Fans urge FCC to end sports blackout rule

Coalitions representing sports fans filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission on Friday, asking the agency to end its sports blackout rule.

The rule, adopted in 1975, permits sports leagues to block local broadcasts of games when they do not sell out.

“It is absurd that the government still props up the sports leagues with an outdated and unnecessary rule written four decades ago,” Sports Fans Coalition Executive Director Brian Frederick said. “The FCC’s blackout rule simply helps to perpetuate the anti-consumer practice of withholding sporting events from fans who cannot afford tickets to games, even when those fans helped to subsidize sports through public funding, laws, and regulations."

 Consumer groups Public Knowledge, Media Access Project and the National Consumer League joined the Sports Fans Coalition and the League of Fans in requesting the rule change.

In a press release, the Sports Fans Coalition said the football game between Tampa Bay Buccaneers game and the Houston Texans on Sunday will be blacked out in Tampa Bay because the stadium did not sell out. The game will be the eighth NFL blackout this season, the group noted. 

"The policy has been successful in striking a balance between encouraging fans to attend games and allowing the games to continue to be broadcast on free television," said Dan Masonson, an NFL spokesman. "The NFL is the only sports league that broadcasts all of its regular-season and playoff games on free television."

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