NFL blackouts be gone...hopefully. The National Football League recently adopted new guidelines that loosen the restrictions on their longstanding television blackout rules.
In seasons past, these rules blocked non-sold-out NFL games (within 72 hours before kickoff) from being broadcast on local television. This controversial proposition left football fans bitter including us here in Tampa. If Tampa Bay Bucs games didn't sell out within 72 hours of kickoff, fans were, more or less, punished for the dearth of their team's ticket sales.
With $25 parking charges, decent tickets easily reaching the $100+ level, and exponentially expensive concessions to boot, it's easy to see why a budget-minded fan would be turned off at the prospect of seeing a Bucs game in the flesh.
But now, things have changed, slightly.
Starting during the 2012-13 NFL season, league teams will now be able to determine what constitutes a "sell out" at their respective stadiums. Teams like the Bucs can now declare a sell-out if 85 to 100 percent of tickets for a specific game have been sold.
This hopefully means that football fans in Tampa and beyond will get to see their teams play on TV more often than previous seasons had allowed.
Last year, those in the Tampa Bay area were forced to miss five games due to the NFL blackout policy. Had the Bucs been able to declare 85 percent of ticket sales as a sell out, three more games would have been broadcast on local television.
The Bucs and the rest of the 32 NFL teams will have to determine this new sell out threshold before the beginning of the 2012-13 season. The Bucs kick off their 37th season with a home game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, September 9.
