Bengals cast lone vote against nixing blackout

PHOENIX — Every Bengals game will be shown on local television next season. The NFL voted Monday at the annual owner's meetings to lift the previously existing television blackout rules requiring a team to sell out its home game in order to air locally. This will last for one season before the league re-evaluates.

The vote came down 31-1 in favor of it. The lone nay? The Bengals.

President Mike Brown voted alone against the majority, but not because the team stands against lifting the blackout rules. He's for such a move and sees it as the undeniable evolution of the game. His opposition stems from a revenue-sharing floor connected to the vote, which he opposed and viewed as a separate issue.

"There is no reason to tie this into lifting the blackout," Brown said. "They are apples and oranges. If you just had the blackout rule standing alone, we would have voted to lift it."

The basics of the club's problem are that historically, all revenue from ticket sales have been shared by two-thirds for the home team and one-third for the visitors. That will still be in place here. However, a new addition connected to this vote requires the revenue shared with the road team be no lower than 85 percent of stadium capacity.

So, if a team only sold out 80 percent of the stadium, it would still have to share an 85 percent number with the visitors and essentially purchase five percent of the empty seats.

Ideally, this won't become an issue for a club that hasn't had a blackout since Nov. 25, 2012. That doesn't change the team's view of this as a slight against small-market teams like the Bengals.

"This is the first time, I believe, that this has ever happened, that there's a selling floor," said Bengals vice president Troy Blackburn. "We just said if you want to suspend the blackout rule, suspend it, just apply the normal ticket sharing rules then go on. It ends up being essentially a tax on the smaller markets. Is that a good thing?"

Despite the math argument, the fans end up winners in the decision. There weren't any blackouts across the NFL last year and only two during the 2013 season, but this eliminates any threats of not having access to watch the game.

This ruling trickles down from a 5-0 decision by the FCC in September to abolish any federal protection of the blackout rule - though, the NFL could have chosen to keep them in effect. After this vote, at least for one year, they won't be.

Last year, the Bengals took advantage of a new NFL rule and opted to decrease the threshold on percentage of ticket sales necessary to avoid the local blackout. This assured games would have an increased chance of remaining on local TV. That meant decreasing the amount of revenue the Bengals would collect on all sales over the 85 percent number, but, for them, the sacrifice was worth it to allow fans to watch from home.

For multiple games, the team still struggled to cross even the lower television threshold. Games against Tennessee and Baltimore pushed up against the 72-hour deadline to keep the games on television.

Despite challenges, the Bengals have successfully gone 18 consecutive home contests with games available to local television. Average attendance at Paul Brown Stadium dipped last year to 60,704. In 2013, the Bengals averaged 63,297 per game and not a single game fell below 61,000.

Capacity of PBS is 65,000.

The increased draw of home entertainment options, NFL Sunday Ticket, fantasy football and the overall cost to attend games have made staying at home on the couch a more appetizing option in recent years.

A concern exists the lack of a blackout threat could hurt attendance even further. Tie in the prospect of the revenue sharing floor, and Brown assures it will hurt the Bengals.

"I think it will have an impact on attendance," Brown said. "I really do. I think perhaps more at a place like ours than some others. But that's just where we are, so we accept it.

"It's the way it's going. There's great political pressure. There's great comment out and about. It's going to happen. It seems our people prepared to make the change. Obviously that's where it is. My voice in this is minor."