Bengals-Texans officially blacked out
Sundays Bengals-Texans game at Paul Brown Stadium has the possibility of being a first-round AFC Playoff preview, but that still hasnt been enough to get it to sellout.
The Bengals announced on Tuesday that the game will not aired locally or in Dayton in Lexington. It is the ninth blackout in the last 10 home games and the fifth in six home games this season. The only sellout was the Nov. 13 game against Pittsburgh.
Through five home games, Paul Brown Stadium has been filled to 75.7 percent of capacity, which is a league low. The average attendance has been 49,619 and the game two weeks ago against Cleveland drew just 48,260. Only two games have drawn over 50,000 the Steelers game (63,262) and the Oct. 16 contest against Indianapolis (52,068).
UCs Nov. 12 game against West Virginia had an announced attendance of 48,152, which was larger than the crowds for the first two Bengals home games against San Francisco (43,363) and Buffalo (41,142). The Bills crowd was the lowest for a regular-season game at Paul Brown Stadium.
Last season the Bengals were 10th in the league in attendance, drawing an average of 60,364 (92.1 percent capacity). In 2009, they were averaging 64,004 fans (16th in the league) and filling the stadium at 97.7 percent capacity.
The only other team in the league below 80 percent capacity this season (according to ESPN.com figures) is Miami, which is at 78.3 percent. The Dolphins are averaging 55,909 fans but all six of their home games have been shown in South Florida as the team and local television stations have bought up the remaining inventory. Here, the sales havent even gotten to the ballpark range for Local 12 (or in the case of the Niners game Fox 19) or local businesses to step in. Tampa Bay has had blackouts for five of their six homes games and are at 84.1 percent capacity (55,189 average).