Source: Tennessean

In most situations, the NFL gives ground grudgingly, if at all. The word compromise is not in the league bylaws.

Just the same, the NFL is retreating on one front.

Word recently surfaced that the league is scaling back its hard-line stance on TV blackouts, dropping a 40-year-old provision that requires a game be sold out in advance in order to be broadcast in the home team's market.

Instead of 100 percent of non-premium tickets being sold, the NFL now requires 85 percent in order to avoid a blackout.

Great. It's a step in the right direction where Joe Fan is concerned. Just because you can't afford to buy — or choose not to buy — a ticket to a Titans home game, that doesn't mean it should be stricken from your flat screen.

But let's take it further: The practice of blacking out games should be dropped entirely in NFL cities where taxpayer dollars were used to fund the stadium. Like most NFL cities, Nashville falls under that heading.

Continue Reading...