Teicher: Sunday’s Chiefs game won’t be on local TV
 

Sunday’s Chiefs game won’t be on local TV
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

Chiefs fans have gotten accustomed to watching home games on live television for the past 19 years.

They’ll have to find something else to do this Sunday afternoon.

The Chiefs had 5,500 tickets left to sell at midweek to ensure a sellout, but they couldn’t get it done before Thursday’s noon deadline. That means Sunday’s game against Cleveland at Arrowhead Stadium will be blacked out locally — the first Chiefs TV blackout since Dec. 16, 1990.

Instead, KCTV-5 in Kansas City will show Miami at Tennessee at noon.

“That’s as bad as it gets when you can’t even watch your team on TV,” Matt Stutzman said Thursday night at Willie’s, a sports bar on Grand Boulevard. “It just shows you how bad the Chiefs are. When the Chiefs are good, that never happens.”

The Chiefs were in the same boat last week for their home game against Buffalo, with 3,500 tickets remaining at midweek. But when the Thursday deadline came, they received a 24-hour extension from the NFL and managed to reach the number they needed, extending their sellout streak to 156 games.

During the last few years, as the Chiefs’ fortunes on the field have faded and the season ticket base has waned, corporate sponsors and whichever TV station had the local rights to the game would pick up the remaining seats to ensure a sellout when needed.

Every week of the season, Chiefs telecasts are the highest-rated show in Kansas City, which justifies the stations’ decision. That’s true even for this sorry season.

But the combination of a 3-10 record, the tough economy and the busy weekend before Christmas didn’t serve the Chiefs well for their final home game of 2009-10.

Sunday’s Chiefs game will also be blacked out on the CBS affiliates in Topeka and St. Joseph and on satellite systems within a 75-mile radius of Arrowhead.

Dedicated Chiefs fans have options to find the game on live TV. CBS affiliates in Wichita, Omaha, Jefferson City/Columbia, Springfield, Pittsburg, Dodge City/Hays and Sioux City will show the game live.

If you can wait, the CBS broadcast will be available on NFL.com beginning at midnight Sunday, but only to ZIP codes within the 75-mile radius of Arrowhead Stadium.

The game, as always, will be carried live on radio by KCFX, 101.1 FM.

Still, that’s small consolation to fans such as Steven Brown, who thinks Kansas City should support the Chiefs even when they’re bad.

“I hate it,” Brown said about the blackout. “I’ve been loving the Chiefs since the day I was born. I was born the day the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. No matter how bad or how good they’re doing, I’ll always be a Chiefs fan. They’ll get it back. It’s only going to get better.”

This is gonna piss me off so bad. I was gonna go to the cleveland game but we are having a family get together and i was assured my cousin would have the game on.

Doh Blackout. I will be watching.

I don't have a doubt that if the Chiefs were more competitive they wouldn't deal with blackouts. But cities like San Diego and Jacksonville are struggling to sell out games too, and you can't say they suck.

Sweet. I'm in CoMo, so I'll get to watch this abortion live.

Should make the game thread easier to maneuver.

Nah, it will probably be filled with "Whats going on now?" "What happened?" type things.

This game should be called "The Berry Bowl."

Loser gets Eric. Winner gets Dingle.

BEST OFFSEASON EVAR!1!!11!!! ROFL

You know it's bad when people called to tell me about the blackout and then followed it with "good maybe we'll get to see a good game instead"

Its been way bad for about 3 years now. Its finally reached no sell out status.

Oh well after 19 years isnt to bad. Some winning teams cant even sell out.

Good

If I lived 74 miles away and needed to drive 2 miles to watch the game I wouldn't make the effort.

Should have happened sooner. Ownership and the front office need a boot in their ass. Maybe this blackout will provide a little motivation to do a better job with this franchise. :cuss:

Wake-up call at Arrowhead...........................
 

Maybe now Clark will get off his ass. I know. Get World Cup Soccer in Arrowhead.

**** ME!!!!!!!

Clark Hunt didn't lose a nickel with the game being blacked out. Neither did a coach, player, or cheerleader.