For the first time, the NFL has sold out all games in advance of the local blackout two weeks in a row.
For the second consecutive week and only the third time in history, all 15 NFL games this weekend are sold out and will be televised in the home-team market.
The first time in the 27-year history of the policy that all games sold out in advance of the 72-hour deadline for local television was for the 15 games of September 6-7, 1998. The local blackouts on all 15 games of last week – November 12-13 – also were lifted.
All NFL games have been televised in the visiting team's market since 1962.
The NFL is on pace to top last year's record number of home games televised in the home-team market. Blackouts on 86 percent of games (149 of 173) have been lifted so far this season. Blackouts were lifted in a record 84 percent of games in 1999 (209 of 248).
