JIMMY...
Tijuana books may buck blackout
September 17, 2004
Week in review: San Diego's TV ratings
Get out the passport or the birth certificate or whatever it is that's needed these days to cross the border.
After seven seasons of mostly artificially lifted blackouts, the real thing arrives Sunday. But if you really want to see the Chargers play the Jets and you really don't want to buy a ticket, we might have the solution.
Head down Mexico way.
Tijuana, to be exact, home of the Caliente sports books. There's no way to know for sure until 1:15 p.m. Sunday, but a spokeswoman for Caliente said yesterday the Chargers-Jets game will be shown at the company's establishments.
If it is, Caliente might want to brace itself for a legal fight. The NFL expects the game to be blacked out, and it's been known to fight for its rights.
"I could cite numerous examples of cases where we sent cease-and-desist letters, as well as moved forward with legal action," league spokesman Brian McCarthy said, referring to instances in Canada where sports bars showed blacked-out Buffalo games. "It's signal piracy."
Caliente officials were unavailable for further comment, the spokeswoman said.
If you don't want to risk Chargers-Jets not being available at Caliente – or you just don't want to cross the border – the closest place to see the game would be the Imperial Valley. The game is not on the CBS affiliate there, but it will be available at any establishment with NFL Sunday Ticket.
As a reminder, Chargers-Jets will not be televised locally because it did not sell out by yesterday's 1:15 p.m. deadline. The Chargers said nearly 13,000 general admission tickets remain on sale.
This will be the first blackout of a Chargers game since Dec. 14, 1997, but it surely won't be the last. None of the remaining seven home games has sold out, either, making what happens at Caliente on Sunday interesting.
"We'll have to wait and see how it plays out," McCarthy said.
The only NFL blackout last week was in New Orleans, but there will be four this week – San Diego, Oakland, Jacksonville and Arizona. In each of the last two seasons, the blackout applied to only 10 percent of NFL games, a record low. As recently as 1997, the last time the rule affected the Chargers, that figure was 34 percent.
Tijuana books may buck blackout
September 17, 2004
Week in review: San Diego's TV ratings
Get out the passport or the birth certificate or whatever it is that's needed these days to cross the border.
After seven seasons of mostly artificially lifted blackouts, the real thing arrives Sunday. But if you really want to see the Chargers play the Jets and you really don't want to buy a ticket, we might have the solution.
Head down Mexico way.
Tijuana, to be exact, home of the Caliente sports books. There's no way to know for sure until 1:15 p.m. Sunday, but a spokeswoman for Caliente said yesterday the Chargers-Jets game will be shown at the company's establishments.
If it is, Caliente might want to brace itself for a legal fight. The NFL expects the game to be blacked out, and it's been known to fight for its rights.
"I could cite numerous examples of cases where we sent cease-and-desist letters, as well as moved forward with legal action," league spokesman Brian McCarthy said, referring to instances in Canada where sports bars showed blacked-out Buffalo games. "It's signal piracy."
Caliente officials were unavailable for further comment, the spokeswoman said.
If you don't want to risk Chargers-Jets not being available at Caliente – or you just don't want to cross the border – the closest place to see the game would be the Imperial Valley. The game is not on the CBS affiliate there, but it will be available at any establishment with NFL Sunday Ticket.
As a reminder, Chargers-Jets will not be televised locally because it did not sell out by yesterday's 1:15 p.m. deadline. The Chargers said nearly 13,000 general admission tickets remain on sale.
This will be the first blackout of a Chargers game since Dec. 14, 1997, but it surely won't be the last. None of the remaining seven home games has sold out, either, making what happens at Caliente on Sunday interesting.
"We'll have to wait and see how it plays out," McCarthy said.
The only NFL blackout last week was in New Orleans, but there will be four this week – San Diego, Oakland, Jacksonville and Arizona. In each of the last two seasons, the blackout applied to only 10 percent of NFL games, a record low. As recently as 1997, the last time the rule affected the Chargers, that figure was 34 percent.
