NFL counting on big attendance numbers - Ingles

So much for the long and bitter NFL lockout driving away pro football fans. The NFL projects paid attendance to rebound for its 2011 regular season and be even with last year after three consecutive seasons of falling live attendance from 2008-10, according to spokesman Brian McCarthy.

The solid outlook could signal more fans are willing to spend money on pro sports in the struggling U.S. economy. The NFL's three-year attendance drop coincided with the Great Recession that officially started in December, 2007.

The NFL's 32 clubs drew overall paid regular season attendance of 16,569,514 and average game attendance of 64,978 in 2010. Those numbers were down less than 0.5% from 2009 and off 1.7% from 2008. And down 4.5% from the league's record year of 2007, when the economy was clicking on all cylinders.

The NFL's average ticket prices rose 4.5% to $76.47 in 2010, according to Team Marketing Report. The New England Patriots charged the highest average ticket price at $117.84; the Cleveland Browns the cheapest at $54.51.

Across the board, 24 clubs are holding average ticket prices flat for the new season while eight are raising average prices, says McCarthy. Those increasing prices are mostly jacking up tickets in more expensive sections rather than those in cheaper upper bowls.

"Following a summer of uncertainty, fans have come back with even more passion and enthusiasm than before," says McCarthy. "We're not settling for back to normal, we're looking to accelerate everything we do."
The nation's most popular pro sports league is getting more positive news as it gets sets to kick off its new season Thursday night with the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers taking on the New Orleans Saints.

NFL clubs drew higher TV ratings for preseason games from Aug. 11 through Sept. 2. Teams averaged a 15.3 household rating across their home markets, up 4% from the same period last year and 9% from the 2009 preseason.

NBC is nearing an advertising sellout already for its broadcast of Super Bowl XLVI from Indianapolis on Feb. 5, 2012. The network has less than half a dozen 30-second ad slots left. It's seeking an average asking price of $3.5 million.

Corporate sponsors are back on board too. PepsiCo and the NFL renewed their sponsorship deal with a new long-term agreement that keeps Pepsi MAX as the "official" soft drink of the NFL and includes Gatorade, Frito-Lay, Tropicana and Quaker Oats. This week, the NFL also signed Marriott, Bose and USAA as new sponsors and renewed General Motors.

As more cash-strapped fans watched games for free from home last year, the NFL drew record viewership of 207.7 million in 2010. Game telecasts averaged 17.9 million viewers, the highest since 1989. (source USA Today)