NFL Drive to Save Sports TV Blackouts Gains Steam

Some professional football fans have been flooding federal regulators with pleas to save a rule that keeps local National Football League games from being televised when the hometown stadium doesn’t sell out, thanks to a new push by the NFL to keep the restriction in place.

More than 500 comments have been filed at the Federal Communications Commission since July 21 and commissioners have been getting inundated with e-mails about the issue, according to agency officials. The NFL has convinced some fans that the rule is a good idea, arguing it will help prevent owners from moving games onto cable channels and off free local TV broadcasts.