Do you have Bears tickets? Do you love going to games, being out in the brisk fall air, tailgating with your friends, cheering on the Bears to victory?
OK, so that victory thing hasn't happened often enough this year. But now, you can have the experience of watching the game on TV at home while you're in your seat at Soldier Field.
Why you'd want to do this I'm not sure, but a company called FanVision thinks it has the answer to lower ticket sales in some NFL cities. It's available in a dozen cities so far, including here in Chicago:
While TV ratings of NFL games are better than ever, some teams have experienced sagging ticket sales in the tough economy. The San Diego Chargers' first two home games this season were blacked out on local television, as was a Buffalo Bills home game earlier this month."This is the latest effort in making sure that coming to the stadium is the best way to watch games," said Mac Freeman, senior vice president of business development for the Denver Broncos. "Obviously, fans have a lot more technology in their homes now, big TVs and man caves and things like that. And we're making sure that the best way to consume football is here at the stadium."
According to the Chicago Breaking Sports article, the FanVision device can show you replays from angles that you wouldn't see at home, let you follow your fantasy team in real time, watch other games via the "NFL Red Zone" service that now is on many cable and satellite systems and also get up-to-date stats from the game.
And the reason? Well, to suck more money out of your wallet, of course:
This season, there are no per-game charges but that will change next year."The goal for this device is to be a universal device, no different than your phone is," [FanVision CEO Robert] Mimeault said.
"And when you go in and out of areas, it just activates and it says 'OK, do you want to go into this game and watch it?' You answer yes and it just says, 'OK, I'm going to take $5.95 off your credit card' or whatever is the activation fee to light it up and give you the service during the game."
So enjoy it now, while it's free. Or maybe just watch the game, you know, that you paid $100 or up to see. You know, the one that's right in front of you.