3 ms·

I'm not sure if it's still the case but from what I understand the NFL used to prohibit local games from being shown in the local area to encourage ticket sales

by rascul 5y ago

I'm not sure if it's still the case but from what I understand the NFL used to prohibit local games from being shown in the local area to encourage ticket sales.

jedberg 5y ago
Not just the NFL but also MLB. Usually the rule is that it has to be a near sell out crowd so it isn’t blacked out. But they’ve gotten more lax about that after they realized that the trick doesn’t work — blackouts don’t really increase attendance.
bombcar 5y ago
Exactly - the "blackout" sales level - if not enough tickets were sold, the game wouldn't be available locally. Sometimes a local entity (city, owner of the team, local businessman) would buy blocks of 10k+ tickets to ensure it could be shown locally.
rascul 5y ago
Turns out there's a Wikipedia article about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_(broadcasting) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_(broadcasting)
colinmhayes 5y ago
Every local NFL game except monday night is now available for free over the air with an antenna or on Amazon for thursday games. That's probably because they're so popular and the big networks want to maximize ad money though.
- aidenn0 5y ago
  > Every local NFL game except monday night is now available for free over the air with an antenna or on Amazon for thursday games The only channels I can receive from my house are PBS and Univision. 15 years ago I could receive NBC, ABC, and FOX. FOX never converted to ATSC; NBC converted, but at laughably low power -- if you live on top of a hill and have a high-gain antenna you can pull NBC in with only occasional dropouts. I'm not sure what happened to ABC. I don't have cable, but for those who do, it was for at least 3 years impossible to watch the local baseball team on cable, because the team's channel was part-owned by one cable company, but our town has a different cable company. Unsurprisingly they struggled to come to a licensing agreement.
jeffwask 5y ago
I grew up watching the Patriots in the 80/90's when they sucked. Every game was blacked out because they didn't sellout. It's such a short sighted policy. Every kid I grew up with was a Raiders, Dallas, SF fan because they couldn't be a Patriots fan. What a great way to alienate millions so you can sell 60000 tickets. Every thing these leagues due is tied to an rooted in stupid television contracts that are getting more and more irrelevant.

by rascul 5y ago

I'm not sure if it's still the case but from what I understand the NFL used to prohibit local games from being shown in the local area to encourage ticket sales.

jedberg 5y ago

Not just the NFL but also MLB. Usually the rule is that it has to be a near sell out crowd so it isn’t blacked out. But they’ve gotten more lax about that after they realized that the trick doesn’t work — blackouts don’t really increase attendance.

bombcar 5y ago

Exactly - the "blackout" sales level - if not enough tickets were sold, the game wouldn't be available locally. Sometimes a local entity (city, owner of the team, local businessman) would buy blocks of 10k+ tickets to ensure it could be shown locally.

rascul 5y ago

Turns out there's a Wikipedia article about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_(broadcasting) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_(broadcasting)

colinmhayes 5y ago

Every local NFL game except monday night is now available for free over the air with an antenna or on Amazon for thursday games. That's probably because they're so popular and the big networks want to maximize ad money though.

aidenn0 5y ago
> Every local NFL game except monday night is now available for free over the air with an antenna or on Amazon for thursday games The only channels I can receive from my house are PBS and Univision. 15 years ago I could receive NBC, ABC, and FOX. FOX never converted to ATSC; NBC converted, but at laughably low power -- if you live on top of a hill and have a high-gain antenna you can pull NBC in with only occasional dropouts. I'm not sure what happened to ABC. I don't have cable, but for those who do, it was for at least 3 years impossible to watch the local baseball team on cable, because the team's channel was part-owned by one cable company, but our town has a different cable company. Unsurprisingly they struggled to come to a licensing agreement.

jeffwask 5y ago

I grew up watching the Patriots in the 80/90's when they sucked. Every game was blacked out because they didn't sellout. It's such a short sighted policy. Every kid I grew up with was a Raiders, Dallas, SF fan because they couldn't be a Patriots fan. What a great way to alienate millions so you can sell 60000 tickets. Every thing these leagues due is tied to an rooted in stupid television contracts that are getting more and more irrelevant.