NFL Blackouts a Black Eye as Season Ends

While all NFL games will air Sunday, a six-year-high of 23 blackouts this season raises questions as a lockout looms.
By Jason Notte ,

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- The NFL won't have a single home-market television blackout going into its last week of regular-season play, but the 26 blackouts that preceded Week 17 can't be shrugged off.

Those 26 blackouts eclipsed last year's 22 and are the most the NFL has had since it hit 30 in 2004. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went an entire season without showing a home game in their own market. For perspective, the team -- owned by billionaire and Manchester United owner Malcom Glazer and still contending for a wild card spot in the playoffs -- had the NFL fining Tampa bars for streaming games from the Internet and busloads of fans traveling more than 100 miles to Fort Myers to watch games. There were times this season, especially during games against the defending champion New Orleans Saints, the division-leading Atlanta Falcons and the Pittsburgh Steelers that this organization was almost willing fans away from

Raymond James

(RJF) - Get Report

Stadium.

Thanks to NFL blackout rules, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went this entire season without getting a home game on TV in their own market.

The situation was no better at Oakland Coliseum, where -- despite huge improvements on offense and a return to contention in the AFC West -- the Raiders failed to sell out seven of their eight home games for the second season in a row. Yet these two teams, which combined for 63% of NFL blackouts this year, aren't what should worry the league.

The Buffalo Bills, who have underperformed for nearly a decade, experienced their first three blackouts since 2006 and would have had another if Russell Salvatore, owner of Buffalo, N.Y., eatery

Russell's Steak, Chops & More

, hadn't stepped in and bought the 7,000 remaining tickets for the Bills' matchup with the New England Patriots last week. Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Bengals experienced their first blackouts since 2003 as their core of coach Marvin Lewis, quarterback Carson Palmer and wide receiver and reality television personality Chad Ochocinco declined while steering the team to a 4-11 record heading into Week 17.

With an NFL collective bargaining agreement expiring and a potential lockout looming, shrinking attendance in markets such as Buffalo and Cincinnati, a total lack of sellouts in Tampa and Oakland and shaky sales in San Diego and Detroit -- which also experienced blackouts this year -- could present larger problems ahead. The Wall Street Journal pointed out two months ago that the NFL stands to lose $1 billion in season-ticket renewals, training camp attendance and preseason-game attendance even if next year's regular season is saved.

If it isn't, CBS, NBC and

Disney's

(DIS) - Get Report

ABC stand to lose $3 billion in ad revenue from sponsors such as

Pepsi

(PEP) - Get Report

,

Anheuser-Busch InBev

(BUD) - Get Report

and

Papa John's

(PZZA) - Get Report

, while the $5 billion fantasy football industry will dry up altogether.

More importantly, however, a lockout combined with persistent blackouts could cost the NFL an entire generation of fans who don't see their favorite players on TV, don't wear their

Reebok

jerseys and don't play them in

EA's

( ERTS)

Madden NFL '12

-- a problem the league is more than aware of.

Back in October, the NFL's chief marketing officer, Mark Waller, formed a nine-team committee of executives from the Raiders, Buccaneers, Steelers, Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots and New York Jets to address ticketing issues, fan apathy and the decline of the live-game experience in general.

With any luck, someone will listen when Jacksonville's representatives talk about how they went from seven of eight home-game blackouts last year to a full slate of sellouts this year.

The NFL has battled through its blackouts this year, with TV viewership up 8% from last year and more than 20% since 2008. This year's more than 10% blackout rate should serve as a reminder to the league, though -- especially when it comes time to decide whether to lock out players and cancel games -- that fans and consumers who support you one year may not be there the next.

-- Written by Jason Notte in Boston.

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Jason Notte is a reporter for TheStreet.com. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Esquire.com, Time Out New York, the Boston Herald, The Boston Phoenix, Metro newspaper and the Colorado Springs Independent.

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