Jacksonville Jaguars blackouts; NFL television maps
The Jacksonville Jaguars host the St. Louis Rams on Sunday and once again the game isn’t being aired on local television. Three home games; three blackouts.
That’s not news -- team officials have predicted they aren’t likely to sell out any home games this season in time to prevent local television blackouts. They’ve blamed the economy. There’s also that loss of 17,000 season ticket holders from last season.
But I think another telling detail is this: a co-worker is one of the Jaguars original season ticket holders. The team played its first game in 1995 and is celebrating its 15th season this year. To honor this milestone, the team sent its original season ticket holders 15-year commemorative pins. Here’s what the note that came with the pins says:
“As a token of our appreciation, we have sent you and 3,819 other special fans who have been with us since Day 1 a pair of 15-year commemorative pins.”
It’s not clear how many season tickets those 3,820 “special fans” account for, but to be at a number that small in just 15 years can’t be good for helping you avoid blackouts.
Meanwhile, here’s a way to tell which NFL games are being broadcast where -- someone’s done a lot of work to figure this out -- check out this site for NFL TV distribution maps. Thanks to Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for finding this.
CRAIG DAVIS In more than 33 years at the Sun Sentinel, Craig Davis has written about a wide variety of sports topics from baseball to yachting, fishing to triathlons, and also worked as a copy editor and page designer. Recently he reported on local sports, including running, swimming, cycling, equestrian and beach volleyball. He enjoys sports as a participant as well as a spectator, is active in the South Florida running scene plays in the curling club at Saveology Iceplex. This blog offers a glimpse at the business side of sports in the interest of enhancing enjoyment of the games and sporting options as a spectator as well as a participant.
