The Indianapolis Colts will blackout home games on local television if they're not sold out, despite the NFL having relaxed its rule and allowing such telecasts if 85 percent of seats are sold. "We're a small-market team and we need people in the stadium," chief operating officer Pete Ward said. "While we value all of our fans, our first priority is to protect the investment of paying customers." Ward said there are 2,000 season tickets remaining. He said the Colts were also influenced by another part of the 85 percent rule: Teams choosing to show their games locally without a sellout would owe extra money to the visiting team for each ticket sold over 85 percent. The changes, implemented by the league earlier this month, likely stem from the fact that the NFL has seen a decline in ticket sales each of the past five years. Average game attendance is down 4.5 percent since 2007, according to the Wall Street Journal. Source: Indianapolis Star
I wouldn't be shocked if more and more teams pass on this thanks to the wording of the rule that stipulates the home team has to cough up some extra cash if they sell more than 85%. Teams aren't interested in giving up any more than they have to.
