NFL Blackouts--Sunday 09/25

[ShawnHill]

Re: NFL blackout zones

Good claification, Keith. I'm fully aware that Rockford (I was born there) is at least 90 miles away (at least with the distance between downtwon Rockford and O'Hare Airport), however, the point I making was that Rockford is a neighboring market to Chicago, and you bring up an excellent point about Bears coverage in Rockford. I've always said Rockford was a somewhat lucky market, because if you didn't want to see the Bears on local TV, you can point your antenna towards Madison and get the Packers (location and weather conditions considered).

> Back in the mid-late '70s, after the rules change but before
> Bear games regularly sold out, there were a lot of bars in
> the Chicago area that had 50-foot towers with UHF antennas
> pointed toward Rockford to get Bear games since WIFR/23
> always carried them. No part of the Rockford/Freeport
> market is within 75 miles of Soldier Field.
>
> I believe South Bend's WSBT/22 carried all Bear games at the
> time as well. South-side, south-suburban, and NW Indiana
> bars probably had their UHF antennas pointed toward them.
>
> I think the last Bear game to be blacked out in Chicago was
> in 1980.
>

 

[KeithE]

Re: NFL blackout zones

> Good claification, Keith. I'm fully aware that Rockford (I
> was born there) is at least 90 miles away (at least with the
> distance between downtwon Rockford and O'Hare Airport),
> however, the point I making was that Rockford is a
> neighboring market to Chicago, and you bring up an excellent
> point about Bears coverage in Rockford. I've always said
> Rockford was a somewhat lucky market, because if you didn't
> want to see the Bears on local TV, you can point your
> antenna towards Madison and get the Packers (location and
> weather conditions considered).

What was even better for me was that, during the 1978 season, I lived in Glendale Heights and could get WIFR even with rabbit ears. I didn't miss a Bear game that year. :-D

 

[bhayes1016]

Re: NFL Blackout in Connecticut? Ever?

> For the games in New Haven, the league made an exception to
> allow the games to be shown locally in Hartford/New Haven if
> they were sold-out in advance. A few weeks later, under
> pressure, the league (and the government, IIRC) expanded
> this policy to all teams, creating the "modern" blackout
> policy.

I had read that the "modern" blackout rules were due to then-President Nixon and members of Congress complaining about the Redskins' home games not being seen in Washington, despite selling out well in advance.