J
Jul
Guest
Oakland. Tomorrow's Cleveland Browns-Oakland Raiders game has been blacked out in the bay area.
http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_6953040
http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_6953040
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
J
Jul
Guest
KPIX Channel 5 will air Cincinnati Bengals @ Seattle Seahawks instead.Julius May said:
This news was posted Friday at the California TV Board.
N
Nertz!
Guest
Can anyone explain the reasoning behind the blackouts?
Wouldn't it be better if the game got on TV locally?
Wouldn't it be better if the game got on TV locally?
Nertz! said:
To get the fans to attend.
Remember: Sellout=$$$ at the gate.
Nertz! said:
No, because those who can attend choose not to (whether they stay home or go to a sports bar).
Again...sellout=$$$ at the gate.
It always comes down to money.
Teams which sellout every season don't have this problem.
azumanga said:
It is something that dates back to at least the late 1960's and it seems to be a punitive action as much as anything else. A sour grapes approach.
Perhaps in the old days, when stadiums had few amenities, it had a useful purpose - but nowadays going to a game is a completely different experience than watching it on TV. To me, they are missing out on a wonderful marketing platform that would serve to FILL THE SEATS on a later date. When a team goes week after week without selling out (like the Cardinals did for years), it becomes a case of "out of sight, out of mind". Perhaps if the home games were shown on TV, you could get more people interested and enthusiastic to actually attend a game.
The NFL is greedy and wrong about a number of things and this is just such an issue. And, don't get me started about the "home market" rules that won't allow another game to be shown in the "home" market at the same time as a home game. This has the effect of creating two single-headers during certain weeks - punishing the home market for having a team.
An example comes to mind with the New England Patriots. When they are home on a week when the other channel is supposed to have a double header, the Boston affiliates only show two afternoon games. This means that folks as far afield as Concord, NH miss out on games. Yet Gillette Stadium and it's surroundings are just as close to Providence as they are to Boston. And, Providence affiliates are NOT subject to this. So, you can be within 5 miles of the stadium and see 3 games on Sunday afternoon. Yet, 90 miles away in NH - you get 2. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
BRNout said:
Blame it on Bert Bell, not Pete Rozelle. Bell implemented the blackout policy in the mid-'50s, per America's Game by Michael MacCambridge (Random House, 2004), pages 104-105.
Did the AFL have a blackout policy? I'm too young to remember and have never lived in an ex-AFL market to begin with.
ixnay
BRNout said:
Prior to 1973, all home games were blacked out in a team's local market regardless of whether the game was sold out or not. This included the pre-Super Bowl NFL Championship games. This is why, for example, bars in metro Chicago had 100-foot towers with UHF antennas pointed toward Rockford or South Bend. Both cities are outside the 75-mile limit and their CBS affiliates carried all Bear games.
KeithE4 said:
I think I read somewhere that even the early Super Bowl games were blacked out in the cities that they were played in, sellout or not. I recall reading that Los Angeles viewers were unable to see the first Super Bowl in 1967 on TV, beacuse of the blackout rule. And that year, both NBC and CBS carried the game.
Very interesting stuff, and I appreciate the info. However, I know that 1973 is not the right date.
Why?
Because we lived in the Washington area back then and I was a big Redskins fan back then. I vividly recall a Redskins-Saints game being blacked out in 1971 because the game (at RFK Stadium) didn't sell out ...and that was the only blacked out game. My dad got on the roof and tried to pick up WTVR Richmond (but no dice). Baltimore's WMAR (CBS back then) was blacked out too. Other home games were shown that year. I remember it very well - it made quite an impression.
So, the home team blackout rule must have been earlier than that. Back before the introduction of Monday Night Football. Back when i was too little to notice.
Why?
Because we lived in the Washington area back then and I was a big Redskins fan back then. I vividly recall a Redskins-Saints game being blacked out in 1971 because the game (at RFK Stadium) didn't sell out ...and that was the only blacked out game. My dad got on the roof and tried to pick up WTVR Richmond (but no dice). Baltimore's WMAR (CBS back then) was blacked out too. Other home games were shown that year. I remember it very well - it made quite an impression.
So, the home team blackout rule must have been earlier than that. Back before the introduction of Monday Night Football. Back when i was too little to notice.
dhett said:
A web search seems to agree with you guys about 1973 being the date when the current system started. Funny how memories get fuzzy over the years, because I recall being able to watch most games back then. And even Baltimore would have been subject to the 75-mile radius blackout rule. Strange.
- Status