Unbound Edition - The NFL Thinks It's Better Than You

I love watching baseball, whether it be from the nosebleeds, on the plasmas at a local bar or on my TV at home. I don’t subscribe to MLB.TV, where I could watch games on my LCD monitor, but I’m glad to know the option is available considering I don’t have cable.

When it comes to football, I’m more of a mediocre fan. I have come to understand the rules of the game and the meaning of penalties. I love the idea of tailgating and the rituals of going to football games. What I don’t understand is why the NFL continues to enforce its blackout policy.

In an age where content is everywhere, why can’t I watch a Rams home game on my simple television if it isn’t sold out?

I did a bit of research on Wikipedia and discovered that the blackout policy, which says a home game cannot be televised locally if the tickets are not sold out 72 hours prior to the game, was originally established in 1973. Prior to that, all games in the home team’s market were blacked out.

If the NFL wants to sell out games, I think they should lower ticket prices a bit and allow people to make a tradition out of it. Going to a few Cardinals games each year is a tradition for my family/friends and me because we can actually afford to do so. Last year I spent an exorbitant amount of money on two tickets to a Rams game as a gift for my boyfriend. We were two rows from the top of the dome. As much as he loves football, we just financially can’t afford to go to the games.

Don’t bother trying to find games on the Internet either. While the NBA and MLS have their own channels on YouTube, the NFL has been very restrictive of its content online. This season, in a first for the NFL, subscribers to DirectTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket ($269) can also sign up for the Superfan package ($99) and have the games streamed to their computers. But why would you pay extra to stream games that you already subscribe to on your television?

Additionally, how are people supposed to develop a connection with the home team and its players if they can’t watch the team play? The NFL’s “you’re not rich enough to come to games so we’re not going to let you watch it” attitude doesn’t encourage me to buy tickets to the game – it angers me instead. The only plus side I see to this policy is the fact that organizations occasionally buy out the remaining tickets and give them away as charity.

I know the NFL is BIG business. Wikipedia has also informed me that CBS, NBC, FOX, ESPN, and the NFL Network pay a combined total of $3.1 billion per year to broadcast NFL games. Why then, is the NFL still sticking to a policy first created nearly 35 years ago?

Maybe this is only a problem here in St. Louis due to the shakiness of our team. Perhaps other markets don’t have to worry about blackouts. Even so, times have changed, and people expect to get content in any form they please.