November 4, 2010 12:00:00 am

Broncos execs involved in improving NFL’s in-game experience

By Eric Kidd

The National Football League’s League Office has tapped the Denver Broncos and eight other teams to tackle the ticket sales difficulties facing many teams. Executives from Denver, along with Chicago, Dallas, Jacksonville, New England, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and the New York Jets, have been charged with improving the in-game experience, although the specific executives have not yet been named.

The NFL’s TV blackout policy is the central issue in the league’s fight to make actually coming out to the stadium more attractive to fans. The policy states that a game will be blacked out within a 70-mile radius of the stadium if all non-premium tickets aren’t sold out 72 hours in advance of kickoff.

In 2009, there were 22 blackouts in the NFL, a five-year high. The NFL believes, and rightfully so, that the failing economy and rising ticket prices are forcing fans to find alternatives to paying admission to see their favorite team’s games.

Technological advances in television, like Tivo and HDTV, and increased interest in fantasy football are also subtly creeping up on the NFL’s bottom line. If you’ve been to the upper bowl of Invesco Field, you’re well aware that the view is much nicer from the flat-panel in your living room. Passionate fantasy football “owners” who go to games tend to lose out on keeping up to date on the other games being played. Programs like the NFL’s RedZone Channel, which switches between multiple games being played simultaneously, are not readily available or easily accessible from stadium seats.

Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins, is doing his best to pull people off their couches and into the stadium. Earlier this year he provided 5,000 of his newly acquired Game Day Vision devices to each NFL team. Game Day Vision is a personal media-streaming device that allows fans within a certain proximity of the stadium to watch the RedZone Channel. Ross is pushing to have Game Day Vision available at all Super Bowl games, as well.

In light of Sunday’s 59-14 drubbing at the hands of the Raiders, Broncos executives certainly need to be focused on improving the in-game experience for fans (many of whom left during the first quarter of the aforementioned game), or they may be in grave danger of losing their consecutive sell-out streak – currently at 313 games.