National Football League television blackout policies


The National Football League television blackout policies are the strictest television blackout policies among the four major professional sports leagues in North America.
From 1973 through 2014, the NFL maintained a blackout policy that stated that a home game cannot be televised in the team's local market if 85% of the tickets are not sold out 72 hours prior to its start time. This makes the NFL the only major professional sports league in the US that requires teams to sell out tickets in order to broadcast a game on television locally. Although nationally televised games in the other leagues are often blacked out on the national networks on which the game is airing in the local markets of the participating teams, they can still be seen on the local broadcast TV station or regional sports network that normally holds their local/regional broadcast rights. The league blackout policy has been suspended on a year-to-year basis since 2015.
Furthermore, the NFL is the only league that imposes an anti-siphoning rule in all teams' local markets: the NFL sells syndication rights of each team's Thursday and Monday night games to a local over-the-air station in each local market. The respective cable station must be blacked out when that team is playing the said game.

Getting around restrictions

Prior to 1973, all games were blacked out in the home city of origin and on any TV stations located within 75 miles of the team's home city, regardless of whether they were sold out. This policy, dating back to the NFL's emerging television years, resulted in home-city blackouts even during sold-out regular-season games and championship games. For instance, the 1958 "Greatest Game Ever Played" between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants was unavailable to viewers in the New York City market despite the sellout at Yankee Stadium. Similarly, all Super Bowl games prior to Super Bowl VII in January 1973 were not televised in the host city's market.
The policy was in effect when, in 1972, the Washington Redskins made the playoffs for only the second time in 27 seasons. Because all home games were blacked-out, politicians – including President Richard Nixon, a devout football fan – were not able to watch their favorite team's home games, as the primary carrier for such games, CBS affiliate WTOP-TV was forced to black out the games and carry alternate programming. NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle refused to lift the blackout for the NFC Championship Game, despite a plea from United States Attorney General Richard Kleindienst. Kleindienst went on to suggest that the United States Congress re-evaluate the NFL's antitrust exemption.
Rozelle agreed to lift the blackout for Super Bowl VII on an "experimental basis", if the game sold-out ten or more days in advance. With the game a sellout, viewers in the Los Angeles area were able to see the NBC telecast of the game. Nonetheless, Congress intervened before the 1973 season anyway, passing Public Law 93-107, sponsored by Democratic U.S. Representative Torbert MacDonald of Massachusetts, which eliminated the blackout of games in the home market so long as the game was sold out by 72 hours before game time. The league will sometimes change this deadline to 48 hours if there are only a few thousand tickets left to be sold; much more rarely, the NFL will occasionally reduce the deadline to 24 hours in special cases, such as a very low number of tickets remaining with 48 hours left, or the intervention of holidays during the 72 and/or 48 hour deadlines.
Tickets in premium club sections and luxury suites have been excluded from the blackout rule, as have unused tickets allocated to the visiting team. Alternatively, some NFL teams have arrangements with local television stations or businesses to purchase unsold tickets. Teams themselves are allowed to purchase remaining non-premium tickets at 34¢ on the dollar to prevent a blackout. Teams can also lift the blackout on their own; this has occasionally been done in cases of stormy weather on game days.
The NFL requires that closing off sections be done uniformly for every home game, including playoff games, in a given season. This prevents teams from trying to sell out the entire stadium only when they expect to be able to do so. For instance, the Jacksonville Jaguars closed off a number of sections at their home stadium, EverBank Field, to reduce the number of tickets they would need to sell. EverBank Field is one of the largest venues in the NFL, as it was built to also accommodate the annual Florida-Georgia game and Gator Bowl in college football, and was expanded for Super Bowl XXXIX, even though it draws from one of the smallest markets in the league.
The NFL authorized a new rule loosening the league's blackout restrictions during the 2012 offseason. Under the new rule, for the first time in NFL history, the ticket sales provision no longer requires a stadium to be sold out in order for a game to be televised; instead, teams are allowed to set a benchmark of anywhere from 85% to 100% of the stadium's non-premium seats. Any seats sold beyond that benchmark will be subject to heavier revenue sharing. While most teams participate in the new blackout rules, four teams – the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers – continue to follow the previous blackout rule, as under the 2012 rule modification, the teams would be required to pay a higher percentage of gate fees to the NFL's revenue fund.

End of FCC enforcement, temporary suspension

Until September 2014, the NFL blackout rules were sanctioned by the Federal Communications Commission, which enforced rules requiring cable and satellite providers to not distribute any sports telecast that had been blacked out by a broadcast television station within their market of service. On September 9, 2014, USA Today published an editorial from FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, which stated that he was submitting a proposal to "get rid of the FCC's blackout rules once and for all", to be voted on by the agency's members on September 30 of that year, declaring such policies to be "obsolete". On September 30, 2014, the Commission voted unanimously to repeal the FCC's blackout rules. However, the removal of these rules are, to an extent, purely symbolic; the NFL can still enforce its blackout policies on a contractual basis with television networks, stations, and service providers – a process made feasible by the large amount of leverage the league places on its media partners.
Ultimately, no games would be blacked out at all during the 2014 season. On March 23, 2015, the NFL's owners voted to suspend the blackout rules for the 2015 NFL season, meaning that all games would be televised in their home markets, regardless of ticket sales. The suspension continued into the 2016 season; commissioner Roger Goodell stated that the league needed to further investigate the impact of removing the blackout rules before such a change is made permanent. While the league never explicitly stated such, the blackout suspension has continued into 2019.

Blackout radius

The NFL defines a team's market area as "local" if it is within a radius of the team's home stadium. Therefore, a blackout affects any market where the terrestrial broadcast signal of an affiliate station, under normal conditions, penetrates into the 75-mile radius. These affiliates are determined before the season, and do not change as the season progresses. Some remote primary media markets, such as Denver and Phoenix, may cover that entire radius, so that the blackout would not affect any other affiliates. However, in some instances, a very tiny portion of a distant city's market area can be within the 75-mile radius of a different city, therefore leading to blackouts well beyond the targeted area.
The most notable example is the blackout of Buffalo Bills games within the Syracuse, New York market because a small section of the town of Italy in Yates County, containing a handful of people, lies within the 75-mile radius of New Era Field while the entirety of the remainder of the Syracuse market lies outside of it. Yates County was previously part of the Syracuse DMA, but it was later transferred into the Rochester DMA because of exurb expansion with an increasing number of employees working in the immediate Rochester area living in Yates County and traveling to Rochester for events. Despite this, the league still enforced Bills blackouts for Syracuse and, because the Mohawk Valley did not have a CBS affiliate of its own and relied on Syracuse CBS affiliate WTVH to cover that area, the Mohawk Valley DMA as well ; because of this, the Bills' blackout radius extended hundreds of miles beyond the actual stadium, well into Herkimer County.
The NFL does allow in some cases for secondary markets to extend beyond the 75 mile radius in part to help draw fans to attend the game. Some of these exceptions are in Charlotte, North Carolina, where many of its secondary markets lie outside the 75 mile radius. Others include Los Angeles, primarily due to San Diego not having had an NFL team since the 2017 move of the Chargers to Los Angeles.
An exception to the 75-mile rule is the Green Bay Packers' market area, which stretches out to both the Green Bay and Milwaukee television markets. Unofficially, and to a smaller extent, it also reaches the Escanaba–Marquette, Michigan market due to the presence of translator and satellite stations as well as extended cable coverage of stations from the Green Bay market north into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. However, blackouts at the Packers have never occurred; the Packers' home stadium, Lambeau Field, boasts a five-decade-long streak of sellouts. The Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins also have sellout streaks that predate the current blackout rules, and therefore have not had any of their home games blacked out since 1972.
Similarly, no Super Bowl has ever been unavailable in the market of origin since Super Bowl VII in 1973. Every Super Bowl except the first has been a sellout, and, with the game's high-profile status, a television blackout is highly unlikely.

No opposing games

Another policy to encourage sellouts is, except in Week 17, no other NFL game can air opposite the local franchise's broadcast on the primary market's affiliate due to NFL rules or due to a blackout.
Special exemptions are in effect when other events air on one of the two networks broadcasting Sunday games, which typically have a 4:30 p.m. start time, or will run through 1:00 p.m.. The network airing the event is given the single game at 1:00 or 4:00 p.m. that week, and can broadcast games opposite the team that has a home game on their network at the same time during the affected weeks. This was most notably used by CBS for tennis, NBC for golf, and all three networks that have aired Sunday games have used the exemption for baseball. Fox is expected to use the exemption in 2022 because of an eight-hour time difference between the Eastern time zone and Qatar, and the World Cup Final would start no later than 1 PM EST.
As of the 2014 season, these rules do not apply in Week 17, where playoff or draft implications are affected by many games. Because of the nature of Week 17 games with playoff implications, all restrictions except the blackout for failure to sell out games rule are waived, giving Fox and CBS doubleheaders for Week 17 in all markets, regardless of whether the local team is at home.
Each television market, including one hosting a game that is not sold out, is assured of at least one televised game in the early and late time slots, one game on each network, but no network doubleheader in the home market of a game that is not sold out.
The New York and San Francisco Bay Area markets typically get fewer doubleheaders than other markets as those markets each have two teams, and one of them is playing at home virtually every week. The main exception is when one of the teams is idle, has its home game televised on the doubleheader network, or is chosen for a prime time game, as well as when the teams play each other on the network carrying a doubleheader or if a team is playing in the International Series. This policy affects only the franchise's primary market, not others with signals that penetrate inside the 75-mile radius. It also does not affect viewers of NFL Sunday Ticket in the primary market; all other games remain available.
Some markets, like those in Southwest Georgia, can see up to five NFL games a week, with different network affiliates offering games involving the Falcons and Jaguars, and doubleheaders for the other conference's affiliate in the same market. Central New Jersey offers similar access to the New York and Philadelphia markets.

Blackout procedure

If a home game is unavailable locally because it is not sold out before the 72-hour deadline, one of the following situations will occur:
The 2006 NFL rule change allows NBC and the NFL to reassign game start times for Sunday games only, beginning in Week 11, although the NFL changed this clause to Week 5 in 2014. Therefore, if a late-season match features a game with no playoff implications, often with the home team already eliminated, and thus would be unlikely to sell out, it will be moved to Sunday afternoon in favor of a better game.
In 2005, for the first time in its history, the NFL lifted the blackout policies for a team: the New Orleans Saints. Due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Saints split their home games between Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Tiger Stadium at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and the Alamodome in San Antonio, with most home games being played in Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge is a secondary market for the Saints and is subject to blackouts when games held at the Superdome carried by over-the-air networks do not sell out, since CBS affiliate WAFB, Fox affiliate WGMB and NBC affiliate WVLA reach within 75 miles of the Superdome, even though the city limits of Baton Rouge are more than 75 miles from the stadium.
San Antonio is an unofficial secondary market for the Dallas Cowboys, and two of three Saints games in 2005 played at the Alamodome were not broadcast anywhere in Texas, as the start times for the Cowboys and Saints games conflicted on those dates. The only game of the San Antonio dates not to sell out, in Week 4 against Buffalo, was televised locally by CBS as the Cowboys had a late game that day against the Oakland Raiders at McAfee Coliseum.
The blackout policies extend even to the Pro Bowl; if that game is not sold out, it is not televised in the home media market. From 1980 to 2009, and again from 2011 to 2014, the game was played in Halawa, making the applicable market the entire state of Hawaii. The 2010 game was played in the Miami area.
Due to decreasing ticket sales, the league significantly softened its blackout policy in 2009. Though the traditional rules still apply, the league is using some of its new media features to provide access to untelecasted games. For instance, the league will not subject its "RedZone" channel to any blackouts. In addition, complete live games will be made available for free online on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday following the game, if the game is blacked out, using the league's Game Rewind package.

Criticism

Critics claim that these blackout policies are largely ineffective in creating sold out, filled stadiums. They contend that there are other factors that prevent sellouts, such as high ticket prices and low enthusiasm for a losing team. Furthermore, it has been argued that blackouts hurt the league; without the television exposure, it becomes more difficult for those teams with low attendance and few sellouts to increase their popularity and following as the exposure decreases.
Conversely, the NFL has sold out well over 90% of games in recent seasons. Additionally, many teams sell out their entire regular season schedule before it begins, and so there is no threat of a blackout in those markets.

Market and year of last blackout/non-sellout

Notes:
The league also designates "secondary markets", usually adjoining primary markets that are also required to show the local NFL franchise. Generally, these secondary markets must show the away games but are not obligated to telecast the designated team's sold-out home games.
Their decision on whether to show home games typically depends on whether the NFL-designated local team is perceived to be the most popular in the market. For example, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is a secondary market to the Baltimore Ravens; therefore the Harrisburg market's CBS affiliate, WHP-TV, must show all Ravens away games. However, since there are many Pittsburgh Steelers fans in the region, when the Ravens are home at the same time the Steelers are playing, that station shows the latter game. Harrisburg is thus considered a battleground territory for the Steelers–Ravens rivalry.
The same applies for the Orlando, Florida metropolitan area, as its local CBS affiliate WKMG-TV broadcasts both Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars games. In some cases, the NFL has the two teams play at different times to accommodate the entire state of Florida. WKMG lobbied to carry a Dolphins game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2005, but the NFL refused this request – as Orlando is officially a Jaguars secondary market the station had to carry the Jaguars game at Pittsburgh. This issue again came up in 2013, during Week 2, when CBS' late game window featured two games: the Denver Broncos at the New York Giants and the Jaguars at the Oakland Raiders. Again, since Orlando is a secondary market of the Jaguars, WKMG was required to carry the latter game; the station notoriously apologized for having to show the Jaguars game. There have been exceptions, however; in the last week of the 2016 season, the Jaguars played their regular season finale on the road at the Indianapolis Colts, while the Dolphins played their regular season finale against the New England Patriots at home. Since the Jaguars were on the road, this should have meant WKMG would be required to carry the Jaguars-Colts game. However, the Jaguars granted a one-time waiver of the secondary markets rule requirement for the Orlando market, thus allowing WKMG to air the Patriots-Dolphins game; this is most likely because the Dolphins had clinched a playoff spot the previous week and the Patriots were going for home-field advantage in the AFC, while both the Jaguars and Colts had both been eliminated from playoff contention.

Two-team secondary markets

There are rare instances where a market will have two teams claiming their territory. For instance, Youngstown, Ohio lies roughly halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, is within the 75-mile radius for both cities and is considered a battleground territory in the Browns–Steelers rivalry. Therefore, local CBS affiliate WKBN-TV must show whichever team is playing an away game. If one game is on CBS while the other is on Fox, both games will air. On Cable and Satellite providers on the Pennsylvania side of the Youngstown Market,like Mercer County and Lawrence County, those areas also carry CBS O&O KDKA-TV and Pittsburgh FOX Affiliate WPGH-TV in Standard-definition television as an alternate station.
If both the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers are scheduled to play at the same time on CBS or Fox and the location of the game does not matter, WKBN/WYFX will usually air the Browns game. However, on December 2, 2012, when the Browns played at the Raiders and the Steelers played at the Ravens in the late window of a CBS doubleheader, WKBN aired the Steelers game as the former was between two teams that were out of playoff contention, while the latter was between two teams that were in playoff contention, and was also the main game of the late CBS window. The fan base is evenly split between those two teams, with the San Francisco 49ers also having a small following due to team owners John and Denise DeBartolo York being based out of the Youngstown suburb of Canfield, Ohio.
Similar issues concerning the same market teams occurred with CBS affiliate WTRF in Wheeling, West Virginia, which formerly carried Fox programming on its 7.2 subchannel until 2014, when WTOV-TV took over the affiliation on one of its subchannels. At times, WTRF would run a game broadcast by Fox on the subchannel opposite a Browns or Steelers home game that aired on the main CBS feed regardless, and vice versa.

"Unofficial" and "temporary" secondary markets

Many markets serve as "unofficial" secondary markets for the league's various teams due to rooting interest in those markets. As they are not designated by the NFL as official secondary markets, they technically are not required to air any games, but will do so to please the fanbases.
For example, in Texas, virtually all CBS and Fox stations respectively carry the Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys when games involving those teams are on different networks. However until 2010, CBS owned-and-operated station KTVT in Dallas rarely aired Texans games unless it had no other option; but for the 2011 season, it carried most Texans games, except for a handful of conflicts. Fox owned-and-operated station KRIV in Houston always airs Cowboys games if it is not prohibited from doing so by NFL rules. In another example, Seattle Seahawks games are usually aired on Fox stations across the entire Pacific Northwest as the team is the only NFL franchise in the area.
The New England Patriots, especially since Tom Brady became quarterback, also have almost all of New England as unofficial secondary markets. Not only do all or almost all CBS or Fox affiliates in New England carry Patriots games, but the team's syndicated preseason broadcasts cover the entire region. Hartford, Connecticut is within proximity to New York, and stations in that market have sometimes aired a New York Jets game instead; however, this rarely occurs.
The New York Giants have most of the markets in upstate New York as unofficial secondary markets. Albany is considered an official secondary market of the Giants. In addition, Burlington, Vermont has become an unofficial market for the Giants, preventing the Patriots from having full control over all New England markets. An example of this occurred on September 27, 2009, when the Giants hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Patriots hosted the Atlanta Falcons, both at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. WFFF-TV, which covers most of the state of Vermont and also extreme northern New York, broadcast the Giants game, as it is used to airing the team's games as a Fox affiliate. More recently, however, WFFF-TV has aired Patriots games over those involving the Giants when the former is featured on the network. Boston affiliate WFXT generally carries Fox's Sunday-afternoon Giants games other than those that cannot be carried on the station because the New England Patriots are playing a home game at the same time. Providence affiliate WNAC-TV carries Fox's Giants' games unless the network is broadcasting a Patriots' home game at the same time the Giants are playing.
Specifically due to the issues with requirements for Hartford, Connecticut CBS affiliate WFSB to carry mainly New York Jets games as a secondary market most weeks, Meredith Corporation established a new CBS affiliate in the Springfield, Massachusetts market in 2003, WSHM-LD, in order to allow that market to become a Patriots secondary market; previously, Meredith's WFSB served as the default CBS affiliate for the Springfield market, which otherwise contains only two other full-power commercial stations. This became a liability as the Patriots dynasty began, as viewers north of the Connecticut/Massachusetts line could not watch their home state's team most weeks. Four years later, ABC affiliate WGGB-TV established their own Fox DT2 subchannel, taking over from Hartford's WTIC-TV as Springfield's default Fox affiliate and allowing that market access to the remainder of Patriots Sunday home games with an NFC opponent. Over time however with the sustained success of the Patriots, WFSB has mainly moved towards carrying their games, with the Jets losing games on that station as time has gone on.
Since 1995, the San Francisco 49ers have had most of California from the Oregon-California border south to Los Angeles as an unofficial secondary market, although the Los Angeles area was a secondary market for the Chargers until the Rams' return to Los Angeles in 2016 and the Chargers own move there in 2017.
An oddity of "temporary" secondary markets have occurred in Wisconsin, Washington and South Carolina as a result of a rooting interest in one particular player. After the 2007 season, quarterback Brett Favre departed the Green Bay Packers for the New York Jets. As a result, CBS affiliates WFRV in Green Bay and WDJT-TV in Milwaukee were able to ask for as many Jets games as CBS and the NFL could offer to their viewers. In 2009, when Favre moved to an NFC North division rival, the Minnesota Vikings, Fox affiliates WLUK-TV in Green Bay and WITI in Milwaukee requested as many Vikings games on their stations as possible. This also occurred in 2011 in Seattle, where the market was able to broadcast Tennessee Titans games because former Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was a Titans starter, and local native and former University of Washington quarterback Jake Locker was drafted in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Titans. Given these two fan favorites, local CBS affiliate KIRO-TV requested to air as many of these games as possible. In 2014, CBS affiliate WLTX in Columbia, South Carolina requested to change game assignments for Week 17 from the San Diego Chargers-Kansas City Chiefs game to the Cleveland Browns-Baltimore Ravens game; WLTX requested the change when the Browns had undrafted rookie quarterback Connor Shaw, a fan favorite from the University of South Carolina, start the game.
Wichita is not an official secondary market for any team, but all Chiefs games are televised in the market, which covers more than half of Kansas. Stations KWCH and KSAS almost always show the Cowboys and/or Broncos when they do not conflict with the Chiefs.
In 2018, stations in Oklahoma City and Tulsa started requesting as many Cleveland Browns games as possible when 2017 Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, who starred for the University of Oklahoma, became the team's starting quarterback. The networks complied, except in cases when the Browns and Dallas Cowboys were playing at the same time on the same network; the Cowboys have enjoyed a large base of support in neighboring Oklahoma since their founding in 1960. Previously, the Minnesota Vikings were requested as much as possible by Oklahoma stations due to the presence of former OU star running back Adrian Peterson.
When 2014 Heisman winner Marcus Mariota from the University of Oregon was drafted by the Titans, stations in Oregon carried most Tennessee games when they did not conflict with broadcasts of the Seattle Seahawks during Mariota's tenure with the Titans. Other instances of markets carrying contests featuring alumnus of the local college include Philadelphia Eagles games in Fargo, North Dakota, the Chiefs in Lubbock, Texas, where Patrick Mahomes attended Texas Tech. and the Ravens in Louisville, Kentucky, where Lamar Jackson attended Louisville.

Other information

In all other markets, the networks are the sole arbiters of the telecast matches. However, they usually make their decisions after consulting with all of their local affiliates. On rarer occasions, some affiliates are offered a choice of a few games for a given time slot, if there is no game that stands out as appropriate. In those cases, some stations have allowed the viewers to vote online for their preferred game. In the early 1990s, New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU conducted a poll via telephone during several weeks to select which game would be broadcast
For example, during Week 3 of the 2010 season, Fox affiliate KMSS-TV in Shreveport, Louisiana conducted an online viewer poll in which fans could choose between the Dallas Cowboys-Houston Texans game and the Atlanta Falcons-New Orleans Saints game. The station is situated in the Ark-La-Tex region, where both the Saints and Cowboys have significant fan bases, due to the Shreveport market being situated on the northern border between Louisiana and Texas, including Texarkana, and the southwest corner of Arkansas. The poll concluded with viewers choosing the Falcons-Saints game, even though Shreveport is closer to Dallas than New Orleans. Earlier, during at least part of the 1991 season; NBC affiliate WAVY-TV in Portsmouth, Virginia had call-in contests in which viewers of their newscasts could call in to request one of two games being offered opposite a game involving the Washington Redskins that aired on local CBS affiliate WTKR-TV, though if NBC had the doubleheader the game not airing opposite the Redskins game would have to be the one NBC assigned to the station.
On one rare instance during Week 16 of the 2016 season, KCBS-TV in Los Angeles was granted special permission to air a Colts–Raiders game in the 1:05 p.m. PT late slot while the Los Angeles Rams hosted the 49ers at the same time at home on Fox. Although KCBS had the single game and was contractually obligated to carry the San Diego Chargers game at the Cleveland Browns in the early 10 a.m. PT slot since Los Angeles is an official secondary market of the Chargers, the Colts–Raiders game had playoff implications as well as Los Angeles having a large Raiders fan base due to the fact that the team played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994.
Networks, however, have the ability to override a station's request; WIVB-TV in Buffalo, for instance, requested a New England Patriots-Denver Broncos game in December 2011, due to the fact that the hometown Buffalo Bills faced both teams in the upcoming weeks and because of the high-profile showdown between Tim Tebow and Tom Brady; the station instead received a game between the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles.

Blackout history

1970s

As previously mentioned, 1973 was the first year that the NFL aired games that were sold out 72 hours in advance. On Fridays, the Associated Press often printed an NFL press release stating which games were sold out. Newspapers across the country would pick up this little 2- or 3-paragraph article. In 1973, this happened every week up to the week of the games of Sunday November 25.
DateTeams
09/16/73Buf-NE, Bal-Cle, Atl-NO
09/23/73NYJ-Bal, Mia-Oak, Buf-SD, Atl-LA, KC-NE, Wash-StL, NO-Dal
09/30/73NYG-Cle, NO-Bal, Pit-Hou, StL-Dal, Cin-SD
10/07/73Bal-NE, Phi-Buf, Cin-Cle, LA-Hou, Chi-NO
10/14/73Bal-Buf, NYJ-NE, Den-Hou, Phi-StL, Det-NO, Oak-SD, Dal-LA
10/21/73Bal-Det, Hou-Cle, Atl-SD, GB-LA, NO-SF
10/28, 29/73Oak-Bal, SD-Cle, NYG-StL, Wash-NO, GB-Det, Atl-SF, KC-Buf
11/04/73SF-Det, Buf-NO, Cin-Dal, Den-StL, Hou-Bal, KC-SD
11/11/73Cle-Hou, NO-LA
11/18/73StL-NYG, Phi-Dal, NO-SD, SF-LA
11/25/73Buf-Bal, NE-Hou, LA-NO, Atl-NYJ*
12/02/73Bal-NYJ*, SD-NE, Oak-Hou, Det-StL, Phi-SF
12/8-10/73KC-Oak ^, NE-Buf, Chi-Det, Mia-Bal, SF-NO, Den-SD, NYG-LA
12/16/73NE-Bal, Cin-Hou, Dal-StL, Cle-LA
12/23/73 LA-Dal
09/15, 16/74Mia-NE, Wash-NYG, SD-Hou, Phi-StL, Det-Chi, SF-NO, NYJ-KC, Oak-Buf
09/22/74NE-NYG, Hou-Cle, Min-Det, GB-Bal, NO-LA
09/29/74Cle-StL, KC-Hou, NYG-Dal, Atl-NO, Mia-SD, Cin-SF
10/06/74Bal-NE, Pit-Hou, Oak-Cle, Den-KC, Min-Dal, Atl-NYG, Phi-SD, StL-SF, Det-LA
10/13/74NE-NYJ, Cin-Cle, Buf-Bal, Pit-KC, Hou-Min, Oak-SD
10/20/74Bal-NYJ*, KC-Mia, StL-Hou, Phi-Dal, Cin-Oak, SF-LA
10/27/74LA-NYJ*, Bal-Mia, Den-Cle, Dal-NYG, Phi-NO, GB-Det, KC-SD, Oak-SF
11/3, 4/74Hou-NYJ*, Atl-Mia, NO-Det, Cin-Bal, StL-Dal, NYG-KC, Cle-SD, LA-SF
11/10/74Mia-NO, NYJ-NYG, Hou-Buf, Den-Bal, SD-KC, SF-Dal, Det-Oak, Atl-LA
11/17/74NYG-Det, Cin-Hou, LA-NO, SD-Oak
11/24, 25/74Buf-Cle, StL-NYG, Chi-Det, NE-Bal, Min-LA, Atl-SF, Pit-NO
11/28; 12/1, 2/74Wash-Dal, Bal-Buf, SF-Cle, Cin-Mia
12/7-9/74Atl-Min, Cle-Dal, Phi-NYG, Mia-Bal, Oak-KC, StL-NO, Chi-SD, GB-SF, Wash-LA
12/14, 15/74Min-KC, GB-Atl, NYJ-Bal, Cle-Hou, NYG-StL, Buf-LA, Den-SD, NO-SF
12/22/74 Wash-LA
09/21/75Hou-NE, Bal-Chi, LA-Dal, Atl-StL, Pit-SD, Oak-Mia
09/28/75Mia-NE, Min-Cle, Det-Atl, NYJ-KC, Oak-Bal, Cin-NO, SD-Hou, StL-Dal, Phi-Chi, LA-SF
10/05/75Den-Buf, NO-Atl, Cin-Hou, SF-KC, NYG-StL, Bal-LA, Oak-SD
10/12/75Dal-NYG*, Den-Pit**, NE-Cin**, Hou-Cle, Buf-Bal, Phi-Mia, Chi-Det, Oak-KC, GB-NO, LA-SD, Atl-SF
10/19, 20/75Mia-NYJ*, Bal-NE, Phi-StL, GB-Dal, KC-SD, Atl-LA, NO-SF, NYG-Buf
10/25, 26/75StL-NYG †, Bal-NYJ*, SF-NE, Cin-Atl, Wash-Cle, Det-Hou, Den-KC, NO-LA
11/1, 2/75SD-NYG †, NE-StL, Cle-Bal, Mia-Chi, Hou-KC, Atl-NO, Det-SF
11/9, 10/75Bal-Buf, NYJ-Mia, Cle-Det, NE-SD, NO-Oak*, SF-LA, KC-Dal
11/16/75GB-Det, LA-Atl, NYJ-Bal, Min-NO, Den-SD, Chi-SF
11/23/75Bal-Mia, NE-Buf, StL-NYJ*, Cin-Cle, Den-Atl, Det-KC, SF-NO, Phi-Dal, Chi-LA
11/30; 12/1/75NO-Cle, KC-Bal, NYG-Dal, Atl-Oak*, NE-Mia
12/07/75NYJ-NE, Bal-NYG*, SD-KC, Det-Chi, LA-NO, Buf-Mia, Hou-SF
12/14, 15/75Buf-NE, KC-Cle, NO-NYG*, SF-Atl, StL-Chi, GB-LA, NYJ-SD
12/20, 21/75Min-Buf, Den-Mia, SD-Cin, Dal-NYJ, StL-Det, NE-Bal, Cle-Hou, Chi-NO, NYG-SF
12/27/75 StL-LA
09/12, 13/76Bal-NE, NYJ-Cle, Den-Cin, TB-Hou, SD-KC, Phi-Dal, Det-Chi, Min-NO, StL-Sea, LA-Atl, Mia-Buf
09/19, 20/76Mia-NE, Hou-Buf, SD-TB, Atl-Det, Cin-Bal, Dal-NO, GB-StL, Chi-SF, Oak-KC
09/26/76NYJ-Mia, Buf-TB, Min-Det, NO-KC, Atl-Chi, Bal-Dal, StL-SD, NYG-LA, SF-Sea
10/03/76Oak-NE, KC-Buf, Cin-Cle, Phi-Atl, TB-Bal, Hou-NO, NYG-StL, NYJ-SF, LA-Mia
10/10, 11/76NE-Det, Buf-NYJ, Den-Hou, Phi-StL, Atl-NO, SF-LA
10/17, 18/76KC-Mia, Bal-Buf, Cle-Atl, Sea-TB, Hou-SD, Chi-LA, NO-SF, NYJ-NE
10/23, 24/76Atl-SF, NE-Buf, Bal-NYJ, Mia-TB, SD-Cle, Den-KC, LA-NO, Det-Sea
10/31-11/1/76NE-Mia, NYJ-Buf, KC-TB, Phi-NYG*, GB-Det, NO-Atl, SF-StL, Sea-LA, Hou-Bal
11/07/76Mia-NYJ, Pit-KC, Cle-Hou, Bal-SD, Atl-Sea, Wash-SF
11/14/76TB-NYJ, Phi-Cle, SF-Atl, Det-NO, Den-SD
11/21, 22/76NE-NYJ, SD-Buf, Cin-KC, Cle-TB, Dal-Atl, NO-Sea, Bal-Mia
11/25, 28, 29/76Buf-Det, Den-NE, Mia-Cle, NYJ-Bal, Atl-Hou, KC-SD, NO-LA, Min-SF
12/4, 5/76Atl-LA, Buf-Mia, NO-NE, Wash-NYJ, Hou-Cle, SF-SD
12/11, 12/76Min-Mia, Rams-Det, Cin-NYJ, NE-TB, GB-Atl, Buf-Bal, Cle-KC, SF-NO
09/18/77Mia-Buf, KC-NE, TB-Phi, LA-Atl, GB-NO, NYJ-Hou, Bal-Sea
09/24-26/77Min-TB, Bal-NYJ, Sea-Cin, SD-KC, NYG-Dal, NO-Det, Mia-SF, Phi-LA, NE-Cle
10/2, 3/77NE-NYJ, Phi-Det, NYG-Atl, Buf-Bal, TB-Dal, Hou-Mia, Cin-SD, Den-Sea, SF-LA, Oak-KC
10/09/77Sea-NE, NYJ-Buf, Oak-Cle, Mia-Bal, SD-NO, Wash-TB, Atl-SF
10/16/77Bal-KC, Atl-Buf, StL-Phi, GB-Det, Cle-Hou, NYJ-Mia, NE-SD, TB-Sea, NO-LA
10/23/77Sea-Mia, Oak-NYJ, Cle-Buf, Den-Cin, GB-TB, Atl-Chi, KC-SD, Det-SF
10/30/77SD-Mia, NYJ-NE, Hou-Cin, KC-Cle, LA-NO, TB-SF
11/06/77Mia-NYJ, Cin-Cle, SD-Det, NO-Phi, SF-Atl, Chi-Hou, GB-KC, TB-LA
11/13/77NE-Mia, Bal-Buf, Sea-NYJ, NYG-TB, Det-Atl, SF-NO, Den-SD
11/20/77NE-Buf, Cle-NYG*, TB-Det, NYJ-Bal, Den-KC, Atl-NO, Hou-Sea, Oak-SD
11/24, 27/77Chi-Det, Pit-NYJ, Phi-NE, LA-Cle, NYG-Cin, Atl-TB, KC-Hou, SD-Sea, NO-SF
12/04/77NE-Atl, Wash-Buf, Chi-TB, Cin-KC, NYJ-NO, Cle-SD
12/11, 12/77Buf-NYJ, Hou-Cle, NYG-Phi, Det-Bal, Sea-KC, TB-NO, Atl-LA, Dal-SF
12/17, 18/77Buf-Mia, NYJ-Phi, StL-TB, NO-Atl, Cin-Hou, Pit-SD, Cle-Sea
12/24,26/77 Oak-Bal, Min-LA
09/2, 3/78NYG-TB, Mia-NYJ, Pit-Buf, Wash-NE, SF-Cle, KC-Cin, LA-Phi, GB-Det, Min-NO, SD-Sea
09/9, 10/78Det-TB, NYJ-Buf, Cin-Cle, NE-StL, Mia-Bal, Hou-KC, Chi-SF, Atl-LA
09/17, 18/78Buf-Mia, Sea-NYJ, Cle-Atl, Chi-Det, Phi-NO, Wash-StL, Bal-NE
09/24/78Bal-Buf, NO-Cin, Atl-TB, Den-KC, Det-Sea, GB-SD
10/01/78StL-Mia, KC-Buf, Pit-NYJ, Hou-Cle, Phi-Bal, LA-NO, Cin-SF
10/8, 9/78Buf-NYJ, Wash-Det, Cle-NO, TB-KC, SF-LA, Cin-Mia
10/15/78NE-Cin, Wash-Phi, Buf-Hou, NYJ-Bal, Mia-SD, NO-SF
10/22/78Cin-Buf, StL-NYJ, SD-Det, Chi-TB, Den-Bal, Cle-KC, NO-LA, Atl-SF
10/29/78Buf-Cle, Hou-Cin, StL-Phi, NYG-NO, Bal-Mia
11/05/78NE-Buf, Cle-Hou, NYG-StL, Oak-KC, Cin-SD, TB-LA
11/12, 13/78Mia-Buf, Den-Cle, TB-Det, Atl-NO, KC-SD, StL-SF, Oak-Cin
11/19/78Buf-TB, Cle-Bal, Sea-KC, LA-SF
11/23, 26, 27/78Den-Det, NYJ-Mia, NYG-Buf, LA-Cle, NE-Bal, SD-KC, Phi-StL, Pit-SF
12/03/78Bal-NYJ, Buf-KC, Atl-Cin, Det-StL, SF-NO
12/10, 11/78Oak-Mia, NYJ-Cle, Hou-NO, TB-SF, Cin-LA
12/17, 18/78Dal-NYJ*, Cle-Cin, SF-Det, NO-TB, Buf-Bal, Atl-StL, GB-LA, NYJ-Mia
12/24/78Hou-Mia
12/31/78LA-Min
09/1, 2/79Det-TB, Mia-Buf, NYG-Phi, Bal-KC, SF-Min, Oak-LA
09/09/79Sea-Mia, Cin-Buf, Wash-Det, TB-Bal, Cle-KC, Dal-SF
09/16/79NE-Cin, Det-NYJ, Bal-Cle, Phi-NO, Buf-SD, SF-LA
09/23/79NYJ-Buf, Chi-Mia, Hou-Cin, Atl-Det, Oak-KC, NO-SF
09/30/79Mia-NYJ*, Min-Det, Buf-Bal, NYG-NO, SF-SD, StL-LA
10/07/79Det-NE, Chi-Buf, KC-Cin, StL-Hou, NYJ-Bal, LA-NO, Sea-SF
10/14/79Buf-Mia, Wash-Cle, Pit-Cin, Hou-Bal, NYG-KC
10/21/79Bal-Buf, Cin-Cle, Phi-StL, Det-NO, SD-LA, Atl-SF
10/28/79Buf-Det, GB-Mia, Phi-Cin, NE-Bal, NYG-LA, Chi-SF
11/4, 5/79NE-Buf, Cin-Bal, SD-KC, Min-StL, Hou-Mia
11/11/79Bal-Mia, Sea-Cle, SD-Cin, TB-Det, SF-NO
11/18, 19/79Mia-Cle, GB-Buf, Den-SF, NYG-TB, Atl-LA
11/22, 25/79Chi-Det, StL-Cin, Mia-Bal, LA-SF
12/02/79Den-Buf, Hou-Cle, Sea-KC, SF-StL, Bal-NYJ*, Min-LA
12/09/79Mia-Det, NYG-StL, KC-Bal, SD-NO, TB-SF
12/15, 16/79NYJ-Mia, GB-Det, Min-NE, Cle-Cin, KC-TB, NO-LA

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s