Blackout in Atlanta?

The Wirtz family in Chicago helped create the current irrelevancy of the NHL Blackhawks by refusing for decades to telecast home games, even through long string of sellouts. NFL doesn't have that sort of problem now, but some kid who can't watch a game or three now is a future businessman not buying season tickets.

 

I've always said the NFL should only require each team to sell a set amount of tickets, that set amount being the average number across the league. That is to say add up all the seating capacities and divide by 32. You hit that number in ticket sales, you're not blacked out. Because let's face it, all the stadiums are different in terms of capacity.

 

Does that mean they can watch a good game instead?

 

I thought this thread was about all of Michael Vick's fans leaving Atlanta

 

Forecast for Sunday is 66 degrees and sunny. Something tells me most of Atlanta will be doing other things Sunday afternoon whether this game is televised or not.

 

Perfect weather to take your dog to the park, or a fight.

 

That number of tickets should be zero. Local blackouts have no place in the modern world where network TV money provides more money per team than the salary cap. The rare team that can't sell out can just lower prices if they are interested in doing so.

 

I was a little curious when the Falcons bought ad space in our paper to sell tickets. It all makes sense now.

As a Falcons fan, I kind of appreciated that off week last Sunday. A blackout would be like an extended vacation. Do I really want to watch this?

 

I thought Britney Spears was kicking off her long-awaited world tour.

 

When I was living in Atlanta, it was worst-case scenario when the Falcons sold out (save for the Super Bowl season). If they sold out, you had to watch them, rather than a game with legitimate intrigue.