The NFL said its teams can now set blackout levels at a...
The NFL said its teams can now set blackout levels at a lower threshold. Teams now can choose to not black out games when at least 85 percent of a stadium’s general-admission seats are filled, a spokesman confirmed. That’s down…
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from 100 percent, he said. Under the change approved at the league’s May meeting, “more revenue than usual will be shared with the visiting clubs for tickets sold above that base number” of 85 percent, he said. “It’s optional if clubs want to do this and would only affect a few teams.” In 2011, 6 percent of games couldn’t be shown on broadcast or subscription TV in a local market when stadium seats didn’t sell out, versus about 25-30 percent of games blacked out 15 to 20 years ago, the spokesman said. “The new policy leaves it up to team owners to determine how full (between 85-100 percent) the stadium has to be to avoid blackouts,” said the Sports Fans Coalition, which has asked the FCC to start a rulemaking to end the agency’s blackout rule (http://xrl.us/bndo52). “We will continue to fight to end the FCC’s blackout rule because the government should not be in the business of propping up unethical and ineffective blackout policies."