What is a blackout?

I see people talking about it on these boards, and in the media and I don't understand what it is.

So could somebody please explain to me what a blackout is in NFL terms? Thank you!

In the US if the local NFL team doesn't sell a certain amount of tickets, usually 80% capacity or above, by a certain date then the game will be blacked out to everyone in the catchment area. It basically means you can't watch it on TV if the stadium isn't full.

For us UK folk the only blackouts we experience are the ones on the 6pm and 9pm Sky games on Gamepass.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_(broadcasting)#NFL_blackout_policy

In the NFL, any broadcaster that has a signal that hits any area within a 75 miles (121 km) radius of an NFL stadium may only broadcast a game if that game is a road game, or if the game sells out 72 hours or more before the start time for the game.[7] If sold out in less than 72 hours, or is close to being sold out by the deadline, the team can sometimes request a time extension. Furthermore, broadcasters with NFL contracts are required to show their markets' road games, even if the secondary markets have substantial fanbases for other teams (like in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, officially a Baltimore Ravens secondary market, but home to a lot of Pittsburgh Steelers fans). Sometimes if a game is within a few hundred tickets of selling out, a broadcaster with rights to show the nearly sold out game will buy the remaining tickets (and give them to local charities) so it can broadcast the game. Other teams elect to close off sections of their stadium, but cannot sell these tickets for any game that season if they choose to do so.[8] As a result, if the home team's game is a Sunday day game both networks can air only one game each in that market. (Until 2001, this rule applied whether or not the game was blacked out, however, this was changed because some markets virtually never aired doubleheaders as a result.) Usually, but not always, when each network can show only one game each in a market, the two stations work out between themselves which will show an early game and which will show a late game. This only affects the primary market, and not markets in a 75-mile (121 km) radius, which always get a doubleheader each Sunday.

There are two exceptions to the rule. The first is for the Green Bay Packers, which have two overlapping 75-mile blackout zones—one surrounding the team's stadium in Green Bay and another surrounding Milwaukee. The team's radio flagship station is in Milwaukee, and the Packers played part of their home schedule in Milwaukee from 1953 through 1994. However, this policy has never been implemented in the Packers' case, as they have sold out every home game in Green Bay since 1960 and have a decades-long season-ticket waiting list (games in Milwaukee also sold out during this period). The second exception is for the Bills Toronto Series; by a technicality, Rogers Communications (the team's lessee) owns all tickets to those games and resells them to potential fans. Thus, even if the games do not sell out, it is still technically a sellout (since Rogers is said to have bought the tickets) and the games are televised. This rule has come into play for both Toronto Series preseason games.[9][10]

The NFL blackout is considered to be detrimental to financially struggling teams. For instance, most notably, the Los Angeles Rams were unable to sell-out their home games during their last years in that city (a notable exception being the 1994 game against then-crosstown rivals the Raiders). So a blackout further robbed the franchise of potential revenue and alienated remaining fans. The Rams relocated to St. Louis before the 1995 season (the Raiders also left LA, going back to their original home in Oakland).

For other games, no station within the 75-mile (121 km) radius of an NFL stadium may broadcast a game unless it has an affiliation deal with one of the local teams involved. One instance of the practice of this rule was over Hartford, Connecticut CBS affiliate WFSB trying to air a New England Patriots-New York Giants game for December 29, 2007, which would be carried only on the NFL's cable network NFL Network that at the time was available only on a sports channel package of Comcast Cable in the immediate viewing areas of the Patriots and Giants.[11]

On December 12, 2007, Broadcasting & Cable reported that Senator John Kerry and Rep. Ed Markey, both of the state of Massachusetts and fans of the New England Patriots team, wrote to the NFL as well as Comcast Cable and Time Warner Cable to request that the Patriots-Giants game be aired at least on basic cable in order to reach the highest possible number of television-viewing fans, as at the time the Patriots were undefeated, and Kerry and Markey viewed the game as "potentially historic", according to John Eggerton of B&C.[12] Kerry clarified the next week that he did not intend to interrupt current negotiations between the cable operators and NFL.[13] On December 19, 2007, representative Joe Courtney (D-CT) and other members of the Connecticut Congressional Delegation wrote to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to try to have the NFL allow wider broadcast access to the game.[11] Consequently, on December 26, the NFL approved the game to be simulcast from NFL Network to both the CBS and NBC networks, along with WCVB in the Boston market and WWOR-TV in the New York City market.[14]

In June 2012, NFL blackout regulations were revised in which, for the first time in NFL history, home games will no longer require a total sellout to be televised locally; instead, teams will be allowed to set a benchmark anywhere from 85 to 100 percent of the stadium's non-premium seats. Any seats sold beyond that benchmark will be subject to heavier revenue sharing.[15] However, four teams, the Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns, the Indianapolis Colts and the San Diego Chargers, have opted out of the new rules, as it would require the teams to pay a higher percentage of gate fees to the NFL's revenue fund.[16]

So it doesn't affect non gamepass users then? Does it affect Sky's, C4 or BBC coverage at all?

The only people on the planet outside the US who this affects is me and my fellow UK Gamepass users twice a week on Sundays.

And what does it mean for you? That you cant watch the game that has been blacked out?

If its a US blackout then it only effects the Yanks in that area. UK blackout just means the 2 games shown on Sky each week are not available on Gamepass for UK users till 24 hours after the game

Interestingly enough, I don't think the blackout rule (US version) applies over here when those situations arise. Last year, the International Series game was not sold out for the first time - there were no blackouts within 75 miles of Wembley. Does Wembley Stadium operate the same sort of deal as Toronto does, i.e. buy up all the tickets from the NFL and then sell them directly to the fans?

Just something that really piqued my curiosity.

International Series games would be exempt

I suppose NFLUK and Wembley buy all the tickets from the NFL.