Jaguars Again NFL's Lone Blackout
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Despite a still-struggling economy and a league that's unusually top-heavy this season, the NFL continues to -- somehow, some way -- sellout the majority of its games.
With the news Friday afternoon that Cincinnati had sold enough tickets its matchup with Baltimore to air on local TV, that left the floundering Jaguars as the only team blacked out for Week 9. It's the fourth time in four home games that Jacksonville has failed (by a large margin) to reach a sellout, and the third week this season that every home team but the Jaguars has avoided a local TV blackout.
Rather remarkably, only three teams thus far -- Jacksonville, Detroit and Oakland -- have been blacked out.
That's not to say that some teams haven't been close.
This was the third of five home dates in 2009 that Cincinnati has needed an extension to get potential blackouts lifted. The Bengals narrowly avoided that fate for its Week 1 game against Denver, then dodged the bullet again on Oct. 18 against Houston.
The Bengals were given an extension to sell out for the season opener against the Denver Broncos as well as the October 18 tilt against the Houston Texans. Cincinnati has now sold out 49 consecutive games -- the longest streak in franchise history -- dating back to Nov. 9, 2003.
San Diego's sidestepped blackouts on multiple occasions this season, as have the Buccaneers, Rams and Cardinals.
But it's likely more cases like the Jags are on the way -- many of the teams already scrambling to unload tickets are far from the playoff chase, almost guaranteeing that attendance will drop at some venues. Detroit has already had two games blacked out, and aside from its annual Thanksgiving Day appearance, will probably fall short of a sellout for the rest of 2009 -- against the Rams last week, Ford Field was filled to about half-capacity. Oakland, too, has had multiple blackouts (3), and with a 2-6 record plus ongoing internal strife, seem a prime candidate to fall short of sellouts from here out.
St. Louis, Cleveland, Tennessee, Washington, and Carolina might also run into issues before the end of the season as well.
But it's just the Jacksonville area -- again -- that will live without the NFL for a bit this Sunday.