The FCC is considering a petition from fan interest groups to rescind the NFL television blackout rules. As they work through their administrative process we’ll have updates along the way.
NFL Eases TV Blackout Rule For 2012 Season
In news that caught most people off guard, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the NFL would be easing restrictions within its television blackout policy. The new policy will require NFL teams set a sales goal to sell at least 85% of tickets to each game. If a team meets there goal, the game will not be blacked out. In order to encourage teams to set goals higher than 85%, the NFL will institute a higher revenue sharing percentage for any sales over the teams’ stated goals.
The previous blackout rule required a sell-out 72 hours before a game, with some exceptions made when limited tickets remained. This policy has come under criticism numerous times in recent years. The HD experience, combined with Internet media, has forever changed how we view games every Sunday. As more people choose to stay home, average home attendance across the league has reportedly gone down 4.5% since 2007. The NFL is looking for ways to improve the in-stadium experience through technological advances, but reforming the blackout rule has been a major issue.
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NFL Blackout Policy: Richard Nixon Offered To Retain Regular Season TV Blackout
The NFL has had its current television blackout policy in place since Congress passed legislation in 1973 that required games be made available if the stadium was sold out at least 72 hours in advance. Prior to the legislation, the NFL blacked out all home football contests during the regular season and playoffs. Government complaints at the time eventually led to Congress implementing legislation that turned into the current NFL policy. That policy is currently under review by the FCC.
It turns out the NFL had an opportunity at the time to implement a more stringent blackout policy that would have had full White House support. Richard Nixon’s White House tapes in the National Archives reveal the President offered then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle a compromise. In exchange for freeing up playoff games from the blackout rules, Nixon would have allowed the entire regular season to remain blacked out by vetoing any congressional legislation to the contrary. From his audio tapes:
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