they can. However, when teams attempt to increase revenue at the expense of fans, it shows that teams do not understand the economic issues that many of their fans face. As teams continue to raise prices every two to three years, they continue to price out more and more of their working class fans. As a non-profit entity with anti-trust exempt status, the NFL should own up to its responsibility to the public and provide affordable seats for their blue-collar, low-income tax-paying fans.

Scott Kornberg is a sportscaster for WMUC Sports (www.wmucsports.com). He hosts his own sports talk show, and announces baseball and softball games for the University of Maryland. He covers Maryland’s football and basketball writing for www.turtlesportsreport.com part of the scout.com network.

by Scott Weiss

Can anything be more of a slap in the face to sports fans than a seat license fee?  To me, this is the ultimate in disrespect shown to fans.  Thousands of dollars for the privilege to sit in an incredibly over priced seat to your favorite NFL team’s games.  Well, somehow, the NFL has concluded that this practice is totally acceptable.  Even worse, football fans have gone along with it.   

The seat license travesty is presently playing out for fans of the Jets and 49er’s.  The overly generous billionaire owner of the Jets, Woody Johnson, has decided to cut seat license fees for the remaining 18,000 unsold seats by up to 50%.  Depending on the section, PSL’s will go from $5,000 to $2,500, $4,000 to $2,500, and $15,000 to $10,000.  The goal is to sell all of the remaining 18,000 seats before the start of the regular season.  The Jets also reminded everyone that if the seat licenses are not sold, that individual game tickets for these seats will not be sold, and that the games would be subject to local blackouts.  My blood is boiling just thinking about this nonsense as I write this article.

The latest entry into the seat license arena is the 49er’s, who just received voter approval for a new stadium in Santa Clara.  An internet article on FanHouse reported that, “Under the terms of the deal, Santa Clara will contribute $114 million of taxpayer money to help fund the proposed $937 million stadium, a package that will include $42 million in redevelopment funds and a hotel guest tax. A Santa Clara stadium authority is expected to contribute as much as $330 million by adding a ticket surcharge and selling bonds, naming rights, vendor rights and seat licenses. The 49ers say they will fund the remaining $500 million for the project, and have promised Santa Clara residents through a fiercely negotiated “term sheet” that the franchise will be responsible for any construction cost overruns and revenue shortfalls if and when the stadium is built and opens for business.” 

How in the world can voters (sports fans) approve a new stadium when part of the deal is that they will get slammed with ticket surcharges and seat license fees?  Am I missing something, or is this total craziness? How many reasons do we need for a powerful, organized voice of sports fans?  The time for SFC to burst on the scene to level the playing field for fans has never been better.

Scott Weiss is the Local Chapter Chair for SFC-New York/New Jersey.  He has been involved in the sports fans advocacy movement since 2000.  He is a life long fan of the Mets, Jets, Knicks, and Rangers.

Become a fan of SFC-NY-NY on Facebook.

Follow SFC-NY-NY on Twitter.

by Scott Weiss

The NFLPA fired the first shot to start their new war with the NFL over TV revenues and the potential impact on the upcoming labor negotiations.  The NFLPA filed a complaint charging that the NFL did not try to maximize TV revenue during the past two seasons because they knew they would have to share profits with the players, and also that the NFL will stand to make $4 Billion from the new TV contract even if there is a work stoppage in 2011.  So, how does this all impact sports fans?

On the first part of the complaint regarding the charge that the NFL did not try to maximize revenue over the past two seasons, I take the side of neither the owners nor players.  I truly do not care how these two rich kids split up the billions in question.  However, point two should be critically important to all sports fans.  What kind of motivation will the owners have if they will be receiving $4 Billion even if there is not a season played in 2011?  Is there any way that there will be a sense of urgency from the owner’s side if they know that they have the TV revenue safety net to fall back on?  On this front, I agree with the players that the owners are playing dirty pool.

Once again, it would be the loyal football fans who get the short end of the stick in this high stakes poker game.  It is important to remind people that the NFL collective bargaining agreement expires in March 2011.  If unchecked by sports fans as represented by SFC, the NFL and NFLPA will drag us through the mud over the next nine months to either come to a new collective bargaining agreement at the 11^th hour or bring the game to screeching halt with a work stoppage. 

This is the first battle in the professional sports collective bargaining wars of 2011.  Rather than hanging our heads, sports fans should see this as the best opportunity to establish a powerful and united coalition of sports fans to change the way the sports industry operates forever.

Scott Weiss is the Local Chapter Chair for SFC-New York/New Jersey.  He has been involved in the sports fans advocacy movement since 2000.  He is a life long fan of the Mets, Jets, Knicks, and Rangers.

Become a fan of SFC-NY-NY on Facebook.

Follow SFC-NY-NY on Twitter.

Rejecting NFL’s Plea For Antitrust Protection

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the National Football League in its pursuit of broad antitrust law protection.  The court rejected the NFL’s request to be considered as one entity rather than 32 individual teams when negotiating contracts in this landmark case, American Needle v. NFL. “This is a victory of Super Bowl proportions for America’s sports fans,” said Sports Fans Coalition Chairman David Goodfriend.  “A unanimous Supreme Court told the professional sports leagues in no uncertain terms that leagues must live by the same rules as any other business.”

The high court overturned a lower court’s decision against regional hat-maker American Needle which complained that the NFL’s exclusive 10-year contract with Reebok restricted competition amongst NFL merchandisers. “Although NFL teams have common interests such as promoting the NFL brand,” said Justice John Paul Stevens, “They are still separate, profit-maximizing entities, and their interests in licensing team trademarks are not necessarily aligned.”

While the parameters of the case were subject to interpretation, sports fans stood to lose considerable purchasing power when it came to buying their favorite player’s jersey and perhaps when subscribing to a particular NFL television package.  “For sports fans,” Goodfriend stated, “This means that professional leagues will not be able to shut out fans or jack up prices for tickets, merchandise, or televised games unchecked by competition.”

Read SFC board member Dave Zirin’s article published in The Nation magazine here.

Read Drew Brees’ Op Ed published in The Washington Post prior to his testimony in the Supreme Court in January here.

By Ross McDaniel

New Orleans Saints’ season ticket holders displaced by renovations to the Superdome began receiving relocation offers Monday, according to a report from The Times-Picayune.

“The Missing 1200,” as former residents of Section 641 have come to be known, were contacted by Saints’ front office officials and extended multiple offers via personal phone calls, with some packages starting as high as $1700 a seat. However, none were close to the $330 a seat The Missing 1200 paid last season.

Most fans expected a price increase for the upcoming season. After all, the NFL is big business, and with a better product comes a bigger price tag.

But they expected a fair price.

Jeff Maumus, one of the displaced season ticket holders, received a call Monday morning and was offered corner upper deck seats for $550 a seat — a 67% price increase of what he paid last season for worse seats.

“I got a call today with a relocation offer, and I said, ‘How long do I have?’ and they said I had to decide by the end of the day,” Maumus added.

Ross Louis, a professor at Xavier University and one of the displaced 1200 fans, sent an email to all of The Missing 1200 outlining the known offers and said ticket holders generally had 24 hours to decide.

For Maumus and most of the displaced fans, the decision to renew at a higher price was a no-brainer. What choice did he really have, though? Like the rest of Who Dat Nation, Maumus just wants to be in the building again and see that Super Bowl banner raised before New Orleans’ 2010 home opener.

The timing of the offers came as a surprise to The Missing 1200, who were told by Saints’ front office officials that relocation offers would begin toward the middle to the end of May. Everyone contacted Monday was caught off guard.  Which, of course, strengthened the upper hand the Saints’ front office already had over their fans.

Think Boiler Room meets Sophie’s Choice.

While on the surface some might see the Saints’ offers as accommodating, the Sports Fans Coalition sees it as what it is: A chance to increase profits for inferior seats while appearing as the “good guy.”

Sure, the displaced fans could make a stand and refuse the Saints’ offers, but then it’s down to the bottom of the season ticket waiting list that’s already 60,000 names long.

At the end of the day the squeeze was on and The Missing 1200 never had a choice.

Ross McDaniel is an SFC contributor, and serves as Managing Editor/Operator of Spumor.com.

by Jeremiah Tittle

While SFC has time and time again refuted the “benefits” of building new stadiums on the public dime, these warnings fall on deaf ears most of the time. In the case of Santa Clara, California, the potential new landlord of a new stadium to house the 49ers, Santa Clara Plays Fair has done a tremendous job educating its residents as to the downside of giving in to the demands of the NFL.

On Friday, the league issued a statement endorsing the creation (almost out of thin air) of a new stadium in the Bay area claiming that it would be a mighty fine location for an upcoming Super Bowl. Well, that’s awfully nice of the NFL to go through the trouble of issuing a statement without any guarantees of a Super Bowl and with all expectations on Santa Clara residents to foot the stadium bill.

While SFC likes to take readers back through the graveyard of stadium past to remember horrors of what was and what could be, Neil deMause, author of Field of Schemes, debunks these myths in an altogether different way: line-by-line dismissal. Read his analysis of the San Francisco Examiner’s evidence which supposedly supports a new stadium in Santa Clara.

If it was so fantastic to host the 49ers, why would San Francisco’s mayor Gavin Newsom have given up trying to keep them in town. Is he being coy? Or has it finally sunk in that it’s just not worth it? Let’s not wait to find out. Keep Fighting, Santa Clara, before you join cities across the country getting scrooged by the NFL.

Jeremiah Tittle is the Managing Editor of SportsFansCoalition.org.

by Jeremiah Tittle

While a fellow sports fan said to me yesterday that “the NFL is the only sport that can pull off a primetime draft”, it is apparent that Roger Goodell’s plan to elevate the spectacle of this modern day slave trade to must-see TV is working. My cousin is in town for only a week, and the one ‘event’ on his schedule which could not be missed is to watch the NFL Draft on TV.

At first, I was perplexed by so many fans’ reaction to the change in scheduling, but apparently Goodell’s elaborate marketing ploy is working. They shortened the down time between picks in individual rounds to enhance the viewer’s experience. They’ve separated the first round, held on Thursday night, from the second and third rounds which are held on Friday night. For those die hard football freaks, the fourth through the seventh rounds take place on Saturday.

While this new and improved event extending into the weekend will gather formidable ratings, and will add another notch to Goodell’s bedpost, as a devout member of Sports Fans Coalition, all this hype, energy, and effort – going into a system that essentially already works - begs the question, ’Don’t you have anything better to do?’

Shouldn’t the NFL be focused on issues of greater importance like knowing when to stop the extortion of tax dollars for stadiums, concessions, merchandise; ending blackouts for cities in economic despair; or preventing perps like Ben Roethlisberger from assaulting women. It appears there are several issues the NFL can and should be focusing on during the off-season, much less the NFL Draft.

No matter the celebration of friends, family, and the die hards. 

I, for one, will contain my excitement.

Jeremiah Tittle is the Managing Editor of SportsFansCoalition.org.

by Jeremiah Tittle

In what could be SFC’s new favorite website, The Missing 1200 – which, despite popular belief, is not the title for the sequel to the film 300 - has taken up the charge of those 1,200 Superdome season ticket-holders who lost their seats for the entirety of the 2010 season as the team constructs additional luxury boxes. 

SFC contributor Ross McDaniel reported on the move by the team which exposes a growing trend in the National Football League and the greater sports industrial complex.  That is, owners will stop at nothing to make a buck.  Even if it means disenfranchising their own fleur-de-lis-tattooed faithful.

The practice of eminent domain is all too common among sports franchise owners, but Tom Benson has taken it to a new level in New Orleans.  This time it’s personal. Literally. While the Saints do not charge for Personal Seat Licenses, each member of the ‘Missing 1200′ has already suffered the waiting list, and now they’re essentially back on it.

Adding insult to injury, Benson and the Saints have totally pillaged Louisiana for the $85 million they’re using to ’refurbish’ the stadium. Once the construction is complete, an additional 3,100 plaza seats, 16 new luxury boxes, premium clubs, and a multitude of concession stands will boost Benson’s bottom line.

Furthermore, the deal struck last year keeping the Saints in town through 2025 greased the wheels for the team to buy a large piece of land on the cheap which they are now ”leasing…back to the city at higher-than-average rates”. Sounds like a typical bait and switch.

While Sports Fans Coalition stands strong providing sports fans ‘a seat at the table’ when important decisions are being made, it is the physical seats at stake in New Orleans. SFC applauds The Missing 1200 for their bold battle to take their seats back.

Spartans! Take up your arms!

Jeremiah Tittle is the Managing Editor of SportsFansCoalition.org.

by Jeremiah Tittle

As March came to a close, so did the NFL’s rule against encouraging the stadium crowd to get roudy and loud when the visiting team’s offense is on the field. For many years, teams were actually penalized for pumping in crowd noise sound effects and emploring fans on jumbotrons to ‘MAKE some NOISE!!!’

The NFL owners got something right in their pursuit of improving the fan experience by allowing the 12th man to be, well, just that; having a real impact on the game. It’s a step in the right direction that will, NFL owners hope, increase revenue causing more fans to shell out 3 figures per ticket (plus parking and concessions) ultimately limiting the number of blackouts during the 2010 season as the economy recovers. A happy ending indeed.

Amidst all the decisions the NFL owners made, from the necessary to the more trivial, making fans feel more important should be at the top of the list. And it is that ‘feeling’ of importance which may help the league keep fans from embracing their true power.

Football fans pay for all the elements of the game experience, pay to watch the games on TV at home, join the office fantasy league, but the most overlooked factor in which sports fans fuel this sports league - which generated $8 billion last year - is the portion of tax money and tax subsidy which is provided to teams to build their modern day coliseums.

Case in point: A persistent story over the last 6 months has been Arnold Schwarzenegger’s perfection of the phrase ‘Come to California’. While he got his feet wet shooting California tourism board commercials, his true mastery of the phrase is a bi-product of his clarion call to all NFL franchises interested in a new stadium on the public dime. 

With all the tax issues in California, it is difficult to imagine where that money will come from. That hasn’t stopped the suitors from lining up. Once it was made public that the politics and financing would take care of themselves, it was no surprise that Los Angeles businessmen Casey Wasserman and Tim Leiweke submitted Plan B on the heels of the Governator-endorsed Plan A which would use real estate developer Ed Roski’s bulldozers and cranes.

For all the noise echoing out of Los Angeles as the city attempts to lure an NFL franchise with a tax bankrolled new stadium filled with Hollywood stars in luxury boxes, it’s really subtraction by addition.

Subtraction by the addition of a new plan. Subtraction by the addition of pressure on Jacksonville, Detroit, and Minnesota as the team’s owners threaten to leave unless their current hometown taxpayer’s shell out big bucks for new stadiums to stay put. Subtraction of sports fans’ tax dollars by adding a stadium in LA for a team that doesn’t yet exist. That’s a lot of noise for nothing.

Jeremiah Tittle is the Managing Editor of SportsFansCoalition.org.