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In Recession, NFL Blackout Rule Raises Ire

To fill seats, league holds local TV broadcasts hostage

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 10, 2009 3:52 PM CDT
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(Newser) – High ticket prices and the recession are taking their toll on attendance at pro football games. But if you can’t afford the stadium, at least you can watch at home, right? Wrong. The NFL is sticking to its “blackout” policy—no local broadcast if the stadium doesn’t sell out 3 days before a game—designed in 1973 to keep attendance up, Time reports. But if no one can afford the seats, does a blackout make sense?

Twelve of the league’s 32 teams face the possibility of blackouts this season. The NFL says the policy “has served us well for decades,” but fans and other experts don’t agree. To one economist, the idea that a home viewer threatened with a blackout would rush to the box office is preposterous. “Are people really behaving that way? Maybe a few dozen in each city.” If the sport isn’t on TV, people lose interest, he says. “Television is a mass-market promoter of a sport. You don't want to cut that off.”

Shelling out could be the only way to see the game in some markets.
Shelling out could be the only way to see the game in some markets.   (AP Photo)
An Arizona Cardinals fan sits in the stands.
An Arizona Cardinals fan sits in the stands.   (AP Photo)
Gulls outnumber Oakland Raider fans in the upper deck during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game.
Gulls outnumber Oakland Raider fans in the upper deck during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game.   (AP Photo)
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I would like to think they would really, really look at those communities which are hardest hit and have an honest discussion about it, as opposed to saying this is the way we've always done things. - Richard Clark, Jacksonville; the Jaguars could have all 8 home games blacked out

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 7 comments
Jeebus
Oct 7, 2009 9:58 AM CDT
If my home team sucks too badly to get shown on TV, I'll just watch whatever game is shown in it's place.
oldgoat
Sep 11, 2009 8:06 AM CDT
Let them black it out. I'll find something else to watch or do instead. However I have no intention of paying for the NFL channel either. However the cities that floated bonds to build these nice new stadiums will probably have a problem with paying the bill. Maybe they will learn to make the people that are really making the money off it take the most risk.
SilenceDogood
Sep 10, 2009 11:34 AM CDT
I am so happy this topic has emerged. Professional football, baseball and basketball players are bunch of overpaid, egotistical brats. There is no way they should be paid 4,000,000.00 a year +/- to play throw a ball around. Most Americans are scratching to get by and these snobs are raking in millions for swing a bat or endorsing an after shave. Get a real job, make something, heal someone, do something of importance. America’s fascination for sports is simply a form of hero worship.

 
television • NFL • football • recession • stadium • broadcasting • local TV stations • blackout • attendance • National Football League • pro football

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