Prior to 1973, all games were blacked out in the home city of origin regardless of whether they were sold out. This policy, dating back to the NFL's emerging television years, resulted in home-city blackouts even during championship games. For instance, the 1958
"Greatest Game Ever Played" between the
Baltimore Colts and
New York Giants was unavailable to New York fans despite the sellout at
Yankee Stadium. (Many fans rented hotel rooms in Connecticut or Pennsylvania to watch the game on TV, a practice that continued for Giants games through 1972.) Similarly, all
Super Bowl games prior to
Super Bowl VII in January 1973 were unavailable in the host city's market.
The policy was in effect when, in 1972, the
Washington Redskins made the playoffs for only the second time in 27 seasons. Because all home games were blacked-out, politicians – including devout football fan
President Richard Nixon — were not able to watch their home team win.
NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle refused to lift the blackout, despite a plea from
United States Attorney General Richard Kleindienst. Kleindienst went on to suggest that the
United States Congress re-evaluate the NFL's
antitrust exemption.
Rozelle agreed to lift the blackout for
Super Bowl VII on an "experimental basis." Nonetheless, Congress intervened before the 1973 season anyway, passing Public Law 93-107, which eliminated the blackout of games in the home market so long as the game was sold out by 72 hours before game time.
[1] The league will sometimes change this deadline to 48 hours if there are only a few thousand tickets left unsold; much more rarely, they will occasionally extend this to 24 hours in special cases.
[2]"
So the Dem congress HELPED the little guy AGAIN. While Pubs did nothing but bs as usual...
Wiki-
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