Nfl Files $200,000 Suit

The National Football League filed a federal lawsuit against 30 bars, restaurants and bowling alleys, charging they showed games that were blacked out.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, asks for $200,000 in damages from each establishment for violating federal copyright and communications laws.

When an NFL game is not sold out, the league prohibits it from being broadcast within the television market of the home team. The law is designed to encourage ticket sales for games.

Undercover investigators hired by the NFL and Buffalo Bills found dozens of establishments in western New York and southern Ontario that used satellite dishes to broadcast the non-sellout between Buffalo and Indianapolis on Sept. 17, Bills attorney Vincent Tobia said.

John Ayers, an offensive lineman, who spent 10 years with the San Francisco 49ers and played on two Super Bowl teams, died of liver cancer at his home in Canyon Texas. He was 42.