January 31, 2012

National Association of Broadcasters
1711 N St. NW
Washington, DC 20036

Dear Members of the National Association of Broadcasters,

Your organization finally weighed in on the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to review its 36-year-old Sports Blackout Rule after a petition from Sports Fans Coalition and other public interest groups – and you didn’t pull any punches. In an article in AdWeek, NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton called our petition a “charade” and attacked our corporate contributors, which we’re used to by now. It seems the more effective we become at speaking up for fans, the more our opponents try to marginalize us. We’ve repeatedly said – and shown – that our corporate contributors have no say over our agenda and we’re grateful for their support. When you’re a small nonprofit taking on some of the most powerful interests in America, it helps to have some big dogs in your corner!

But to the issue at hand – blackouts. Can we both agree that blackouts are bad for broadcasters? When games aren’t shown in the local markets, advertisements don’t run and local broadcasters lose money. This is why local broadcasters – your members – to step in and buy up large blocks of tickets, as WFOR-CBS repeatedly did in Miami this past season. Further, blackouts decrease overall interest in the local team, meaning lower ratings and making it more likely that games will be blacked out in the future. We agree with FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell that “taking a fresh look at this 36-year-old rule could be constructive.”

So rather than address the issue of the NFL’s blackout policy head on, NAB is trying to change the subject. “If you want to hasten the migration of marquee sports to pay TV, this is the petition for you,” Wharton told AdWeek. “At least the NFL is the one sports league that keeps marquee games on over-the-air TV.”

First and foremost, we’re very concerned about the migration of sports to pay TV as well. For fans, this trend means higher costs and less access to sports programming. We believe that professional sports leagues benefitting from federal policies like the Sports Blackout Rule and the Sports Broadcasting Act, not to mention local taxpayer subsidies for stadium construction and transportation, should be required to hold up their end of this bargain. Leagues should, among other things, ensure that a minimum number of games are made available on free, over-the-air broadcast television or, in the alternative, they should give up some of their public subsidies.

Second, why the worry? CBS, NBC and FOX just signed nine-year deals with the NFL that will keep most of the games on broadcast television through 2022. (And they’re going to pay a boatload of money to do so.)

If you are concerned about the migration of sports away from broadcast television, perhaps you should start by talking to the NFL. What game could be more “marquee” than Monday Night Football, which is now shown on ESPN? In addition, as you know, the NFL is now airing some games on its NFL Network. While these games air on broadcast television in the local markets of the two teams that are playing, there’s no doubt there would be a much larger audience if the game were on broadcast television nationally. Moreover, the television contracts your members just signed with the NFL give the NFL Network even more games in the future.

Everybody – and I mean EVERYBODY – should be vocally opposed to NFL blackouts. The ONLY people who stand to gain from these archaic and unethical blackouts are NFL owners. And that’s only because they are apparently too short-sighted to see how counterproductive blackouts are to building up a large and loyal fan base.

We recognize that you are very close with the National Football League and that they deliver record ratings for you. We know that your organizations are both represented by the powerful law firm Covington & Burling. This should make it easier for you to put some pressure on the league behind the scenes to end its blackout rule on its own, which we all would prefer. There’s no reason to fear backlash – the networks are now locked in for nine more years and are committed to paying the league billions of dollars. How about sticking up for fans?

Sports Fans Coalition will continue to fight any and all blackouts, whether they are caused because of warring media companies or because of unethical league rules. As long as we all continue to subsidize professional sports, games should stay on the air. We hope the National Association of Broadcasters will join us in this fight.

Sincerely,

Brian Frederick

Brian Frederick, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Sports Fans Coalition
SportsFans.org

Yesterday, we received the following letter from Joyce in Buffalo. It speaks for itself. What say you, NFL?

Please, please change the blackout rules. I am a 75 year old female Buffalo Bills fan.  Bills games are really the only pleasure I have.  There is no way I could attend a game (physically) even if I could afford a ticket.  I really enjoy watching the games in the comfort of my own home.

Thank you for considering this issue.

Why do you want to see the end of blackouts? Tell the FCC here.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, responding to the retransmission consent dispute between DirecTV and SunBeam Television that may prevent 200,000 DirecTV subscribers in the Boston area from being able to see the Super Bowl, Sports Fans Coalition issued the following statement from Executive Director Brian Frederick:

“The Super Bowl needs to stay on the air, regardless of when and how the parties involved resolve their dispute. DirecTV and SunBeam will fumble away the good will of the public if their dispute leads to a Super Bowl blackout in Boston, especially with the New England Patriots playing in the game. Given the massive subsidization of the NFL by the public, it’s imperative that both sides at least agree to keep the biggest sporting event of the year on the air.”

In May, Sports Fans Coalition filed formal comments with the FCC asking the agency to waive the sports blackout rule during retransmission consent disputes takedowns. In November, SFC asked the FCC to end the blackout rule altogether. In January, the FCC agreed to review its 36-year-old sports blackout rule, which prohibits cable and satellite companies from carrying a game if a local broadcaster is prohibited from carrying the game because of sports league blackout rules. Fans can comment on blackouts to the FCC by visiting EndBlackouts.com.

Sports Fans Coalition is the largest nonprofit fan advocacy organization in the country. It was founded in 2009 in Washington, D.C., to give fans a voice on issues like media blackouts, ticket prices, stadium construction and college football playoffs.

Check out the website: EndBlackouts.com

Sports Fans Coalition, the largest nonprofit fan advocacy group in the country, today announced the creation of a Buffalo chapter and a new website, EndBlackouts.com, to fight blackouts. The Buffalo chapter will be headed by local businessman and former Buffalo Bills Media Relations staffer Matt Sabuda, whose first priority is to rally Bills fans to contact the FCC about its sports blackout rule.

“Buffalo fans now have the opportunity to be heard on blackouts and they have a great leader in Matt Sabuda,” Sports Fans Coalition Executive Director Brian Frederick said. “Matt understands the issues facing Bills and Sabres fans and is well-suited to tackle them. Our first call to Buffalo fans is to speak up to end unethical and counterproductive blackouts.”

Sports Fans Coalition recently petitioned the FCC to end its sports blackout rule, which prohibits cable and satellite companies from carrying a game if league rules prohibit local broadcasters from carrying the game. On January 12, the FCC responded to the petition, announcing it was seeking public comment on the elimination of its sports blackout rule until February 13.

“Fans in Buffalo know all too well how anti-fan blackouts can be,” Sabuda said. “Now it’s up to us to take advantage of this unique opportunity to be heard by the federal government. Sports Fans Coalition is actually helping give fans a seat at the table.”

The last three games of the 2011 were blacked out in Buffalo. Since 2000, 17 games have been blacked out. At the same time, the Bills ownership is asking the public for $100 million for stadium improvements.

“In addition fighting blackouts, the Buffalo chapter’s top priority is to ensure that Buffalo is the permanent home of the Bills,” Sabuda said.  We are working on several initiatives that could allow Bills fans a chance to have a tangible stake in the team’s future.”

Fans who would like to be heard on the issue of blackouts can go to www.endblackouts.com, a site created by Sports Fans Coalition to make it easier for fans to submit comments to the FCC.

Sports Fans Coalition was founded in 2009 by two former White House officials to give fans a voice on public policy issues. The group fights against high ticket prices, media blackouts and against the fleecing of local communities by sports team owners.

Blackouts have long frustrated sports fans, but never have they had a better chance to actually do something to end blackouts. Last week, the Federal Communications Commission took a major step that could have huge implications for sports fans around the country. The agency is asking for public comments on a petition filed by Sports Fans Coalition and other public interest groups asking for the FCC to eliminate its sports blackout rule, which has been on the books since the mid-1970s. In essence, the FCC is opening up a conversation about sports blackout rules.

Before proceeding, it’s important to draw a distinction between league blackout rules and the FCC’s blackout rule. Basically, professional sports leagues have their own blackout rules that determine what games local broadcasters can show. The most obvious example of league rules are the NFL’s policy that games have to be sold out within 72 hours of kickoff or the game will be blacked out in the local market. (The most convoluted example of league rules are those of Major League Baseball.)

The FCC’s blackout rule props up these league blackout rules by also prohibiting cable and satellite carriers from carrying a game if local broadcasters are prohibited from doing so. This is why a fan in Cincinnati who cannot see the game on local television still cannot see the game even if he has DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket, which is supposed to carry every NFL game.

The FCC’s rule was written nearly four decades ago, when the media landscape was far different and when leagues were far more dependent upon gate receipts. In comments Thursday, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell acknowledged these factors in a written statement:

Taking a fresh look at this 36-year-old rule could be constructive as we look for rules to streamline and modernize. Over almost four decades, the economics and structure of both the sports and communications industries have experienced dramatic evolutions. We now live in a world with not only local broadcast stations, but also cable, satellite, the Internet and wireless, and where television and merchandizing revenues exceed ticket sales. It is appropriate for us to re-examine the rule in light of marketplace changes.

Bingo.

McDowell is exactly right when he says that the “sports and communications industries have experienced dramatic evolutions” since the agency adopted its blackout rule. Simply consider the fact that ESPN did not even exist at the time the agency last carefully considered blackouts. Crazy!

The FCC’s last comprehensive review of sports blackouts took place in 1976, following a three-year federal law stating that games could not be blacked out unless the stadium wasn’t sold out. Prior to the 1973 law, all NFL games were blacked out, regardless of attendance. This frustrated the nation’s First Fan, President Richard Nixon, who pushed Congress to end the blackouts. The result was a three-year ban, during which time the FCC closely monitored the effect on game attendance. Here’s how Stephen Lowe, author of The Kid on the Sandlot: Congress and Professional Sports, 1910-1992, describes the results of the FCC’s study:

The FCC’s 1976 report declared that the law was not harmful in any way to professional football. On the contrary, greater television exposure had spawned greater fan interest, which had actually led to higher attendance at the stadium, not an increase in the number of no-shows. The report concluded that the antiblackout law had been “beneficial” not only to the fans, but to professional sports as well.

It should come as no surprise to anyone (but an NFL owner) that the best way to build a loyal fan base is to (treat them with respect and) allow them to actually see their local team. Less visible team, less interest.

Regardless of what action the FCC ultimately takes, their interest in opening a conversation will also have several other important benefits. First, the leagues are going to have to spell out and justify their own blackout policies. Second, if the NFL or any other league really needs every last dollar from gate receipts, they are going to have to provide financial data to prove it, which they will not want to do. Third, even if the leagues refuse to provide internal figures, the economics of professional sports in America will be clearer to everyone. That means discussing how ticket prices, personal seat licenses, stadium subsidies, antitrust-exempted television contracts, etc, all contribute to the leagues’ profits while costing fans and taxpayers billions.

Of course, sports fans would rather that the leagues just changed their own blackout policies, but they steadfastly refuse to do so. And it should be noted that in this case, it’s the sports leagues who are asking for special treatment from the government to black out fans. Fans are simply asking why the government needs to enforce blackouts.

So the FCC’s actions last week are a major victory for sports fans, but the war against blackouts is far from over. For the next month, fans will have the opportunity to speak up about blackouts and actually be heard. (You can do so here.) But it’s going to continue to be a tough fight. The NFL and the other leagues will likely spend lots of money trying to keep the FCC’s rule on the books. They want to continue the same old blackout rules of the 1970′s. Back then, the leagues and media companies were the only ones in the room when the rules were written. But now, fans have an organization with some teeth fighting for them.

Brian Frederick is the Executive Director of Sports Fans Coalition. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication and is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Email him at brian@sportsfans.org and follow him on Twitter here.