If the limit is 75 miles then I don’t know why we are in that limit. I wonder how they define where a TV station reaches as well.
So far it’s a moot point because I don’t think any Panthers games have been blacked out. BTW club seats do not have to be sold to lift a blackout only the normally priced seats.
I mean that I don’t think any Fox affiliate takes hits or gets perks based on their local team’s games. The NFL tv contracts aren’t with affiliates, they’re with the network as a whole. Meaning that a blacked out game (or a highly rated game) won’t hit a particular affiliate’s bottom line.
Even if it did, how is 6 blacked out games instead of 8 going to help in the long run? It’s essentially the same thing.
Instead of speculating back and forth, let’s limit further debate on this to cites. They’re tough to find, but I did find a clue here:
Wikipedia has this to say:
As an example, the current setup allows CBS access to the Chicago market, which it wouldn’t otherwise have if all NFC games were on Fox.
“6 blacked out game instead of 8” is in fact 25% less blacked out games.
I am pretty sure local affiliates sell ad time and do some of their own promos during NFL games.
“Allows access” is not necessarily a perk. Suppose you give CBS the choice of showing a a random game between the Bears and the Dolphins. One game in Chicago, one game in Miami. IMO, CBS would rather air the game in Miami than the one in Chicago, especially if the game in Chicago has a chance of being blacked out.
They do; it’s just like any other network programming that they carry. They can sell that ad space, run promos for local programming during it, etc.
Might not be a great example. Chicago is the third-largest media market, while Miami is #12 (according to this list: http://www.arbitron.com/home/mm001050.asp
; it’s radio markets, but it’s probably pretty close to the TV markets).
In addition, I don’t think that a Bears game has been blacked out in the 20 years that I’ve lived here in Chicago, and the Bears have always had a strong fan base here (which leads to good TV ratings, even if the team isn’t playing well). Now, if it was a choice between, say, Miami and Detroit… 
We’re clearly at a logic impasse, neither of us buying into the other’s idea in the slightest. That’s why I said we should stick to cites. I’ll admit that wikipedia isn’t the greatest cite in the owrld, but you have yet to offer anything.
It might all come down to Thanksgiving Day. Dallas and Detroit are the host cities every year. Since they are both in the NFC, CBS would never get a game if Fox carried all the games in NFC stadiums.
I really have no idea why that occurred to me today.