There has been lots of discussion recently on the NFL television blackout policy that prohibits televising home games in the home market unless the game sells out 72 hours prior to kickoff.

Some, including Richard Sandomir of The New York Times, have suggested that in this time of economic crisis, when it appears that the number of sellouts will drop, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should end or suspend the blackout policy.

This is a reasonable sentiment, although one might question if offering more blood and circuses offers a viable solution to America’s economic problems, or if it suggests that the NFL should serve as one more version of the opium of the masses.

Rather than simply offering a temporary respite for the unemployed, now might be a good time to look at the history of the blackout, with a view toward ending this economic privilege enjoyed by the NFL by virtue of a combination of court decisions and legislation.

The relationship between the NFL and television goes back to the early days of television following World War II. A number of teams developed their own television arrangements, and some even had their own regional networks. These spotty operations came and went with uneven results.

The first major experiment with television came in Los Angeles, where the Rams allowed local television to broadcast all of its 1950 home games. Game sponsor Admiral Television agreed to make up any losses in home ticket sales. When attendance dropped by 110,000 from the previous year, Admiral had to produce $307,000. The following year, the Rams televised road games only; as a result, home attendance bounced back to 1949 levels.

With this graphic negative demonstration of the power of television, Commissioner Bert Bell moved in 1952 to centralize control of television contracts — televising games on a regional basis, while instituting a blackout of all home games within 75 miles of the team city. The Justice Department moved immediately to challenge the NFL’s actions. However, in 1953, a federal district judge ruled that the NFL constituted a “unique kind of business,” in which classic economic competition would destroy that business. The court upheld the blackout policy of home games and the territorial blackout which made the regional network solution possible.

At the beginning of the 1960s, under the leadership of the new commissioner, Pete Rozelle, the NFL, rather than individual teams, signed an exclusive TV contract with CBS. The court ruled that the pooling of contracts was an anti-trust violation. With a loss in the courts, the NFL turned to the executive and legislative branches for relief. With the strong support of the Kennedy White House and Congress, the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 was passed, authorizing home game blackouts as well as a league-wide television contract. This triumph of the NFL cartel led to even stronger advocacy of the free enterprise system by NFL owners.

This is where the policy stood through the 1960s and the years of warfare with the AFL, which, as a matter of interest, did not have a blackout rule on its telecasts. With the growing popularity of professional football, the merger of the two leagues, and the coming of the Super Bowl, the blackout would again become an issue. Repeated NFL game sellouts led to frustration for home fans who had to travel 75 miles to see their home team play at home — on a television away from home.

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