3 ms·

> I always thought that was silly. Games sell out, that doesn’t mean local fans still don’t want to watch. Do they still do blackouts if the game sells out?

> I always thought that was silly. Games sell out, that doesn’t mean local fans still don’t want to watch. Do they still do blackouts if the game sells out? I'm not a sports fan, but I thought games would only get blacked out if they didn't sell enough in-person tickets.

al_borland 4y ago
Not sure on that. I just remember living about a mile from a large college stadium that always sells out. I tried to watch the game on TV and got denied. This was a while back, I'm not a huge sports fan, but that stuck with me and made me not want to bother trying to watch any future games.
- olyjohn 4y ago
  The fact that the game is local, makes it more interesting to me to watch on TV. I'm not a big sports fan, I am highly unlikely to ever go to a game... but they might get my viewership on a live stream, just to see what's going on near by, or to have a get together at my house and have a game on. But my experience pretty much mirrors yours. Any time I might be interested in seeing a game, it's been blacked out on TV. So I never bothered to watch anything else. Why would I give a shit about a team not even near me if I'm not a huge fan to begin with?
thakoppno 4y ago
The NFL stopped that in 2014. I’m unaware of any league that still does blackouts like this. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_television_blackout_policies https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_tel...
manquer 4y ago
The local/in-market rights are sold independent of out of market rights. The local rights are held by channels typically part of Cable TV, that is why there is blackouts the streaming app usually won't have rights to show you the game in that region, the cable channels do, those channels(RSNs) pay more because they focus more on 1-2 regions and also this is primary reason those packages sell so they cannot afford not to loose the deal, the streaming apps have a lot of regions to cover nationally and other usage drivers so will not be able to pay same price. The kind of blackouts you describe is still common in U.K. to encourage you to go and support the local team rather than the big regional team because that is on TV. Think Wigan Athletic or Bolton Wanderers instead of Manchester United English football has 11-21 tiers and strong grassroots. Those blackouts are not designed for big teams to sell tickets they will anyway sell out, but to help the smaller teams which are rarely featured on TV, not in the top premier league but play instead in Championship, league 1,2, or non conference leagues etc.

al_borland 4y ago

Not sure on that. I just remember living about a mile from a large college stadium that always sells out. I tried to watch the game on TV and got denied. This was a while back, I'm not a huge sports fan, but that stuck with me and made me not want to bother trying to watch any future games.

olyjohn 4y ago
The fact that the game is local, makes it more interesting to me to watch on TV. I'm not a big sports fan, I am highly unlikely to ever go to a game... but they might get my viewership on a live stream, just to see what's going on near by, or to have a get together at my house and have a game on. But my experience pretty much mirrors yours. Any time I might be interested in seeing a game, it's been blacked out on TV. So I never bothered to watch anything else. Why would I give a shit about a team not even near me if I'm not a huge fan to begin with?

thakoppno 4y ago

The NFL stopped that in 2014. I’m unaware of any league that still does blackouts like this. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_television_blackout_policies https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_tel...

manquer 4y ago

The local/in-market rights are sold independent of out of market rights. The local rights are held by channels typically part of Cable TV, that is why there is blackouts the streaming app usually won't have rights to show you the game in that region, the cable channels do, those channels(RSNs) pay more because they focus more on 1-2 regions and also this is primary reason those packages sell so they cannot afford not to loose the deal, the streaming apps have a lot of regions to cover nationally and other usage drivers so will not be able to pay same price. The kind of blackouts you describe is still common in U.K. to encourage you to go and support the local team rather than the big regional team because that is on TV. Think Wigan Athletic or Bolton Wanderers instead of Manchester United English football has 11-21 tiers and strong grassroots. Those blackouts are not designed for big teams to sell tickets they will anyway sell out, but to help the smaller teams which are rarely featured on TV, not in the top premier league but play instead in Championship, league 1,2, or non conference leagues etc.