No show

Blackouts keep fans from supporting teams

While trick-or-treaters in Ann Arbor experienced an enjoyable Halloween, fans of the Detroit Lions felt disappointed Sunday evening. After ESPN advertised the event all week, the National Football League barred the cable sports network from airing a match-up between NFC Central rivals the Detroit Lions and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers within a 75-mile radius of the Pontiac Silverdome. The NFL's policy of blacking out competitions is unfair to its fans.

The NFL instituted blackouts early in its existence to boost stadium attendance, the major source of the league's income. In September 1973, Congress passed a law forcing professional football to air games that have sold out 72 hours prior to kickoff. Since then, team owners and league officials maintain that blackout policies preserve professional football from becoming a "salon" sport. But denying fans access to competitions does little to protect the game's appeal. Televised broadcasts generate much of the attention local fans give to the sport. Instead of procuring an audience by fostering a genuine interest in the game, the NFL's blackout policy forces fans to attend or have no other opportunity to view the game.

Blackouts are particularly harsh on certain fan groups. Hundreds of sports bars in the Buffalo metropolitan area were targeted in 1997 for using satellite TV to provide patrons with illegal broadcasts of home games. Although the NFL lost more in legal fees than it received in settlements, league officials considered the clamp-down a necessary course of action as Buffalo Bills attendance remained low. The Buffalo bar lawsuits are a prime example of how the NFL works against its fans in enforcing blackout policies.

Aside from hurting local businesses, the NFL's policy affects other fan groups as well. In May of 1996, a group of hearing-impaired football fans filed a class action lawsuit against the NFL for denying them access to game coverage through their inherent inability to use radio broadcasting. The Supreme Court eventually threw out the case at the end of the month.

Ticket prices collaborate with blackout policies to keep some fans from watching home games. Most stadiums charge at least $40 for admission, making attendance too expensive for many families. Fans who cannot afford such high prices are secluded from NFL home games altogether.

Congress passed the 1973 law primarily based upon the local Washington Redskins's success in repeatedly selling out RFK stadium. But this has led to a major disparity between various local teams. Detroit Lions fans are a solid example of the blackout's inequity. The Pontiac Silverdome hosts the largest capacity of any stadium in the NFL. Having space for more than 20,000 more fans than the national attendance average last year, Detroit continues having trouble filling the extra seats. While smaller venues in New York, Green Bay and Washington, D.C. rarely experience blackouts, fans in and around Detroit or Buffalo are often denied the opportunity to watch their team play at home.

The NFL should reconsider its policy on blacking out home games. League officials claim that fans want to see a full stadium but the aesthetic of a large crowd is not as important to viewers as the events taking place on the field. NFL owners want to secure a sellout crowd simply because money from ticket sales goes directly to the organization. The practice is bad business, alienating fans from their teams. Blackouts are unfair to many fans and have no place in professional football.

11-09-99