Posted by I finally saw The Dark Knight Rises last night, and was a bit disappointed by a major plot hole any hardcore sports fan would notice. Nevermind that Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field isn’t anywhere close to Gotham City, what I’m talking about is the NFL Blackout Rule.
The NFL Blackout rule states that if a team doesn’t sell out 100% of the tickets to the game 72 hours before kickoff, the game cannot be shown on television in the local market. The 2012 twist on that rule is that teams can opt-in to a relaxed version of the policy, where the sales required are reduced to 85% of non premium seats in order to be shown on TV in the local market.
What does this have to do with Batman? Very simply, Bane’s speech at Heinz Field where he introduces the nuclear bomb and kills the nuclear scientist would not have been an effective way to communicate with Gotham residents. Since the stadium was half-empty, no one else in Gotham City could have seen the spectacle on TV. The 11 million viewers would have been in the dark due to the NFL’s Blackout Rule.
The only rationalization is that perhaps in the alternate universe that Gotham City and Batman live in, the NFL doesn’t exist. There’s no blackout rule, and games are shown on television no matter how many overpriced seats the greedy owners can sell. The “No Fun League” is actually a Fun League. Dreams – that’s what comic books are all about.
[note: I think the movie was fantastic!]
