FCC Ends NFL Blackout Rule

Congratulations NFL fan, you can now watch your hometown team on TV whether or not they sell out their game.

The FCC put an end to the 39-year old NFL Broadcast rule Tuesday morning with a unanimous 5-0 vote.

The ruling was put in place in 1975 to help the league which at the time got most of their profit from people going to games. It was an easy way to force people to attend if they wanted to see their teams games. The league now gets most of their profit from broadcast rights.

The vote however was a bit symbolic--it means the government no longer supports the NFL doing it. But they can still enforce it and keep the rule as a part of their TV contracts. And they more than likely will.

However legislation is already in the works that would require them to do it or lose their anti-trust exemption. And in the long run, we suspect they will cave. Essentially, this means celebrate, but realize you may not see the blackouts end for a couple of years.

The NFL has always argued that having empty seats might hurt their image and that they might have to move their games to pay TV if the blackout rule ended.

Don't bet on that happening.

The NFL already has issues with empty seats at their games. Yeah, sure, they announce tickets purchased as their attendance figures rather than butts in seats, but if you watch, most games are not exactly 100% full.

And as for TV, the ratings on free TV still dwarf anything they'd get on cable or Pay Per View. The outcry if they did that would further the already negative public image they currently hold.

That's not to say they won't try it at some point, we think they will. But there will be pushback. More than they probably think there will be.

FCC: We will look at NFL Blackout rules

Finally!

The FCC has finally, after nearly 40-years of suffering by NFL fans, agreed to look at the validity of the NFL TV Blackout rule.

The rule which essentially states that any game not sold out is not to be shown on TV in the home market or any market 70 miles or less away. Or if say, you live in a market like Cincinnati since they rarely sell out, you can't watch in Cincinnati, Dayton or Lexington,KY.

It's an antiquated rule that was created back in the late 70's, when TV was not nearly the juggernaut or integral part of most peoples lives like it is now.

However, all the FCC has done is opened the topic up for public opinion/review.

Unfortunately, we don't see the NFL capitulating on this which sort of makes it a moot point. And we say that because we don't believe the FCC is willing to take them on in a battle.

The whole reason this finally has come up for discussion is that the NFL, particularly in the smaller markets, had trouble with sellouts. And the main reason for that is the sky-rocketing cost of an NFL game ticket. There are less and less people these days who can afford the tickets and have to try and watch at home.

And that is your Catch-22.

Honestly, we don't think this will change, though it should. The NFL believes repealing this will harm their attendance...and it might. And we honestly don't think they care. The people who struggle to afford tickets are not the NFL's target audience any more. They are shooting for the upper-class, business types who have plenty of expendable income and might invest in a club seat, not Joe Smith who repairs TV's for a living and can barely afford a $65 per game ticket to go see his team play, never mind the $8 beer and $6 hot dog.

But they'll never admit it.

Is it bad I've never heard this song "Sell Out" by the Reel Big Fish?

No? Well, it fits here: