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As you head for lunch or execute your exit plan for your Friday afternoon “happy hour,” mixed in among the talk of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ amazing overtime win you may hear discussions of NFL blackouts. In 1973, the NFL initiated a blackout policy to encourage NFL teams to sell-out their home football games. Under the policy, a home game can not be televised locally (within 75 miles of the stadium) if it is not sold out within 72 hours of the game. Due to the NFL’s popularity, the policy mainly affected only the lowliest of teams.
However, the past couple of seasons the frequency of blackouts has increased dramatically. This year, as many as twelve teams face the very real possibility of having multiple games blackedout. Now it appears that even some of the league’s most promising teams face the possibility of blackouts. The Atlanta Falcons field one of the leagues youngest and most exciting teams, yet they face the possibility of blackouts. Adding Brett Favre to their roster hasn’t saved the Minnesota Vikings from blackout talks and even the defending NFC Champions, Arizona Cardinals are having trouble selling out their home opener.
Three factors contribute to this sudden spike.
- Economy – Some of the teams hardest hit by the NFL’s blackout policies are in cities hardest hit by the recession (e.g. Cleveland and Detroit). No matter where you live, it is not cheap to attend a NFL game and people often slash entertainment expenses first when trying to cut their budget, so even in cities where the economy fared a little better fans must be more frugal with their money.
- Technology – The NFL prides itself on being at the forefront of the convergence of sports and technology. Every NFL game can be viewed in high definition, which allows the fan to feel as if they are at the game. Combine that with the growing popularity of the NFL Sunday Ticket, a sports package offered by the league and DirectTV that allows the fans to watch every out of market football game, and the average fan can pay $50 a month for all their games in high definition as opposed to $80 for a single ticket to a single game.
- Small Markets – I first started hearing about blackouts in regards to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars are a small market team that plays in one of the largest stadiums in the NFL, making it nearly impossible to sell out the home games. The Jaguars have taken every possible step to try and prevent blackouts, such as placing tarps over large sections of seating within the stadium to try and cut down on the amount of tickets needed to be sold. This works to their disadvantage in games where those tickets could have been sold since the sections must remain closed for the entire season and not just for select games.
Some teams want the NFL to temporarily remove blackout restrictions until our economy recovers. They contend that continuing to enforce the policy during this economic down cylce hurts the already struggling fan, especially the old and young. Just think of the kid in San Diego, who wants nothing more than to see his Chargers play on Sunday, but then finds out his local TV station cannot carry the game because it did not sell out. The NFL refuses to rescind the policy, but has relented some, allowing the games to be rebroadcast at midnight following the game on the NFL’s website.