The NFL’s blackout rule may be playing a role in the league’s attendance being down this season, but television ratings have increased thus far.
The NFL has received a lot of criticism for their blackout rule in which a game cannot be televised locally if not sold out within 72 hours of kickoff.
The rule is designed to motivate fans to attend the games with the threat they may not be able to watch it on television.
But the blackout rule doesn’t take into account the poor economy, and fans haven’t shown a willingness to spend the money to attend games like they did prior to the economic meltdown.
Through nine weeks of the 2010 season, the NFL has already had 13 blackouts and is on pace to have 25 games not broadcast in local markets.
That would surpass last season’s total of 22 and is up considerably from 2007 when the NFL had only 10 blackouts and set an attendance record with over 17.5 million fans.
Whether the league’s blackout rule or the economy has been the determining factor in this season’s attendance drop isn’t clear, but the fact is attendance at NFL games are down for the fourth straight year.
In 2007, 15 of the NFL’s 32 teams were at 100 percent capacity or higher for the season. This year, only nine teams are at 100 percent capacity at the midway through the season.
While the league’s attendance figures haven’t been good, the NFL’s television ratings have shown improvement.
Through the first nine weeks, this is the most-watched season ever.
More than 175 million fans have seen part of a game during the 2010 season, up five million from a year ago.
NFL games have accounted for the 14 most-watched programs on television since the NFL season kicked off on September 9.
This compares to NFL games accounting for the six most-watched shows at this point last season and none of the top 15 shows five years ago.
