NEW YORK--The U.S. economic recession that's left nearly 15 million Americans out of work is taking its toll on NFL ticket sales for the upcoming 2010 season.

The NFL expects overall attendance to drop for the third straight season, said Eric Grubman, executive vice president of NFL Ventures and Business Operations, in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY. The league expects average game attendance to drop for the third straight season, falling to its lowest levels since the 1998 season.

Grubman predicted overall ticket sales for the league's 32 franchises will drop 1% to 2% this season. Total season ticket sales will be down even more, about 5%, he predicted. But Grubman expects many clubs to make up for that shortfall by selling more single-game tickets, partial season ticket packages and more tickets in the secondary resale market.

COVER STORY: HD TVs, technology pitting NFL stadiums vs. fans' living rooms

The 3-year attendance drop coincides with the country's worst economic climate and labor market since the Great Depression.

The NFL posted a record high of 17.4 million in ticket sales, and 67,755 in average game attendance, for the 2007 season, when the recession began. But the numbers have declined every season since that high-water mark. Last season, NFL ticket sales dropped 2.4% to 16.7 million, while average game attendance also slid 2.4% to 65,043.

With a national unemployment rate of 9.5%, there were 14.6 million Americans out of work in July, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another 8.5 million were working part-time, either because employers cut back their hours or they couldn't find a full-time job. And 1.2 million stopped looking because they did not believe there were any jobs to be had.

"We know some of our fans are struggling. We don't need to see the statistics," Grubman said. "We know people who buy our tickets are having trouble making ends meet. Some of them are having trouble finding jobs. That works its way into the equation."

Driven by pricey tickets for the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium, the NFL's average ticket price rose 3.9% to $74.99 last season, according to Team Marketing Report.

Another problem for the NFL, Grubman said, is that the live game experience is competing with the increasingly more high-tech home viewing experience.

The rise of high-definition TV, instant replays from nearly every angle and the RedZone Channel (which whips viewers to scoring situations in different games), have made it easier and cheaper for fans to watch games from the couch without the expense and hassle of attending a live game.

That's made TV a huge bright spot for the NFL. For the 2009 season, the league drew its biggest audiences in 20 years. Regular season games were watched by an average 16.6 million viewers, up 2 million from the season before, and the highest number since the pre-Internet days of 1990.

"The product is really exceptional at home," says Grubman. "That makes it a little bit easier, if you're having a tough time making ends meet, to not go to the stadium."

The loss of football fans who don't have the cash to attend live games is leading to a growing number of TV blackouts, however.

Under NFL policy, teams that don't sell out games must black out local telecasts of games. There have been 25 TV blackouts during the 2010 and 2009 preseasons, more than double the 12 games blacked out during the 2008 and 2007 preseasons.

During the 2009 regular season, NFL teams that failed to sell out blacked out 22 games vs. nine in 2008 and 10 in 2007.

-- Michael McCarthy