Hey guys, whats a tv blackout?

[DB15]

Ive always read about them, I just have no idea what it really is.... anyone?


thanks much

 

[smg93]

A TV blackout is imposed during a game that isn't sold out. If for instance the Pats did not sell out Gillette on a particular game, that game would not be shown on TV live, to encourage fans to come out and watch the game (and obviously so the team can sell more tickets). Fortunately for you, the Pats haven't had a game blacked out in a long long while especially after Kraft took over the team.

The games have all been sold out for quite a while now so there hasn't been a need to black out any games. That of course was not the scenario all the time. I do remember a time when the pats just stunk as a team and games were blacked out all the time because there weren't enough fans in the stadium.

 

[PatsRI]

Ah how times have changed since the bad old days of the Kiam Pats. A blackout is when a home team does not sell out a game(usually it doesn't have to be 100% of capacity but a number close). When the game is not sold out the local TV market is blacked out meaning it is not carried in that local market. Until Kraft bought the team here blackouts were a way of life unless the Pats were on a run like in '85. Sometimes when enough tickets were sold a corporation like Fleet would by a thousand or two just to make sure a meaningful game was on TV in New England.

 

[DB15]

hey guys thanks alot for the fast and early reply, its 630am here ahhhaha, im sure its later where you folks are


that makes sence to me then, so does that mean a team like miami and arzonia often have had game just not on tv due to ****ty attendance..... that really sucks...


thanks again

 

[sarge]

Ive always read about them, I just have no idea what it really is.... anyone?


thanks much

It's what us Pats fans who have been following the team since the 70's used to call home games.

Has there been a TV Blackout since Bledsoe and the Tuna came around?

 

[QuickOutGo]

Ive always read about them, I just have no idea what it really is.... anyone?


thanks much

DB15, you just made me feel really old.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I think all of us who attended games at Sullivan Stadium, during the TV blackout years of Rod Rust and Richard McPhearson should get medals

THAT'S being a REAL fan!

 

[marty]

I think all of us who attended games at Sullivan Stadium, during the TV blackout years of Rod Rust and Richard McPhearson should get medals

THAT'S being a REAL fan!

:singing: Yes! I think blackout badges should be worn by all of us that suffered through those early years!

 

[zoostation]

I think all of us who attended games at Sullivan Stadium, during the TV blackout years of Rod Rust and Richard McPhearson should get medals

THAT'S being a REAL fan!

Include me in the award ceremony. I rememeber when the boston news channels would announce the number of tix left to encourage people to buy them before the Thursday night cutoff. Especially if that channel was carrying the game. In lots of cases the team would also want the game on tv even if it wasn't sold out 100% as it created more interest. I remember the league being somewhat flexible with this as a previous poster says. ussually 85-90% full would get them to remove the dreaded black-out. You young dudes are SO lucky, but I'm a hardcore fan because of all of that.

 

[zoostation]

:singing: Yes! I think blackout badges should be worn by all of us that suffered through those early years!

That's not a bad idea. It could be a black armband. "Official Authentic Patriots Black-Out fan" could be stitched into the band.

 

[Aldogg]

Oh man, the good old blackout days of listening on radio, watching another game on the tube and turning the radio down when they would show a clip from the Pats game (even though in those times, it wasn't too often we had a good highlight.) These youngens don't know how good they got it now, since there hasn't been a blackout in almost a decade.

I think the highlight of some of those years was taping the road games and keeping them on tape if we won, so we could always have a win to watch during the week. The infamous Rust 1-15 year with the win over Indy at Indy me and my dad had to watch 20 times that year.

 

[taltos]

How about those of us who go back to Fenway Park and other pre-Foxboro stadia and remember when a sell-out would not override a blackout because that was the law? Do we get really old blackout arm bands?

 

[AzPatsFan]

One of the reasons, I and many other early Patriots fans DETESTED the Neuw YawK futball Jints of New Josiey was that they were on TV in Boston every week and every preseason game too, for years, while the Patriots were blacked out.

Imagine. It was as if the New york Yankees were broadcast into Boston for EVERY game. Then of course were those arrogant Giants "football fans" who had never bothered to go to a real game; just sat in front of the TV and said the Pats should move out like the Boston Redskins, and Boston Yanks, while they spent the entire season watching Joe DonLooney and Homer whazisname run around, and compile a stellar 2-12 season record. :bricks:

And then of course there was Willie McDonut, the Heda Hopper of Sport reporting running around and blowing the Gaints players and Coaches while disparaging the Patriots at every opportunity, hoping to get a job in NY.

 

[Murphys95]

Ah how times have changed since the bad old days of the Kiam Pats. A blackout is when a home team does not sell out a game(usually it doesn't have to be 100% of capacity but a number close). When the game is not sold out the local TV market is blacked out meaning it is not carried in that local market. Until Kraft bought the team here blackouts were a way of life unless the Pats were on a run like in '85. Sometimes when enough tickets were sold a corporation like Fleet would by a thousand or two just to make sure a meaningful game was on TV in New England.

Spot on, Bank of Boston used to buy out the remaining seats and avoid a blackout. Times certainly have changed, the Pats couldn't even sell out their opener in 1986, coming off a Super Bowl appearance.

Bandwagon is huuuuge now.

 

[DB15]

DB15, you just made me feel really old.

haha sorry man

 

[shirtsleeve]

Get me one of those arm bands, too. I remember going down to Shaeffer(sp?) Stadium, buying end zone tix, then sitting in the first row of the 200 series seats between the 40's after kickoff. Maybe 20,000 people there, maybe. Urinating in the sinks, because the toilets didn't work was also a...um...fond memory. Cold bleachers, cheap watery beer and lousy food all bring back fond memories.

 

[Pats726]

Yes...I remember in the mid 70s..a rarity for a home game on the tube..I think they used to show most of the game on a weekday..sort od capsulized. And before that?? As pointed ot..teh New York Football GIANTS!!! Sam Hiff the most overated layer that has ever played football..Maybesome think of Seau as overated..NOTHING compared to Huff..He was said to have made tackles when he wasn't on the field..Chris Schenkel..and all the time I think of Summerall.. What a bunch of over rated stiiffs!! I HATED them!! The Pats got the shaft all the time..hardly ever on TV at home..not even ANY blackouts..no contract. The away ga,es were on..maybe. The good old AFL days..

 

[hallfamebrady]

The last time a home Pats game was not aired on local TV was December 26, 1993 against Indy. They gained 257 yards on 58 carries against the Indianapolis Colts in a 38-0 victory. (Note: the Pats rushing totals last week (238 yards) was the best since this game.)

I recall watching this game at my parents house in northern MA. We would disconnect cable and point the antenna towards Portland ME to watch any game not on in the Boston market. We had lots of interference but it filled our need for Patriots football. The blackout rules only impact stations within a 75 mile radius of the stadium. It was freezing cold and they dominated every aspect of the game. Leonard Russell had 100 yards rushing in the first half alone.

The Pats sold out the next week against Miami. Many people thought this would be the last game in New England since Orthwein was threatening to move the team to St Louis. We won in overtime on a Bledsoe - Timpson hook up. The Pats win knocked the Fins out of the playoffs.

It would be announced a couple of weeks later that Bob Kraft won the bidding to buy the Pats. They immediately sold out on a season ticket basis. From this point on, the Pats have sold out every game.

 

[Patti37]

Oh man, the good old blackout days of listening on radio, watching another game on the tube and turning the radio down when they would show a clip from the Pats game (even though in those times, it wasn't too often we had a good highlight.) These youngens don't know how good they got it now, since there hasn't been a blackout in almost a decade.

I think the highlight of some of those years was taping the road games and keeping them on tape if we won, so we could always have a win to watch during the week. The infamous Rust 1-15 year with the win over Indy at Indy me and my dad had to watch 20 times that year.

Or you would travel outside the black out zone to watch the game in a bar.

Those were desparate times.

 

[fgssand]

How about those of us who go back to Fenway Park and other pre-Foxboro stadia and remember when a sell-out would not override a blackout because that was the law? Do we get really old blackout arm bands?

BU Field>Harvard>Fenway>BC>Schaeffer>Sullivan>Foxboro>Gillette

I am not sure of the actual order even though I have seen the Patriots play at all of them. I know i did not miss any, except the one "home game" in Alabama!

Arm bands..nah....we should get red badges of courage, here were some very lean years and horrible teams back then.

Enjoy what we have right now for this stretch is as good as it will ever get and I cannot imagine life after this great run is done. Fret not though, I think we are only in the middle of this thing with at least two more rings to follow with this current regime.