State lawmakers advance bill to end Seahawk TV blackouts

  • Susanna Ray / Herald Writer
  • Tuesday, February 5, 2002 9:00pm
  • Sports

By Susanna Ray

Herald Writer

OLYMPIA – Seahawks fans are one step closer to getting to watch home football games on television.

Tuesday in Olympia, radio personality “New York Vinnie” lobbied for a plan that would make sure taxpayers get to watch football played in the stadiums they helped to pay for.

A House committee unanimously passed House Bill 2838, which would sack the NFL’s blackout rule.

Since 1976, it’s been NFL policy that if a home game doesn’t sell out 72 hours before kickoff, no TV station within a 75-mile radius can broadcast the game. The rule is intended to help football teams sell tickets, but none of the Seahawks’ 2001-02 home games sold out.

KIRO Radio’s Vinnie Richichi told legislators at the bill’s hearing that the NFL’s rule is a “serious injustice to sports fans” because it excludes the disabled and others who may not be able to get to the stadium for games. Besides, he argued, why should people in other states be able to see the games when the people who paid for the stadium can’t?

“I commend you for writing this bill, for being the first state legislature with the nerve to actually go up against the NFL,” Richichi said.

Since Washington taxpayers contributed $300 million for the new Seahawks stadium in Seattle, state Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, thinks they should get to watch home games on TV. Hunt is the prime sponsor for the bill. Hunt said the blackouts don’t work, noting that the Mariners and Sonics don’t have the same policy.

Rep. Dave Schmidt of Bothell, the lead Republican on the proposal, said he has season tickets to the Seahawks and goes to as many home games as possible, but he thinks it’s time for the rules to change.

“NFL football benefits from the public’s assistance, because most of the stadiums now around the country are publicly financed,” Schmidt said, adding that more publicity for the Seahawks would probably end up selling more tickets in the long run.

No one testified against the bill Tuesday, although Hunt later said he expects to hear from the NFL soon. The league’s lobbyist “had problems reaching anybody with the NFL because of the Super Bowl,” he said.

The bill’s passage is just the first step – it still has to be approved by the full House, go through the same process in the Senate and be signed by the governor to become law.

And it wouldn’t take effect immediately. A clause in the bill makes it only applicable to future TV contracts, not current ones.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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