The NFL American football league has suspended its controversial broadcast ‘blackout’ policy for the 2015 season.
The announcement was made at the league’s owners’ meetings on Monday, with team owners voting for a one-year suspension for this year’s pre-season and regular season games.
The blackout policy stipulates that a home game must be sold out 72 hours in advance of kickoff in order to be televised locally. However, it has come under substantial pressure in recent months.
In December, senators from both US political parties warned the league to end the rule or risk congressional action to restrict its lucrative antitrust exemption, which allows teams to negotiate television broadcast rights together.
In September, the Federal Communications Commission voted to eliminate the blackout rule. The NFL is still able to black out a game on television, but due to the FCC vote, a pay-television provider can show a blacked-out game in a market where the broadcast version is blocked.
The rule was adopted in the 1970s to encourage ticket sales at NFL games, which now routinely sell out at stadiums across the US. Indeed, there were no blackouts last season, while the rule was only enforced for two games in 2013.
Lawmakers at December’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing said the blackout rule had long outlived its usefulness. A bill co-sponsored by Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal proposed to revoke the league's antitrust exemption unless it removed the blackout rule.
Responding to Monday’s decision, Blumenthal said, according to ESPN.com: “This decision to suspend the blackout policy for the upcoming NFL season is a victory for the millions of sports fans and consumers across the country, and it brings us one step closer to eliminating this anti-fan measure once and for all. This antiquated, anti-consumer rule has for too long served only to protect the NFL's bottom line at the expense of sports fans.
“I urge the FCC to take action to permanently remove the rule so that sports fans have the opportunity to cheer on their favourite teams, regardless of where they are watching.”
The league will evaluate the impact of the suspension after the 2015 season.