# Can anybody help me fake some football basics? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 29, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-help-me-fake-some-football-basics/479086 "2008-12-29T17:34:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-help-me-fake-some-football-basics/479086/101 "2009-01-05T17:24:36Z")
> [@Hi\_Neighbor](#): > > Up until Friday, the supply of tickets to the Vikes-Eagles game far outweighed the demand. Weren’t there something like 8,000 tickets still available before the weekend? Sources said that if the game didn’t sell out (or come close to selling out), the game would have been blacked out EVEN in areas of Minnesota. That’s horrible. Yes, the demand was down, but the teams and venues still operate on the principle that the demand is there even when it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-help-me-fake-some-football-basics/479086/102 "2009-01-05T17:33:50Z")
> [@Hi\_Neighbor](#): > > Up until Friday, the supply of tickets to the Vikes-Eagles game far outweighed the demand. Weren’t there something like 8,000 tickets still available before the weekend? Sources said that if the game didn’t sell out (or come close to selling out), the game would have been blacked out EVEN in areas of Minnesota. That’s horrible. Okay, even I know what blacking out the broadcast means, and frankly I don’t understand the logic in such circumstances. Are not the team owners/NFL necessarily foregoing the revenue from the television stations whom they are denying permission to show the game? How does that help their revenue stream? ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-help-me-fake-some-football-basics/479086/103 "2009-01-05T17:43:12Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Okay, even I know what blacking out the broadcast means, and frankly I don’t understand the logic in such circumstances. Are not the team owners/NFL necessarily foregoing the revenue from the television stations whom they are denying permission to show the game? How does that help their revenue stream? I don’t understand the logic behind it either, so I hope someone can clear it up for me. The NFL gave the Vikings two extensions to sell the remaining tickets up until Saturday. How awful would it have been to live in Minnesota, and the only way to watch the game would have required you to be in attendance at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-help-me-fake-some-football-basics/479086/104 "2009-01-05T17:51:47Z")
For someone who doesn’t understand the logic, you sure nailed it pretty well: > [@Hi\_Neighbor](#): > > … the only way to watch the game would have required you to be in attendance at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome? One part black-out, two parts blackmail. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-help-me-fake-some-football-basics/479086/105 "2009-01-05T18:06:54Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > For someone who doesn’t understand the logic, you sure nailed it pretty well: > > One part black-out, two parts blackmail. Except that persons who choose to watch the game on television typically do so because they can’t afford the tickets, I should think. It’s the \*\*combination \*\*of high ticket prices and refusal to allow local broadcasts that seems counter-productive. ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-help-me-fake-some-football-basics/479086/106 "2009-01-05T18:17:24Z")
Yes, the ticket prices should have (and I think eventually were) reduced, but the threat of a blackout is going to royally piss off the majority of fans who realistically can’t make it to the game. I wonder what they would have shown on TV if they hadn’t shown the game. Re-runs of the Steve Harvey Show? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-help-me-fake-some-football-basics/479086/107 "2009-01-05T18:17:54Z")
Well, the blackmail part – with a little poetic license thrown in – is summed up basically thusly: “if you deadbeats don’t come to the game in person, then we aren’t going to let you see it on the TeeVee either.” I always thought that was a little mean. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-help-me-fake-some-football-basics/479086/108 "2009-01-05T19:07:52Z")
> [@Hi\_Neighbor](#): > > Up until Friday, the supply of tickets to the Vikes-Eagles game far outweighed the demand. Weren’t there something like 8,000 tickets still available before the weekend? Sources said that if the game didn’t sell out (or come close to selling out), the game would have been blacked out EVEN in areas of Minnesota. That’s horrible. Wasn’t just the Vikings: according to Sports Illustrated’s web site, "The Cardinals have their first playoff home game in 61 years and still need two 24-hour deadline extensions from the league to sell out? The Vikings have their first home playoff game since 2000 and don’t sell out until Saturday afternoon? And the Chargers didn’t sell out for their playoff against the Colts until Wednesday. What’s going on here? Only Miami, playing in its first playoff game in seven years, closed the deal expeditiously last week, selling out on Monday." [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-help-me-fake-some-football-basics/479086.md?page=5)