When the Jaguars covered almost 10,000 seats in 2005, they received a lot of flak. Critics said it was a sign that Jacksonville couldn't support an NFL team.

As it turns out, the Jaguars were just ahead of the curve.

Covering seats - or at least shrinking the number needed to avoid a television blackout - is now on the verge of becoming a league policy.

The owners will vote June 21 on a proposal to allow teams to shrink their blackout number by 15 percent.

The teams would have to announce their blackout number in July, but, unlike the Jaguars in past years, they could sell those tickets taken away from the blackout manifest if there were a demand for them.

It is uncertain how many teams will take advantage of the new policy. It wouldn't affect the teams that traditionally sell out all their games.

Although the NFL insists it is ahead of last year's number of season-ticket sales at this time, the change in policy is likely recognition that the league is concerned about an increase in blackouts this year because of the ongoing lockout.

The Jaguars reduced their seating capacity in 2005 by covering up 9,713 seats, reducing the stadium capacity from 76,877 to 67,164.

Because the Jaguars don't count about 3,000 tickets used for promotional reasons, that reduced the ticket capacity from 73,000 to 64,000. And that reduced the blackout number to 50,957.

The blackout number counts only nonpremium seats. Premium seats that are unsold aren't counted toward a blackout.

Following the new 15 percent standard, the Jaguars could reduce the blackout number by 2,000 more seats, but they plan to keep it the same.

"We like our number. We think it is the right one," said Dan Edwards, a senior vice president.

In the first four years that the Jaguars covered up seats (2005-08), only three games were blacked out. But after a 5-11 season in 2008, there were seven blackouts in 2009, leading to the Team Teal ticket drive. The Jaguars didn't have any blackouts last year.

But momentum was slowed by the lockout, and the Jaguars currently have sold only about 32,000 nonpremium season tickets in the general bowl, leaving them about 18,000 shy of the blackout number. They hope to sell about half that number in group and single-game sales after the lockout.

vito.stellino@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4279