Note: This is my personal opinion on this matter.
Rich Jones of WOKV, the radio flagship for the Jacksonville Jaguars tweeted earlier that the Jaguars are currently in talks with Anheuser-Busch to purchase the remaining tickets for Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals. By last count, there was just over 8,000 tickets left. While the fact that a local corporation (A-B has a brewery on the North side of Jacksonville, near my house) is a positive sign going forward, having them gobble up tickets while the team is trying to establish that fans need to go to the games in order for the franchise to survive is a poor business decision.
I mean, I may be ignorant to how all of this works because I'm not a successful multi-millionaire so I could be speaking out of turn, but this reeks of a terrible idea. If you're going to have the threat of a blackout and the Fuel Gauge, why lift the blackout with a corporate buy? That makes the threat of a blackout idle and not even a threat at all. Winn-Dixie buying tickets in the early 2000's set a horrible precedent of the game being on television regardless and just fueled the seeming indifferent attitude a lot of people in Jacksonville have. If the idea is that if say... Blaine Gabbert shines on Sunday it will spark people to buy tickets for the Monday Night football game, that's backwards logic.
Currently, there are a little over 7,000 tickets available for the Monday Night game against the Baltimore Ravens. If the thought process is buying tickets up to get this weekends game on television and the team shows out, it will spark people to buy tickets for Monday night it's simply a false jump in logic. If the team shows out well on Sunday and no one can see it, but they hear about it, that's what creates the draw. That is the hook in the sale, that they have to be there to see it. If you just put it on TV this week, where does it create the hook? All you do is give the impression it will be on TV regardless. Why buy tickets for Monday night? They'll just lift the blackout.
I'm not trying to be a buzz kill about a corporate sponsor stepping up to buy some tickets, because that is a good thing in the long run, but I feel it just totally negates the message the team has been trying to send about blackouts. Weaver let the entire 2009 season outside of one game blackout. It's a complete 180 from a previous stance.
I don't get it.