NFL Blackout Rule Is Not So Dark

 

By Jeff Simpson

The NFL Blackout policy states that you have to sell out your stadium 72 hours before the game or the game will not be shown locally on TV.

 In the NFL, any broadcaster that has a signal that hits any area within a 75 miles (121 km) radius of an NFL stadium may only broadcast a game if that game is a road game (also known as an away game), or if the game sells out 72 hours or more before the start time for the game.^[12][13] If sold out in less than 72 hours, or is close to being sold out by the deadline, the team can sometimes request a time extension. Furthermore, broadcasters with NFL contracts are required to show their markets' road games, even if the secondary markets have substantial fanbases for other teams (like in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, officially a Baltimore Ravens secondary market, but home to many Pittsburgh Steelers fans). Sometimes if a game is within a few hundred tickets of selling out, a broadcaster with rights to show the nearly sold out game will buy the remaining tickets (and give them to local charities) so it can broadcast the game. Other teams elect to close off sections of their stadium, but cannot sell these tickets for any game that season if they choose to do so.^[14] As a result, if the home team's game is a Sunday day game, both networks can air only one game each in that market (until 2001, this rule applied whether or not the game was blacked out, however, this was changed because some markets virtually never aired doubleheaders as a result). Usually, but not always, when each network can show only one game each in a market, the two stations work out between themselves which will show an early game and which will show a late game. This only affects the primary market, and not markets in a 75-mile (121 km) radius, which always get a doubleheader each Sunday.

Unless of course you do not sell out then there will be exceptions to the rule:

With significant progress made in selling the initial 40,000 tickets available, the Packers have received an extension from the NFL on the TV blackout deadline. The current deadline to sell all non-premium tickets and lift the blackout is now Friday, Jan. 3, at 4 p.m. CST.
Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster, either online or in person at Ticketmaster outlets. No phone orders will be transacted. No limit exists on the number of tickets that can be purchased. Those purchasing tickets online will be required to use Ticketmaster’s “print at home” feature to obtain their tickets.
Prices, set by the NFL, range from $102 to $125, depending on location.

 So NO exceptions to the rule, unless of course your not putting money directly in the owners pockets.

 Browner’s suspension is a more complicated story than is typical. When he first came into the league in 2005, he failed a drug test while in the Denver Broncos’ employ. The Broncos released him in 2006. After that, according to a source familiar with the situation, Browner ran low on money and was sleeping on friends’ couches to stay solvent while he waited for another shot at pro football. He was automatically placed in Stage 3 of the program because he missed multiple notifications for drug tests when his cell phone service apparently lapsed.

There will not even be any leeway if  you are a player and want to wear a pair of shoes that commemorates a charity that is near and dear to you.

 LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall says he has been fined $10,500 by the NFL for wearing green football shoes in the Oct. 10 game against the New York Giants.
Marshall had said before last Thursday's game he was wearing the shoes to attract attention to Mental Health Awareness Week. Marshall has been treated for a personality disorder in the past.
Marshall posted the league letter informing him of the fine on Twitter and wrote: "Football is my platform not my purpose. This fine is nothing compared to the conversation started & awareness raised."
Marshall said he had planned to match any fine with a donation to his foundation, which supports mental health awareness. He said he also plans to auction off the shoes and donate the proceeds to charity.
 

Time for the NFL to Pay The Refs!

Each week brings horrendous results in terms of NFL SCAB referees, blowing calls on a regular basis.   It is time for the NFL to bring the real referees back and collectively bargain and settle on a new contract..  The Multi billion dollar league surely has the money to pay the professional referees.  

As Tim Millis, the  head of the Referees union points out, the sticking points are salary and benefits!

Do What’s Right and Fair — For the Game and its Officials

The 2012 season of the National Football League (NFL), the most popular sport in America, is under way. The NFL consists of an ideal in which the best athletes compete against each other in packed stadiums, while millions of viewers watch on television. The television networks and their sponsors advertise products to this audience that remains captivated by the raw power and speed of the athletes on the field.

Maintaining the integrity and competitive balance of each game within a three-hour time frame is the job of 121 highly skilled professional officials.

At least that is how the game is supposed to work. And in general, it did, until this season, when the League locked out the very professionals responsible for working quietly, and behind the scenes, to keep the game pure, the athlete’s safe, and the competition fair.

These professional game officials — noted until this season by the NFL as being “the best in sports,” have spent years honing their skills, just like the athletes starring on the field. They have always taken great pride in their behind-the-scenes role of ensuring that each game is played fairly and within the rules.

What are the issues that have led to the current distraction of this lockout, during which on-field officiating has pulled our focus away from the game and the outstanding athletes? The issues go far beyond what the NFL has claimed to be the sticking points in our negotiations — salary and benefits. At issue is the very continuation of the time-honored NFL tradition of doing what is right and fair.

Both the League and the NFLRA have negotiated many prior collective bargaining agreements. Only one previous situation resulted in a two-week lockout during the 2001 season. So what is different this time around? Certainly, not lost revenues potential. The League is enjoying unequaled popularity and its growing annual revenues exceed $9 billion per year.

The two sides have narrowed the gap on overall compensation. It is a gap that could be closed with some minor concessions by both sides. However, the parties remain far apart on another key issue, and that issue is the retirement benefit for officials.

Every current NFL official was hired by the NFL with the promise of a defined-benefit pension package. All of these officials and their families have made important life-planning decisions based on this benefit promise. The NFL now wants to break the promise by eliminating that benefit; instead, turning to an inferior defined-contribution plan. I call that plan inferior because the League’s offer would reduce their funding obligation for the plan by some 60%, and at the same time transfer long-term investment risk to the individuals (each official).

Why does the League want to do this? Is the League in financial distress? Does the League see its financial future as bleak? Not hardly. The League states that it desires to eliminate the defined-[benefit] plan because other American businesses are moving away from such plans to a defined-contribution type plan. However, 18 of the League’s member clubs continue to retain their defined-benefit plans for their employees.

The NFLRA has remained willing to compromise in order to achieve a workable new contract. We made a substantial concession in our effort to resolve our differences with the League when we proposed to “grandfather” the defined-benefit pension plan. Under the proposed grandfather plan, the defined-benefit plan would continue only for current officials, and new-hires would come into the League under a defined-contribution pension plan. Is this not a fair and reasonable compromise?

Earlier this year larger employers such as Con Edison, Caterpillar and Lockheed Martin all resolved their defined-benefit pension issue by agreeing to the grandfather compromise for their existing employees. Federal mediators in the current NFL-NFLRA dispute have indicated that the “grandfather” compromise resolves 90% of all such pension disputes. Yet, the NFL has categorically rejected our grandfather proposal.

The NFL requires that its officials impartially and fairly enforce the rules of professional football to ensure fair competition on the field. All the NFLRA asks is for the NFL to provide us the same type of fair treatment.

The goal for both sides must be to get back to the bargaining table immediately. We need to reach a fair and equitable agreement before damage is done to the integrity of the game we all love. 

 Everyone notices, and finally someone spoke up!