Courtesy Hamilton Spectator:

For the first time in half a decade, the Tiger-Cats will blackout two of their scheduled TSN televised home contests this season.

Team president Scott Mitchell, who confirmed two still undisclosed games in July and August will be subject to the blackout, said the organization expects to generate $100,000 in extra revenue for each contest not made available on local television.

Jamie Dykstra, a Canadian Football League spokesman, said the TSN broadcast contract permits clubs to blackout as many as five home contests each season. TSN plans to televise all 72 regular season games in 2008, as well as the post-season.

Toronto Argonauts and the Montreal Alouettes, who traditionally sell out their 20,202-seat Molson Stadium for each game, are the only two teams that do not blackout their home contests.

But every team west of the Ontario border has traditionally blacked out at least two games each season to the local television audience. Winnipeg and Edmonton each blacked out four games last season. Saskatchewan sold out six games and blacked out just one.

Mitchell said the two contests that will be blacked out won’t be announced until just a few days before they are to be played. The July 12 contest could be one since Saskatchewan is traditionally a weak draw here. Hamilton hosts just one contest the following month, that being the Aug. 7 encounter against Toronto.

“By not taking advantage of it, you are giving up something quite significant,” said Mitchell of the opportunity to blackout games.

“The whole reasoning for this is, that this is a gate-driven league,” he said, adding 75 per cent of club revenues come from ticket sales.

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