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The debut of RG3 won’t be televised in Western New York.

The Bills have announced that the preseason home opener against the Redskins hasn’t sold out, which means that it will be blacked out locally.

To avoid a blackout, all non-premium seats must be sold within 72 hours of kickoff.

The more important question is why would the league black out a glorified practice session? Commissioner Roger Goodell has said many times that the quality of preseason play is lacking. It’s one thing to force season-ticket holders to purchase tickets to two meaningless games in order to secure the ability to buy tickets to the eight that count, plus playoffs. Why compel folks to fill the place up before a non-game game will be shown on TV?

The good news (for folks who love glorified practice sessions but not enough to pay full price to watch them in person) is that the Redskins-Bills tilt will be shown on a tape-delayed basis in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse.