The Federal Communications Commission has voted to end the sports blackout rule — a move that would roll back nearly 40 years of blocking local TV broadcasts of NFL games in which the local team doesn’t sell out its stadium.

The historic shift will have a ripple effect across the television sports spectrum, affecting what games are seen in which cities and allowing fans of long suffering teams to actually watch their hometown teams. But the FCC vote – which was unanimous – could also create a new problem for NFL team owners trying to sell out massive football stadiums…

“Changes in the sports industry in the last four decades have called into question whether the sports blackout rules remain necessary to ensure the overall availability of sports programming to the general public,” the commission wrote. “In this proceeding, we will determine whether the sports blackout rules have become outdated due to marketplace changes since their adoption, and whether modification or elimination of those rules is appropriate.”