The National Football League flexed its technological muscle during the offseason, saying it would scramble satellite signals for regional telecasts this year and charge people who want to see those games.

The announcement sent shivers down the backs of sports bar managers and home-satellite dish owners, who for years have been able to intercept NFL telecasts from other parts of the country.

But on the eve of the 1994 season, experts who predicted the NFL crackdown would throw the satellite-dish industry for a loss are seeing a funny thing happen.

The opposite. "It's helping sales," said Rob Petre, sales manager at Atlantic Satellite South in Pompano Beach. "It brings in a lot of people who live in South Florida but are from out of the area, and want to see their hometown teams play."

So far, 65,000 backyard dish owners across the country have paid the NFL $99-$139 for a season of regionally telecast games, game schedules and satellite-viewing guide. The price varied, depending on when dish owners signed up.

More than 1,000 sports bars have enrolled at much higher fees, said Tola Murphy-Baran, vice president of marketing and sales for NFL Enterprises. Sports bars pay $399-$1,899, depending on how many seats they have. A typical sports bar, which seats 51-100 people, would pay $699.

Football season is prime time for sports bars. Hundreds more have called during the past two weeks to have the NFL descramble signals to their satellite dishes, so they can televise regional games, Murphy-Baran said.

The NFL's pay-for-satellite program, called NFL Sunday Ticket, is proving to be most popular in Florida and Arizona.

"There are an awful lot of people in those states living far away from where they grew up," Murphy-Baran said.

While unauthorized descrambling devices are on the market, South Florida sports-bar operators say they have little choice but to pay the NFL.

The reason: an all-out blitz by the NFL to catch businesses that show regional games without signing up. The NFL has created a network of primarily retired FBI agents to visit sports bars that did not enroll.

The NFL also set up a toll-free hotline for people to call if they suspect a sports-bar is showing regional games without authorization.

"We don't expect customers to call us if a sports bar does this. We expect the sports bar owner down the street who paid for NFL Sunday Ticket to call," Murphy-Baran explained.

Former Miami Dolphin player Bob Brudzinski, owner of Bru's Room in Margate, paid $600 for NFL Sunday Ticket earlier this summer. He said the NFL crackdown comes as no surprise.

"We've heard the NFL was going to do it for the last few years," said Brudzinski, 39.

There is an upside and a downside to NFL Sunday Ticket, Brudzinski said. Employees no longer spend time searching for football signals. If a signal is unclear, Bru's Room can complain about not getting a game it paid for.

"But it seems like everybody wants a piece of your action if you have a sports bar," Brudzinski said. "The state has the liquor tax. College football has pay-per-view. Now the NFL."

Josee Legault of The Sports Ticket in Deerfield Beach said NFL Sunday Ticket will be in place at that sports bar by the start of the regular season. The Sports Ticket paid about $1,500 to sign up, she said.

"We don't have any options," Legault said. "You don't do it, you get almost nothing."

Although it's being careful about predictions, the NFL sees satellite payments as a major new revenue source. NFL Sunday Ticket will bring in more than $7 million this season, based on the league's preliminary, preseason sign-up numbers.

The league is not sure the program will make money this year, but it should eventually, said Murphy-Baran. The NFL has heavy equipment and start-up costs to overcome this season, she said.

NFL Sunday Ticket revenue will be shared by players, owners and the league, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

Under the NFL salary-cap system, players get 64 percent of designated gross revenue - which includes television and satellite revenue - and the league and its 28 owners share the rest, Aiello said.

The league realizes it is barely scratching the surface of the satellite market, Murphy-Baran said. An estimated 2 million American homeowners and 15,000 sports bar owners have satellite dishes.

The league hopes 10 percent to 20 percent of those people sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket.

"There was a lot of concern when this was announced," Murphy-Baran said. "But once we released the pricing schedule and said how available the games are, most people were happy."