In the NFL, blackouts have been, well, blacked out.
Through four weeks, all 63 regular-season games will have been televised in the home team’s local market. Per the league office, that’s only the third time the NFL has made it through four weeks of the regular-season without a single blackout. The other similar stretches came in 2006 and 2008.
Thirty years ago, 55 percent of all games were blacked out locally through four weeks of the regular season.
Aiding the effort now is the ability by teams to shrink their minimum number of tickets to sell by 15 percent, a device several teams have embraced.
Still, at a time when the NFL is concerned about getting people to show up for games, they still are.
With or without free beer.