Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown Asks NFL to Reconsider Blackout Policy

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer is knocked out of bounds by New England Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty during the second half of an NFL football game in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010. The Patriots won 38-24.

/ AP Photo/Winslow Townson

Football season has started, and Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio wants to make sure his constituents enjoy as much of it as possible. The Democratic senator sent a letter to National Football League (NFL) Commissioner Roger Goodell last week, urging the league to reconsider its blackout policies, which keep some local games off the air.

"While fans cannot wait for the start of the season, I am concerned that supporters spanning Ohio's small towns and urban cities will be deprived of the chance to watch the Browns and Bengals compete on television," Brown wrote. "While I understand the need for the league to sell tickets and maintain an attractive television product, NFL blackout policies should be revisited as our nation faces the worst economic crisis in generations."

The NFL's "blackout policy" keeps games from airing on local stations in the host city if the game is not sold out 72 hours before kickoff. Last season, the NFL blacked out 22 games, a five-year high. Brown wrote in his letter that more blackouts can be expected, given the rough economy.

"Attending a football game is simply cost prohibitive for too many Ohioans," he wrote.

Both of Ohio's football teams -- the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals -- lost their opening games on the road on Sunday.

Visit CBSSports.com for more coverage of Week 1 of NFL football.

---

Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.

[ajvw]

she doesn't have anything else to worry about?

[endurorob_5]

Honestly. This guy doesn't have eny more to do besides complain about the NFL blackout policy? So last year 22 games were blacked out. That is 8% of all games. And Roger Goodell was asked this question yesterday during the pregame fesitivities and basically said it will not change. Maybe this senetor should worry more about creating jobs and less about waht people do for entertainment.

[jmgray16]

Well this guy is part of the some political entity (though that was the House and not the Senate) that has nothing better to do than spend hundreds of hours grilling baseball players on steroids as they were staring at an economic collapse and troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan - what do you expect? Congress as a whole turned a blind eye to lax lending standards that led to the collapse because I'm sure companies like Countrywide donated tons of money to campaign coffers.

[pondcaster]

Wish NFL "fans" would take a stand and boycott these greedy, greedy owners & players' games. If ALL fans could just boycott all NFL entities for 3 weeks, they would collapse like the cheapest of houses of cards! It would only take 3 weeks of NO patronage and they would have to take notice of this and have to change things.

[jmgray16]

Well, if owners don't want their game blacked out, they need to realize that ticket prices are just too high. People don't have $100 a person to spend - and that's just for seats, add in $20 rip off for parking, concessions with nothing under $5 and $10 beers - what did you expect? Other sports are seeing this as well and I think sports need a price correction to adjust to the fanbase.