Talk about contrast in the AFC West. The New Arrowhead Stadium was blowing up both literally and figuratively on Monday Night while San Diego Charger and Oakland Raiders fans in their respective areas won't be able to watch their teams play because of NFL blackout rules. Neither team was able to sell the required number of tickets to allow the game to be shown television.
Last NFL season, 22 games were forced off the air in local markets because of NFL TV blackout rules. That's a five year high.
What makes this NFL Week 2 TV blackout even worse for those teams is that this week is each franchise's 2010 home opener. Can you imagine not selling out your home opener? Even one of those BS sellouts where like half of the fans actually attend. They couldn't even pull that off.
To be fair, the Kansas City Chiefs did have a blackout at the end of last season, their first in nearly nineteen years.
In case you were wondering, here's how the NFL blackout rules work:
- If a team doesn't sellout their game within 72 hours of kickoff (Generally Thursday for Sunday games), no TV station whose signal broadcasts within 75 miles of the NFL stadium cannot show the game;
- The NFL's definition of a sellout isn't that every single ticket is sold. A team has to get to around 95% of tickets sold and the league will call it even.
- If a team is close to selling out, they can request an extension from the NFL front office;
- Radio broadcasts are still allowed to go on as scheduled;
If you're wondering what games on are in your area this weekend, make sure you check out the NFL TV Maps at the506.com.