"The NFL blackout policy strikes a balance between encouraging fans to attend games and allowing the games to continue to be broadcast on free television," Masonson said. "The NFL is the only sports league that broadcasts all of its regular-season and playoff games on free television. At least three games are shown in every NFL market each Sunday during the season."

ESPN and NFL network are free now?

Because you all should see the likes of Indy, Arizona, Jacksonville and Cleveland even if there are better games on!

PowerSlacker: "The NFL blackout policy strikes a balance between encouraging fans to attend games and allowing the games to continue to be broadcast on free television," Masonson said. "The NFL is the only sports league that broadcasts all of its regular-season and playoff games on free television. At least three games are shown in every NFL market each Sunday during the season."

ESPN and NFL network are free now?



/hope pic keeps working....

Allen262: PowerSlacker: "The NFL blackout policy strikes a balance between encouraging fans to attend games and allowing the games to continue to be broadcast on free television," Masonson said. "The NFL is the only sports league that broadcasts all of its regular-season and playoff games on free television. At least three games are shown in every NFL market each Sunday during the season."

ESPN and NFL network are free now?

[images5.cpcache.com image 480x480]

/hope pic keeps working....

And this one too...

PowerSlacker: "The NFL blackout policy strikes a balance between encouraging fans to attend games and allowing the games to continue to be broadcast on free television," Masonson said. "The NFL is the only sports league that broadcasts all of its regular-season and playoff games on free television. At least three games are shown in every NFL market each Sunday during the season."

ESPN and NFL network are free now?

Not to mention the quantitative difference of a 16 game season for each team compared to 80-160 becomes a qualitative difference as well.

PowerSlacker: ESPN and NFL network are free now?

Local games remain on free broadcast channels. If you're in a market with a football team, you never need to watch ESPN or NFL network (as someone who has only the bare minimum of cable channels because it's cheaper than Internet without cable, I know this well).

t3knomanser: Local games remain on free broadcast channels.

Local games are also the only games subject to blackout.

The bigger issue is that stadiums shouldn't be supported by public dollars at all. Then the NFL, NBA, etc could do whatever they want.

I can't even afford Sunday Ticket, so seeing the game live is out of the question.

t3knomanser: PowerSlacker: ESPN and NFL network are free now?

Local games remain on free broadcast channels. If you're in a market with a football team, you never need to watch ESPN or NFL network (as someone who has only the bare minimum of cable channels because it's cheaper than Internet without cable, I know this well).

Except the concept of primary/secondary market is so broad with the NFL. You can live a couple hours away from reasonably attending a home game, and you're still "local" for the NFL.

And think about the past couple years, being subjected to 49ers and Raiders as being local market. All you get on Sundays is either the 9ers broadcast or the Raiders broadcast. Usually, they stagger the games so that the 9ers and Raiders aren't opposite each other, and so even if there's a doubleheader game on the other channel involving teams outside the local market, it's also blacked out for us so that we have to watch/attend the 9ers or Raiders game.

It's better this year, with WOOWOOHarbaugh & "fark It I'm Goin With Palmer" Jackson, but just imagine the past few years.

/The horror! The horror!
/Never got NFL Network, but I'm guessing they still blackout home games if the game isn't sold out.

Warlordtrooper: jso2897: They might be right, but I don't care. This is well beneath the bottom of my list of social injustices worth addressing.

THIS. There are plenty of other concerns that congress should be dealing with. I'd love lower ticket prices and no blackouts but this isn't a congressional concern.

Neither are playoffs in college football, but you still have idiots yammering for an injunction.

t3knomanser: PowerSlacker: ESPN and NFL network are free now?

Local games remain on free broadcast channels


Not if they're blacked out

I think it's funny that the photo for TFA is of Packers fans, the team that possibly has never been blacked out.

t3knomanser: PowerSlacker: ESPN and NFL network are free now?

Local games remain on free broadcast channels. If you're in a market with a football team, you never need to watch ESPN or NFL network (as someone who has only the bare minimum of cable channels because it's cheaper than Internet without cable, I know this well).

I don't have cable, and the Seahawks are on every Sunday. The Mariners have not had a broadcast game in 2 or 3 years.

The Sounders are actually on 2 broadcast channels: The local NBC affiliate broadcasts on their 2nd station, and there is a spanish language language brodcast as well. When they are on ESPN, those games are blacked out.

Two tickets for the cheapest seats @ Raj Jay are 60 dollars each to play the texans this weekend. Do they really expect to sell those tickets and 400 plus dollar seats to avoid a black out?

MFAWG: I don't have cable, and the Seahawks are on every Sunday. The Mariners have not had a broadcast game in 2 or 3 years.

Besides Fox on Saturdays, and playoffs, what non-cable channel shows baseball? I think only the Braves and Cubs have games broadcast on non-cables.

merkey88: MFAWG: I don't have cable, and the Seahawks are on every Sunday. The Mariners have not had a broadcast game in 2 or 3 years.

Besides Fox on Saturdays, and playoffs, what non-cable channel shows baseball? I think only the Braves and Cubs have games broadcast on non-cables.

The local Fox affiliate used to broadcast a couple of Mariners games a month. I'm not sure what changed.

PowerSlacker: "The NFL blackout policy strikes a balance between encouraging fans to attend games and allowing the games to continue to be broadcast on free television," Masonson said. "The NFL is the only sports league that broadcasts all of its regular-season and playoff games on free television. At least three games are shown in every NFL market each Sunday during the season."

ESPN and NFL network are free now?

The games are played on network TV in the local market if they're the thursday/saturday NFL network games (assuming a sellout). I'm not really certain if the MNF games are broadcast in the same fashion.

merkey88: MFAWG: I don't have cable, and the Seahawks are on every Sunday. The Mariners have not had a broadcast game in 2 or 3 years.

Besides Fox on Saturdays, and playoffs, what non-cable channel shows baseball? I think only the Braves and Cubs have games broadcast on non-cables.

The Cubs are about 50/50 on cable (Comcast Sports plus affiliated stations) vs on broadcast (WGN or, more rarely, WCIU). The White Sox are about the same (with the same channels). Typically, at least one team a day in Chicago is a broadcast game, but not always...

Because it's your constitutional right to watch your homes games on free TV.

Well if they're gonna rape you with taxes to build their giant stadiums they could at least let you watch the farkin games. But if they can charge you they always will, I'm currently paying $10 a month for the privilege of watching my team play while every other team in my country gets the same service for free.

runwiz: Because it's your constitutional right to watch your homes games on free TV.

Lolwut? In a large number of cases these franchises are heavily subsidized with local tax dollars. I don't actually have problem with that.

I don't live anywhere near the east coast, I don't have any special cable sports package, just ESPN, yet I inadvertently manage to always flip to a Yankees or Red Sox game during baseball season.

If games are going to be blacked out.. there should be tickets available at a reasonable rate. 40 dollar tickets still available? your area is blacked out. 400 dollar tickets available..but no low end tickets then the game is on TV.


The bucs had no tickets available under 100 dollars recently, but they were still blacked.

legion_of_doo: And think about the past couple years, being subjected to 49ers and Raiders as being local market.

Luckily, I watch the NFL at a buddy's house who has the NFL package so I don't have to worry about what Fox or CBS is showing. Here in Los Angeles, we *still* get subjected to Raiders games instead of the best game available at 10:00 am or 1:00 pm. OK, they're fun to watch this year, but still. Plus, the Spanos Goofs, aka those pits of human filth Chargers who caused me to get knocked out of a betting pool worth $2500, they are constantly on broadcast TV here. This weekend, because there's no Chargers or Raiders game, they're showing Buffalo at Dallas and New Ahlins at Atlanta in the morning and the Giants at 49ers in the afternoon.

Big 900: I think it's funny that the photo for TFA is of Packers fans, the team that possibly has never been blacked out.

I came here to say this. Packers games haven't(at least in the last 20-30 years) and won't be blacked out.