The good news is you won't spend your Sunday afternoon having to watch those loathsome rival Denver Broncos.
The bad news is that's because the Raiders game won't be on local television. The Coliseum did not have a sell out 72 hours prior to kickoff, so the Raiders-Broncos game will not be broadcast on television in the Bay Area market.
Per NFL blackout rules, this game may not be broadcast on television at any living room, sports bar, or media affiliate within 75 miles of the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum.
Hello, Rancho Cordova!
Think you can just sit home and make do with other AFC West divisional action? Think again, buster.
The CBS network has the doubleheader this week, and those blackout rules state clearly that "the doubleheader network can broadcast only one game into that team's primary market (usually the #1 game), which is also designed to prevent people from opting to watch the other locally televised NFL games instead of going to the local team's game."
So you'll buy a Raider ticket, or you'll visit a bar with the NFL Sunday Ticket, or you'll tune in to Greg Papa and Tom Flores on KSFO 560, or you'll get nothing at all and be stuck spending time with your family and loved ones.
There is some consolation in NFL.com providing a replay of the game online beginning at 12:01 a.m. Monday morning, which will remain available for viewing on demand for 72 hours.
It could be worse, Raider fans. The game could be blacked out on a different Sunday when there's not a 400,000-person public leather-sex festival happening in a certain large Bay Area metropolitan city.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who will also be blacked out locally at 1 p.m. PDT Sunday, if you catch his drift.
