FCC may end NFL blackout rule Tuesday; Bills fans likely to rejoice
The Federal Communications Commission may be about to deal a (small) blow to the NFL. Today, the FCC could end the decades-old “blackout” rule.
With the exception of long-suffering Buffalo Bills fans, most of us have likely not encountered this rule. The provision states that if a stadium fails to sell out a game, the game cannot be broadcast in the area. There’s also a rule that says pay-TV operators can’t air a sporting event that is blacked out. The Buffalo Bills have been affected by this rule more than any other team and owner.
Last year, there were two NFL blackouts - Cincinnati at San Diego December 1, and Miami at Buffalo December 22. The Bills avoided two other blackouts when owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. purchased all the remaining game tickets to dodge the rule. In defense of the Bills fans not buying tickets, the team hasn’t had a winning season since 2004.
“It’s an old rule, there’s no real need for it in the modern era,” said Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Aaron Task.
The NFL says the blackout rule is important to “maintain our games on free television without an issue,” though since the NFL negotiates its own broadcast deals it's unclear what would prevent that. Secondly, the NFL says full stadiums have an important impact on local economies.
The NFL’s lobby has been pushing that argument hard, and groups like the AFL-CIO and the Black Caucus have agreed. The FCC disagrees. The commissioner wrote an op-ed earlier this month explaining why the NFL blackout rule should be “sack”-ed.
Certain teams do have trouble selling out stadiums. The Indianapolis Colts, for example, needed two extensions and some corporate help to sell out seats in the 2003 season… for a playoff game (not a game, by the way, fans would have wanted to miss had it been blacked out.)
Ticket sales are a big source of revenue for the NFL – generating approximately $51 million per year, per team. That’s not including the Super Bowl, where average ticket prices top $3,000.
But that’s only one element of the NFL’s revenue. The league also makes money when stadiums are used for events other than games, not to mention revenue from merchandise, advertising and licensing. NFL revenues topped $9 billion in 2013, making it the most lucrative sports league in the world. Still, commissioner Roger Goodell is not satisfied, saying he wants revenues to hit $25 billion.
Plus, if we’re going to highlight teams and games that have a hard time selling out, we should also note that overall attendance for the league is solid. In 2013, just seven of 32 teams had attendance levels lower than 90% at home.
But all of the statistics in the world might be missing the point. The blackout rule “gives [the NFL] some additional leverage when they negotiate with the broadcasters,” said Task. And it’s leverage they want to keep. “They’re the only [sports] league that has this kind of power… the NFL has a control problem and it needs to give up a little bit of it.”
