NFL Blackout Opposition Has a New, Big-Name Backer
Way back when (i.e. 1975), the NFL was up in arms about television taking business away from individual teams. The thinking was that people’s abilities to watch the local team from their homes was causing a slide in ticket sales. In those days, gate receipts were a big part of a team’s (and the league’s) revenue. So the NFL went crying to the people who control TV markets — the FCC. The FCC enacted rules saying that games that were not sold out couldn’t be aired on local television. It was a rule to protect teams. In 2014, it’s become a rule that hurts fans.
Blackout rules have been a constant point of consternation to fans (and critics) of the NFL. Now, that movement has a big name in its corner — Tom Wheeler. You might not know the name, but if you aren’t a fan of the current blackout rules for NFL football, Wheeler is the kind of guy you want on your team. Tom Wheeler happens to be the chairman of the FCC.
In a recent op-ed for USA Today, Wheeler came out against the current set of rules, calling them “anti-fan.” He states his case about how the rules are now out-of-date, and confirms that he has sent a proposal to the rest of the commission to change how blackouts are handled. Wheeler states he plans to vote on the new proposal on September 30th.
Whether this new proposal discusses online-streaming rules and regulations is unclear. As of now, even subscribers to the expensive NFL Sunday Ticket package on DirecTV cannot stream a local game on the app if they are not near a TV. Fox has worked around this with their Fox Sports Go application, but CBS has no such option as of now.
The first step is getting games on TV. Hopefully, if these regulations pass, some definitive standards can be set for online streaming, as well.
(Header photo via Kyle Nishioka)
David G. Temple is the Managing Editor of TechGraphs and a contributor to FanGraphs, NotGraphs and The Hardball Times. He hosts the award-eligible podcast Stealing Home. Dayn Perry once called him a "Bible Made of Lasers." Follow him on Twitter @davidgtemple.
“NFL went crying” ???
Pathetic and the end of the post for me. Next time, try a bit better to write something actually informative rather than liberal drivel.
oh shut up
I’ll third the opinion that objecting to government interference in the free market is hardly liberal drivel.
Note that this only stops the FCC from enforcing the blackout. (The existing rules are Big Government joining forces on the side of the NFL in a dispute, contra the silly commenter above who believes that only liberals complain about government regulation.) Nothing stops the NFL from continuing the blackout rules but writing them into the TV contracts, similar to how baseball operates. I am personally skeptical that gate receipts are worth a blackout in a financial sense, but changing other blackout rules is harder.