Blackout lifted for Sunday’s Charger game against Miami

By: Paul Arnold

Photo from 'bspangenberg' via Flickr

After needing a 24 hour extension last week before they could get a blackout lifted against the Baltimore Ravens, arguably one of the NFL’s top teams, the San Diego Chargers announced a short time ago that enough tickets had been sold by today’s deadline to lift the local television blackout for Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins.

Both of the Chargers’ exhibition games were blacked out and the team has warned fans that there may be regular-season blackouts if ticket sales don’t improve. The team hasn’t had a regular-season blackout since 2004, but if their play doesn’t improve, combined with the tight economy and the ridiculous prices of tickets, the possibilities of blackouts will increase significantly.

A limited number of tickets for Sunday’s game, including Club Level tickets, are still available at the Chargers’ ticket office at Gate C at Qualcomm Stadium, at www.Chargers.com and through TicketMaster at 800-745-3000.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. PDT, and the game will be broadcast on KFMB Channel 8 in San Diego.

The next Chargers home game is on Monday, Oct. 19 against Denver and is subject to blackout with 5,000 tickets still available. A local blackout would be especially heartbreaking to Charger fans because the game is a “Legacy Game,” designated by the NFL in honor of the 50th Anniversary Season of the American Football League.

The Chargers will honor former Chargers greats Lance Alworth, John Hadl, Keith Lincoln and Ron Mix at the game.  Also, the Chargers, Broncos, officials and Charger Girls will be wearing their throwback uniforms from the 1960s.  The field and music also will be reminiscent of the earlier era of Chargers football.

As we presented in a previous article, the NFL has seen the low attendance problem developing on the horizon for some time, but has repeatedly refused to lift the blackout rule.

In this writer’s opinion, the NFL could really score some humanitarian (and public relations) points by announcing the temporary suspension of the blackout rules.

But I wouldn’t bet on it…