Skip to main content
Advertising

Arizona Cardinals Home: The official source of the latest Cardinals headlines, news, videos, photos, tickets, rosters and game day information

NFL Lifts Blackout Rule For 2015

All games to be televised locally, although Cardinals have sold out every game since 2006

BlackoutpicMAIN.jpg


The Cardinals have sold out every one of the 93 games played at University of Phoenix Stadium.


For a year at least, there will be no more blackout rule in the NFL.

During the NFL's spring meeting Monday at the Arizona Biltmore, teams approved lifting the blackout restrictions – in which games needed to be officially sold out 72 hours in advance to be televised locally – for 2015. The league said the policy will be revisited after the season.

There were no blackouts in the NFL in 2014. The Cardinals haven't had a blackout since 2005, since they have officially sold out every single one of their 93 home games (including preseason) since University of Phoenix Stadium opened in 2006.

The blackout rule has been in place since 1973. In 2012, the NFL allowed teams to set before the season a standard in which only 85 percent of the non-premium seats had to be sold to reach "sellout" status.

The NFL has said that 31 percent of NFL games were blacked out in the 1990s. That number dropped to eight percent in the 2000s and to five percent in the current decade. New stadiums have helped that figure, especially in Arizona. The Cardinals had only 12 sellouts from 1988 through 2005 at Sun Devil Stadium, before moving into their current home.

The Cardinals' home schedule this regular season includes games against Minnesota, Green Bay, Balltimore, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Seattle, San Francisco and St. Louis.



This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an issue.
Advertising