• 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

When Was The Last Time A Home Game Of Your Hometown NFL Team Was Blacked Out??

J

Joseph_Gallant

Guest
Thanks to maps showing what NFL games are televised where on Gribble Nation.net, I have been able to discover that only eight regular-season NFL games thus far in 2005 have not sold-out in advance, and thus, have been blacked-out from local television. Five of the blacked-out games involve the Arizona Cardinals (in fact, the Cardinals at this writing, November 30th, have not had a home game on local TV in Phoenix so far this season); the other three blacked-out games are those of the Oakland Raiders.

Here in the Boston area, the last time a New England Patriots' home game was blacked-out was the December 26th, 1993 game against the Indianapolis Colts. Every Patriots' home game ever since has been televised in the Boston area.

I'm asking those who live in/near home cities of NFL teams to respond and let me know the last time a home game of their hometown NFL club was blacked-out in their area.

I would think that a handful of teams (perhaps including the two New York teams as well as Washington, Dallas, Green Bay, and Pittsburgh) have not had a home game blacked-out from local TV since a law forcing sold-out NFL home games to be televised in the city the game was being played in took effect in 1973.
 
Seattle Seahawks: August 22 vs. Dallas.

OK, it was the preseason, but it counts. Plus, it was a nationally-televised Monday night game with Madden, Michaels and Michelle. Because of that, NFL policy applied. The local dinnertime newscasts were an apology fest.

The way the team is playing now, though, I imagine we won't see any blackouts for some time.
 
Seattle? I'd bet that KIRO-TV (CBS) channel 7 of Seattle will be quite happy when the Seahawks host the Colts on Christmas Eve. That should be good!

I, myself, am a Miami Dolphins fan. Half the time when the Dolphins do get on the air here in Connecticut (chances are good thanks to the New England Patriots and New York Jets being in the same division), their place looks like it's 1/3 empty. Why? Even in years when we were winners, that seemed to be the case.

Speaking of blackouts, I often wondered about Providence, RI. It's actually closer to Foxborough, MA than Boston is. Would Patriot home games on either WPRI-TV (CBS) channel 12 or WNAC-TV (FOX) channel 64 get the boot, too, if they weren't sold out?

Here in greater Hartford (CT), we're close to both Boston (Foxborough) and New York City (East Rutherford, NJ) to make games there a day trip. However, we're just far enough in most cases to where a blackout isn't that much of an issue, now and then.
 
> Speaking of blackouts, I often wondered about Providence,
> RI. It's actually closer to Foxborough, MA than Boston is.
> Would Patriot home games on either WPRI-TV (CBS) channel 12
> or WNAC-TV (FOX) channel 64 get the boot, too, if they
> weren't sold out?

Yup. The NFL rule is any stations within 75 miles of the stadium.

When the blackouts were on, the rule was 125 miles, and both Green Bay and Wausau stations were blacked out. But since Green Bay is more than 125 miles from Milwaukee, games played in Milwaukee could be shown in Green Bay and vice versa.
 
> Thanks to maps showing what NFL games are televised where on
> Gribble Nation.net, I have been able to discover that only
> eight regular-season NFL games thus far in 2005 have not
> sold-out in advance, and thus, have been blacked-out from
> local television. Five of the blacked-out games involve the
> Arizona Cardinals (in fact, the Cardinals at this writing,
> November 30th, have not had a home game on local TV in
> Phoenix so far this season); the other three blacked-out
> games are those of the Oakland Raiders.
>
> Here in the Boston area, the last time a New England
> Patriots' home game was blacked-out was the December 26th,
> 1993 game against the Indianapolis Colts. Every Patriots'
> home game ever since has been televised in the Boston area.
>
> I'm asking those who live in/near home cities of NFL teams
> to respond and let me know the last time a home game of
> their hometown NFL club was blacked-out in their area.
>
> I would think that a handful of teams (perhaps including the
> two New York teams as well as Washington, Dallas, Green Bay,
> and Pittsburgh) have not had a home game blacked-out from
> local TV since a law forcing sold-out NFL home games to be
> televised in the city the game was being played in took
> effect in 1973.
>

I've heard that the last time the Chicago Bears had a local blackout was in September or October of 1984 (don't know the exact date without looking it up)in a game against Denver....the NL East-winning Cubs apparently had an important game at the same time. The finale of their pathetic 1998 campaign against Baltimore sold out just in time to avoid being blacked out.

The Minnesota Vikings used to have home games blacked out on a semi-regular basis until Randy Moss arrived in 1998 and electrified the fan base. The Detroit Lions had blackouts quite a bit in the cavernous Silverdome, but I think they haven't had one since Ford Field was built in 2002.

It's always been a very interesting dichotomy how the Raiders are one of the NFL's most popular teams, yet can't sell out many of their home games.
 
This is off topic, here is what my local stations do when they choose which games to choose.

WFXR (Roanoke)

1. Redskins
2. Falcons (Michael Vick played at Virginia Tech)
3. NFC East game (Eagles, Giants, Cowboys)
4. Best Game

Had to go to 4 last week because Redskins were on CBS, Cowboys and Falcons both played Thanksgiving, Giants and Eagles were playing late games.

WDBJ (Roanoke) generally has AFC East games, shows Redskins when CBS has them.

WGHP (Greensboro)

1. Panthers
2. NFC South (Falcons, Bucs, Saints)
3. Best Game

WFMY (Greensboro) generally shows the same games as WDBJ. Last week WFMY choose a 4pm game over the Redskins.
 
> Five of the blacked-out games involve the
> Arizona Cardinals (in fact, the Cardinals
> at this writing, November 30th, have not
> had a home game on local TV in Phoenix
> so far this season)...

Now if we could only get their road games
blacked-out too!
 
> Thanks to maps showing what NFL games are televised where on
> Gribble Nation.net, I have been able to discover that only
> eight regular-season NFL games thus far in 2005 have not
> sold-out in advance, and thus, have been blacked-out from
> local television. Five of the blacked-out games involve the
> Arizona Cardinals (in fact, the Cardinals at this writing,
> November 30th, have not had a home game on local TV in
> Phoenix so far this season); the other three blacked-out
> games are those of the Oakland Raiders.

In the case of Arizona, the question is "When was the last time a home game of your hometown NFL team was actually televised?"

I don't think there's been a televised Cardinal home game in 2 or 3 years, and then it was only one (Green Bay, IIRC). With the new stadium opening next season, they should get at least the first 2 home games televised. But that's about it. They're still the Cardinals. :p

There have been one or two weeks where no games were blacked out. Of course that meant the Cards were on the road those weeks.

> Here in the Boston area, the last time a New England
> Patriots' home game was blacked-out was the December 26th,
> 1993 game against the Indianapolis Colts. Every Patriots'
> home game ever since has been televised in the Boston area.

It helps to have a winning team in an area with 3 large TV markets within a reasonable driving distance of Foxboro.

> I'm asking those who live in/near home cities of NFL teams
> to respond and let me know the last time a home game of
> their hometown NFL club was blacked-out in their area.
>
> I would think that a handful of teams (perhaps including the
> two New York teams as well as Washington, Dallas, Green Bay,
> and Pittsburgh) have not had a home game blacked-out from
> local TV since a law forcing sold-out NFL home games to be
> televised in the city the game was being played in took
> effect in 1973.

I think the last Chicago Bear home game not televised locally was in 1980. Of course, that's when you looked for a bar with a 75-foot tower and UHF antenna pointed toward Rockford and watched the game there.
 
> When the blackouts were on, the rule was 125 miles, and both
> Green Bay and Wausau stations were blacked out. But since
> Green Bay is more than 125 miles from Milwaukee, games
> played in Milwaukee could be shown in Green Bay and vice
> versa.
>

I can't say for absolute sure, but It was always hard to sell out Cleveland Stadium for Browns games in time especially when they were'nt that good. I would guess sometime in 1995 the last year of the old Browns. I believe every game since 1999 has been a sellout and been shown locally.
 
I believe that the last Tampa Bay Buccaneers home game blacked out was in the beginning of the 1997 season which was the first season the Bucs made the playoffs since 1982 and the last season for the Bucs at the old "Sombrero" Tampa Stadium, I think after they sold out their TNT televised Sunday Night game with the Miami Dolphins they sold out every game after that and the next season when they moved into Raymond James Stadium every home game has sold out.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Bil on 12/01/05 04:46 PM.</FONT></P>
 
> I believe that the last Tampa Bay Buccaneers home game
> blacked out was in the beginning of the 1997 season which
> was the first season the Bucs made the playoffs since 1982

And the season the Bucs swapped two-tone orange and Bucco Bruce for pewter and a pirate flag, whatever effect that had on their sudden success.

> and the last season for the Bucs at the old "Sombrero" Tampa
> Stadium,

Which I first saw in March 1974, looming behind left field at Al Lopez Field (now the site of RJS), while attending a Philles/Reds exhibition. The Sombrero was smaller then. I was 12 1/2 years old and didn't know that Tampa was seeking membership in the National Football League.

Based on my TV viewing, the cameras in the press box at the Sombrero appeared to look straight down on the field. Now at Raymond James, the press level cameras appear to be almost at field level. :)

ixnay
 
> > Speaking of blackouts, I often wondered about Providence,
> > RI. It's actually closer to Foxborough, MA than Boston is.
>
> > Would Patriot home games on either WPRI-TV (CBS) channel
> 12
> > or WNAC-TV (FOX) channel 64 get the boot, too, if they
> > weren't sold out?
>
> Yup. The NFL rule is any stations within 75 miles of the
> stadium.
>
> When the blackouts were on, the rule was 125 miles, and both
> Green Bay and Wausau stations were blacked out. But since
> Green Bay is more than 125 miles from Milwaukee, games
> played in Milwaukee could be shown in Green Bay and vice
> versa.
>

Has any game played at Lambeau Field ever been subject to blackout(re: not sold out) anyway? Having a small stadium and a rabid fanbase has its advantages.

I can remember back in the day when WJSU-40 in Anniston was a CBS affiliate and the Falcons sucked. They were too close to Atlanta and therefore never showed a Falcons home game. WBMG(now WIAT)-42 in Birmingham wasn't subject to the blackout and showed every Falcons game. Both stations generally showed the other NFC West teams (then the Saints, Rams, and 49ers) whenever possible.
 
In the Jacksonville area, I would have to say the last time a Jaguars home game was blacked out locally was August 25, 2005, and that game was against the Atlanta Falcons. The game was televised by ESPN, by the way, and was blacked out on local cable systems as well as to satellite subscribers.

The first regular-season Jaguars home game that was blacked out was September 30, 2001, against the Cleveland Browns. The last regular-season home game that was blacked out was (I believe) December 26, 2004, against the Houston Texans.

The Jaguars have had (at least) one other blacked out game in the 2002 season, but have had more (actually, the majority of) home games blacked out, especially in the regular season, in the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
 
> This is off topic, here is what my local stations do when
> they choose which games to choose.

Maybe this deserves its own thread on the National board, but anyway
priority in Chicago, as well as Rockford, goes pretty much in this order:

1) Bears
2) Packers
3) Vikings
4) Best Game

It will be interesting to see if this changes at all down the stretch this year, at least in Chicago, with the Bears and Vikings in a fight for the division title and the Packers out of it. The CBS affiliates give no real priority to any AFC team, the Colts have no concentrated fan base to speak of until one gets further into Indiana than the Chicago TV market boundary. WBBM either does fan polls on its website or shows the "best" national matchup.

In Toledo priority goes like this:

1) Lions (mandated by the NFL as part of their market, even though polls have shown there are more Browns fans in Toledo than Lions fans)
2) Browns
3) Steelers
4) Bengals (maybe this will change since they're not a joke anymore)
5) Best Game

Often it is practice for stations in or near college towns to pick up games featuring famous alumni....a Fox affilate in West Virginia often would show Vikings games when Marshall alum Randy Moss played for them, and I believe a CBS affiliate in or near West Lafayette, IN often picks up Chargers games starring Purdue alum Drew Brees.
 
> Yup. The NFL rule is any stations within 75 miles of the
> stadium.
>

Not exactly - the rule was changed so that if a station's signal normally penetrates the 75 mile radius, that station is blacked out.

It used to be that when the Buffalo Bills were at home and the Bills didn't sell out, Buffalo and Rochester stations were blacked out, but Syracuse could show the game. Bars in Canandaigua, Victor, and other locales east of Rochester and within signal range of Syracuse made good money from people in the Rochester area who would drive to their businesses to watch the game on TV rather than buy a ticket.

With the rule change, now if the Bills don't sell out in time, stations in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Erie are prohibited from showing the Bills.

Using a more current example, KMSB Fox 11 cannot show Cardinals home games because although their transmitter is about 135 miles from Sun Devil Stadium, their signal normally is seen within 75 miles of the stadium. KECY Fox 9 in El Centro CA/Yuma AZ can show the games because their signal does not come within 75 miles. And for those who are new or just not paying attention, the rest of central and northern Arizona is blacked out because most of the state gets their OTA TV via translators of Phoenix stations.
 
The last San Francisco 49ers blackout was sometime in 1981, their first Super Bowl season, in which the team had a record of 13-3. I had previously read that it was a Nov. 15 game vs. Cleveland, which drew 52,000 to Candlestick Park(during a week of severe winter weather that affected the Bay Area).
However, a San Francisco Chronicle article earlier this year said the last home blackout was a few weeks earlier, on Sep. 27 against New Orleans, which drew a crowd of about 44,000.
The 49ers game with the Cowboys on Oct. 11, 1981, was their first sellout in about 5 years. During and after the '81 season, there was such demand that the team completely sold out its season tickets. The waiting list has been several thousand ever since, and every home game since late 1981 has been televised in the Bay Area.
This season, there have been TV ads for individual game tickets, but presumably the network affiliates have been buying them to ensure the games aren't blacked out. This has happened only occasionally with the Raiders, usually when the Cowboys are in town, or they have a Monday Night game scheduled.
 
> I would think that a handful of teams (perhaps including the
> two New York teams as well as Washington, Dallas, Green Bay,
> and Pittsburgh) have not had a home game blacked-out from
> local TV since a law forcing sold-out NFL home games to be
> televised in the city the game was being played in took
> effect in 1973.
>

The Cowboys actually were blacked out several times in the 70s, and particularly the 80s. I don't know the exact date of the last game, but I don't believe they've been blacked out since the start of their run in the 90s. Amazing that they've sold out every game (in a rapidly deteriorating stadium) during their recent string of (mostly) losing seasons.

Oddly enough, the last game to be blacked out in Pittsburgh was the immaculate reception game.

The last NFL blackout in Houston would have been the last Oilers home game in '95?
 
B. Hayes1016 comments:

> Oddly enough, the last game to be blacked out in Pittsburgh
> was the "immaculate reception" game.

That was a playoff game in December of 1972, back when no NFL regular-season home games were televsied in the cities they were being played in.

This means that the Pittsburgh Steelers have had every home game on local TV for almost 33 full seasons. I suspect the Green Bay Packers' streak of televised home games (played in Green Bay) is as long or is almost as long.
 
The last time the Panthers were blacked out on local TV was December 8, 2002 at home against the Bengals. That game was one of three blacked out that season--the season opener against the Ravens and also the next week's game against the Lions. I blame the blackouts solely on the 1-15 season the year before. We got off to a 3-0 start that year, but then lost 8 straight, and no one cared about the Bengals by that time since they of course sucked at the time. The big loser that year was WBTV, the CBS affiliate, as both home games against AFC teams were blacked out. Those games in 2002 were the first ever blacked out at Bank of America Stadium, then Ericsson Stadium. However, all but one home game the Panthers' first season in 1995 at Clemson's Memorial Stadium failed to sell out, thus the only time Charlotte viewers got to see the Panthers at Clemson was the game in December of that year against the 49ers. (No surprise there, since they were the defending Super Bowl champs and we had shocked them in Candlestick in early November). It was a shame that the NFL didn't lift the blackout rule for that first year at 80,000 seat Memorial Stadium.

In response to the other topic, WCCB and WBTV show the Redskins if they are not scheduled to show the Panthers and if there is no conflict. Otherwise they just pick random games. <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by karaokelegend on 01/07/06 04:14 AM.</FONT></P>
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom