NFL TV blackouts could be more common this season

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The specter of potential NFL TV blackouts has more than just the poor-performing teams on edge this season.

Last year’s 22 blackouts were confined to five teams, all of which had losing records: the Jacksonville Jaguars (seven blackouts, seven wins); Detroit Lions (four blackouts, two wins); Kansas City Chiefs (one blackout, four wins); Oakland Raiders (seven blackouts, five wins); and St. Louis Rams (three blackouts, one win).

This season, the window for blackouts could include three 2009 playoff teams, the Arizona Cardinals, the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Diego Chargers.

The Cardinals have sold out every game since moving into the University of Phoenix Stadium in 2006, including all preseason games.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who expect blackouts this season, took advantage of loophole by which teams can buy back unsold tickets at a reduced rate in order for the game to air locally. This season, spokesman Jonathan Grella said the team wouldn’t do that.

For games to be on TV, Grella said, “people need to understand that it’s not a given.”

In New York, both the Giants and Jets have encountered issues selling season tickets they made available via personal seat licenses at the new Meadowlands stadium. But both teams have ruled out blackouts and could take advantage of the buyback option if the need arose.

While the economy looms as a factor in all markets, the causes of TV blackout concerns vary from city to city. Cincinnati is a relatively small market. Arizona lost its star quarterback, Kurt Warner, to retirement and isn’t projected to perform as well on the field. San Diego, while fielding a competitive team, also offers fans a myriad of other activities along the Southern California coast.

“Some to the more challenging markets have been these good-weather markets,” sports business analyst Marc Ganis said. “There are so many alternate things to do on weekends.”

Poor performance is also a factor. The Detroit Lions have had nine blackouts over the last two seasons while winning a total of two games. The Kansas City Chiefs, in the midst of a 10-38 three-year stretch, had their first blackout since 1990 last year.

Some of the blackout-susceptible teams lack the established base built over decades in cities such as Pittsburgh and Chicago. In places such as Jacksonville and Arizona, where the population has swelled in recent decades, fans can be fickle with their support.

“That does not allow the roots of the teams to have taken hold as they have in other markets where teams have been for multiple generations,” Ganis said.

But all teams are taking note of the potential problems concerning attendance, even as the league projects a drop-off in ticket sales for the third consecutive year.

As the technology for watching games at home has exploded with the advent of HD television and mobile content, Goodell has prioritized teams finding new innovations to lure fans out to the stadiums.

The Baltimore Ravens have sold out every game since moving from Cleveland in 1996, but team President Dick Cass said he doesn’t expect fans would continue that streak merely out of loyalty.

“It doesn’t mean we’ll be sold out two or three years from now,” Cass said. “You have to work at that. It doesn’t happen by happenstance.”