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- Published on 03 October 2014
In this week's column, Bob explains what the FCC's elimination of its sports blackout rule Tuesday means for NFL fans.
By now, every NFL fan has heard that the Federal Communications Commission voted to Tuesday to eliminate the sports blackout rule it created in 1975 which helped ensure attendance by supporting a ban on telecasts of local games if enough tickets weren't sold in advance.
But what seems to be obscured is that the FCC's 5-0 decision was to kill its own set of rules, leaving the NFL to continue on with its own approach to blackouts (now minus the backing of the federal government).
So let's cut through the confusion, unclear news reports and general noise to determine what it means to NFL fans. I'm not a legal eagle, legislator or NFL policy maker, so bear with me. I'm a fan of America's game, just like you.