A total of 6,656 tickets remain for Sunday's game between the Jaguars and Cleveland Browns, and the game is in danger of being the first in franchise history to be blacked out on local television.
According to NFL guidelines, the deadline for the game to be sold out is 4:15 p.m. Thursday, 72 hours before kickoff, or else it will be blacked out.
Tickets for the game can be ordered online at jaguars.com, by calling 1-866-4-JAGS-TIX (credit card only) or at the Jaguars Ticket Office at ALLTEL Stadium. Ticket prices are $40, $50, $65 and $95 per ticket, depending upon location and availability.
Secondary markets are included in the blackout area, therefore television stations in Gainesville, Daytona Beach, Orlando and Savannah, Ga. would not be allowed to air the game. The blackout radius is signal penetration within 75 miles of the home city.
In addition, individuals as well as sports bars and other business establishments who are located within the blackout area are not allowed to show a blacked-out game via satellite or any other means. The signals for network games are scrambled anyway, but any establishment showing a blacked out game in the blackout area is in violation of the Unites States Copyright and Communications Act and liable for significant damages.
Prior to 1973, no home game of an NFL team was televised locally, whether it was sold out or not. Instead, other games were brought into the market. In 1973, the U.S. Congress enacted Public Law 93-107, saying in effect, "If a game is sold out 72 hours in advance, the NFL must make it available to local television … it is the network's option whether or not the game is shown locally." The law expired in 1975, but with talk of implementing a permanent and perhaps more restrictive law, then-commissioner Pete Rozelle said that the NFL would continue to honor its provisions voluntarily. The anti-blackout law was permitted to lapse in favor of self-regulation.
Television stations are not allowed to show any highlights of a game while that game is in progress, even in normal news programming. Once the game ends, the usual six-minute limit of "same day" footage applies.
