Looks like Mr. Braley is not happy with ticket sales. Not sure it makes much sense with HD being on most televisions.
.@BCLionsDen: The first 5 #BCLions home games this season will be blacked out locally. The last four will not be
I see no problem with this. Teams needs to make money.
I don't have a problem but it points to low ticket sales in Vancouver. Also why Vancouver but not Toronto????
How so?
This wasn't a big announcement. It was asked of the President at Fanfest by a blogger. It has been Braley's preference to black out games since he became owner. They're just changing their strategy to front load games this year as opposed to picking certain games.
Just go to TSN on demand after midnite. No commercials. pause and rewind whenever you like. 
I think blacking out games is one of the most discourteous things you can do to your fanbase. It alienates fans who either can't make it to the game or can't afford it right now. It also means new fans don't get exposed to the product and frankly, if I'm TSN, I'd bit a bit upset, having just signed a new, higher priced TV deal to be smacked with a blackout of the first five games in the 3rd largest market in Canada.
This is espcially bad given how much seating the Lions have all that extra seating, but price tickets around the league average.
When they did this in the past I was still able to watch in Vancouver on TSN HD. It was just an SD blackout.
Can't get too upset. TSN agreed to blackouts in that new higher priced contract.
Wrong! Yes, they have a high inventory of seats, but it's one of the more expensive average tickets in the CFL.
Well I am not a fan of blackouts , having said that I went and checked on ticketmaster to see how sales were for the first game in BC place on July 4th ---------I was very surprised to see the game has sold a ton of tickets , not sure how many the stadium holds (53000 ?) but it looks to me like its 75-80% sold out or maybe 40-45000 fans. (just estimating of course)
Gorgeous stadium in BC but too big for every game. Whatever works though that being said the owners of teams and the league and TSN need to get to a strategy where every game is televised, no blackouts. That the way I see it for exposure of the league overall. Has to work this way with how much competition there is these days, the league has to cater to people not attending games.
My answer well party anyways? Don't put TSN (or Sportsnet) on a basic cable package in HD as part of the package, make everyone pay extra to get these stations in HD and part of that profit goes to the teams.
This league cannot blackout any games anywhere at any time IMHO in order to grow a fanbase. You can't force people to go to games, if you restrict access, they will find other things to do. As much as I love the CFL, if the games aren't on TV and if the prices are too high to attend games, I'll find something else to do and just watch highlights on the sports news shows or the web, I don't need any sport at all to be totally honest if the price is too high or if it isn't readily available to me, not even my favourite league which is the CFL.
There are those who can't make it to games that yes i agree with your point but on the other hand alot of fans don't want to go if they can stay home and watch the games so i can see the reason for blackouts.
I couldn't agree more, this is a black eye on the league in my opinion. Been there done that please don't push us back there again.
The thing is most if not all leagues do black outs.
Okay, I know it takes a bit of extra "work," but here in 2013 are not television blackouts irrelevant? :o
Down in the US, since at least 2009, I have been watching whatever game I want online with about 95% success. The only lack of success usually came from lower-rated games because some pirate out there perhaps got too drunk.
If you don't have high-speed internet and an HD TV purchased since 2010 with the right cable, get one because it's worth it.
Otherwise an HD computer monitor, with mine five years old, works just fine too.
The CFL lost its fanbase back in the 80s with this archaic rule. As the man once said. "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results"
The Lions blacked-out 6 games last year, as they have done for several seasons.
Despite the blackouts, the Lions TV ratings were the 2nd highest in the CFL and their attendance was 2nd highest also.
Blackouts work when there's an abundance of empty seats, which spurs non-committed fans to buy tickets.
Teams that lift blackouts, like Toronto, who have plenty of seats available, will see an erosion of their seasons ticket base over time. With all the home games on TV, fans know that single-game tickets are readily available if they ever want to catch a game live, so there is little pressure to buy seasons tickets. The Argos have been lifting home blackouts for over 20 years and subsequently have the lowest season ticket base in the CFL.
Some people believe lifting the blackouts helps "promote" the team, but in the long-term it erodes tickets sales and leads to bankruptcy (as happened in Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa in the last decade after years of lifting blackouts despite having half-empty stadiums).
Many believe it was more the ascension of the Blue Jays rather than blackouts which was the main factor in the Argos drop in popularity.
The CFL's current blackout rules are much different than in the 80's. Back then, a Ticat or Argo home game would blackout the entire S. Ontario region to all televised CFL games that day. Today, there are no "secondary blackouts like that...a blacked-out Argo home game will have no effect on Hamilton or any other Ontario TV market, only within a 75-km radius.
With the reduced capacity stadiums in Hamilton, Ottawa and Mtl (22,000-25,000), blackouts will be rare because they're automatically lifted when 90% of the tickets are sold. So we're really only talking about Tor, Van, Edm & Cal, who have excess stadium capacity.
I believe the Argos should blackout their home games if less than 26,000 tickets are sold...and publicize this fact to let fans know that home games will no longer "automatically" be on TV and they need to buy tickets to guarantee they can see the games and help support their team.
Agree, it was more the Blue Jays than the blackouts. Having a "major" league sport go head to head with a CFL team in the same town was and is a huge issue. Honestly, I'm surprised the Argos are still in existence in Toronto especially considering they are now playing in what essentially is a baseball oriented stadium.
I still think it's all about exposure, exposure, exposure in the long run and blackouts shouldn't happen but I can see an individual owners perspective on this from a very local viewpoint. His issue is with the team he owns and profits, not the league in and of itself.
Gorgeous stadium in BC but too big for every game. Whatever works though that being said the owners of teams and the league and TSN need to get to a strategy where every game is televised, no blackouts. That the way I see it for exposure of the league overall. Has to work this way with how much competition there is these days, the league has to cater to people not attending games.
I totally agree bc place is great the way they upgraded it but is to big, does not matter if they lift the blackout or not most people have hd and the lions get the best tv raitings in the league ( and hd does not black out), the problem is tickets are too high priced to sit in the end zone is $44.00 each lower bowl, all though they are opening the upper deck corners for a price of $25.00 each ( only 2,500 tickets aviliable) still i think they have out priced themselves out of the market. i know so many people that love the lions in all of bc , the popularity is still there but the prices are too high.until they make them more affordable fans are going to stay away ( unless a playoff game, or grey cup)