The Sports Fans Coalition, Public Knowledge and other...

blackouts. Even though the league “grants itself all kinds of flexibility to move ticket sales deadlines or cover up seats that haven’t been sold … they still allegedly chose to coerce broadcasters into buying unsold tickets,” said David Goodfriend, chairman of the coalition. Goodfriend said the charge came from a senior professional sports executive who wishes to remain anonymous. The NFL had no comment. While the FCC doesn’t regulate the NFL, it regulates the owned-and-operated and affiliated stations of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, Goodfriend said Monday during a conference call with reporters to discuss the sports blackout rule. The FCC can “request that the licensees of those networks submit signed affidavits from C-level executives … on the record that respond to questions,” said Goodfriend, a lobbyist whos clients have included Dish Network. Initial comments in the FCC proceeding to eliminate the sports blackout rule were due Monday. Sports Fans Coalition and PK filed joint comments along with National Consumers League, League of Fans and Fan Freedom. The rule perpetuates a morally and economically corrupt system, Goodfriend said. The NFL and other sports leagues wishing to perpetuate the commission’s sports blackout rules bear the burden of proof that local blackouts are necessary “to maintain financial viability,” the filing said. The FCC should ask the NFL, at a minimum, to produce audited financial statements of the league and its member teams supporting the contention that local blackout policy serves the league’s financial interest, it said. The NFL threatened three of the four first-round playoff games with local blackouts in Green Bay, Indianapolis and Cincinnati, it said. “The degree of fan uncertainty, business disruption and community upheaval that the NFL’s action caused in these cities should eliminate any doubt that the federal regulations upholding the NFL’s local blackout policy do not serve the public interest and therefore, must go,” Goodfriend said. Opponents claimed that an elimination of the rules would hasten the migration of NFL games off of broadcast TV and on to pay-TV, he said. This is unlikely, he said. “As long as major advertisers like General Motors, Pepsi and Budweiser are willing to spend top dollar to reach the most households as possible and as long as the NFL games continue to be the most widely viewed programming on television, we think the league is likely to have a significant economic incentive to keep their games on broadcast.”