[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11078]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     GAME CHANGER FOR FOOTBALL FANS

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, in my home town of Buffalo, New York, 
nearly half the Bills games were blacked out last season because, 
despite an average game attendance of 67,000, the games were not 
sellouts because Ralph Wilson Stadium is one of the largest in the 
league.
  Last week, we learned that NFL owners passed a resolution allowing 
teams to decide to broadcast games locally when more than 85 percent of 
seats are filled. This is a change to current policy, which requires a 
stadium to be sold out.
  If teams embrace this new policy, it will be a game changer for 
football fans in Buffalo and across the Nation. This change would not 
have been possible without the hard work and dedication of loyal sports 
fans, including Sports Fans Coalition, the Buffalo Fan Alliance, and 
the Bills Mafia.
  I urge the NFL owners to opt into this policy and the Federal 
Communications Commission to consider a similar policy change. Fans 
support their local stadiums with their tax dollars. It's time for 
teams to give back something in return for that commitment that they 
have made.

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