Blackout Rules for NFL Broadcasting

The NFL's blackout rule, established in 1973, states that if a home team does not sell out its stadium within 72 hours of kickoff, then the game will not be broadcast in that team's local television market. Because of economic constraints, there has been more debate about whether the blackout rule should be repealed.

  1. History

    • The blackout rule was established in 1973 during a time when teams were having difficulty selling out their home games. Prior to 1973, all games were blacked out in local markets if they had sold out or not. During that time, more than half of NFL games did not sell out. However, by 2007, the NFL was selling out 97 percent of its home games and blackouts were rare. According to Sports Business Journal, 13 of 17 weeks "entirely sold out" that season, with only seven of the 256 regular-season games blacked out.

    Possibility of Change

    • In 2009, the NFL stated that it had no intention of changing the blackout rule. However, according to the Pro Football Talk website, the NFL partially waived the rule that year by making all blacked out games "available in the local markets on a tape-delayed basis, via NFL.com."

    Enforcement

    • Blackouts are announced 72 hours before the start of the game if the home team did not sell out their stadium. Congress passed legislation forcing the NFL to institute the 72-hour rule with regards to when blackouts must be announced.

    Radio

    • There are no blackouts for radio broadcasts, although the flagship stations of each team involved are the only stations permitted to broadcast their regular-season game.

    Additional Rules and Regulations

    • The NFL defines "local" markets as those within 75-miles of the stadium. If the game is supposed to broadcast nationally (such as the Monday Night Football game), the game must still be blacked out in local markets. Blackout games may not be shown in any other capacity in the local market, such as on DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket. Both primary and secondary markets are affected by a blackout. For example, Los Angeles, which does not have a team in its primary market, is affected by blackouts of the San Diego Chargers.