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On The History Channel's Decisive Battles, Gamed
Thanks to GameSpot for its interview with the creators of the 'Decisive Battles' TV show, as they discuss the "new History Channel series [that] re-creates some of the most pivotal battles of the ancient world, including Cannae, Thermopylae, and Marathon.. [using the engine from] upcoming real-time strategy game Rome: Total War." We've previously discussed this endeavor, but the interview explains specifics ("We'd... build the battles in the same way as we do for all the 'historical battles' in the game - but then use a few cheat codes when we play them out in order to be able to choreograph the exact movements of the troops for that particular battle"), as well as plans ("Future episodes will include the battles of Thermopylae, Adrianople, Chalon, Carrhae, Pharsalus, Spartacus and the Slave Revolt of 73 BC, Cynoscephalae, Kadesh, Teutoberg Forest, and Watling Street.")
Except that the point of the blackout is not to save money producing the slot, it's to DENY live coverage, because of legal/marketing reasons.
The short version is that someone decided(an executive) that they weren't being paid enough to show you football at that particular time.
Using a game as a technical solution will not solve the human situation. Expect instead that radio broadcasts will also have blackouts, because advertisers aren't making enough profits for the radios.
To compound this useful axiom: using a machine to fix a human will
a) only work as long as the human stays fixed
b) works a lot better if the human wants to be fixed(or at least doesn't mind too much)
In this case, someone would mind if you got to see that game of football. Not because they can't show it to you. Because if they showed it to you, it would cause a market pressure downwards on the perceived value of that football show, and that would affect their profits. Changing the production technology would only help if the NFL accepted that using the game engine to describe the real game is not a cheapening of their product. Smart money says they'd object to using the game engine to describe the real game, and that they'd win on trademark issues, if the events replayed actually happened in a game! You haven't found a way to get around a blackout, you've found something else they have to blackout in your area.
The comparison with software copying is apt:
Once the show is produced, it doesn't cost more to show it to ten people than to show it to one(the antenna doesn't need more power if your radio/tv is on or off). But the perceived value is quite literally decuplated if 10 fans se it as opposed to one. So marketing principles militate in favor of making the 10 pay, and if for some reason, you can't collect from two of the ten, you have to make a best effort to deny it to those two. In fact, it makes more sense to charge double, and only show it to five, tell them it's "exclusive" than to charge the same amount to eight.
Why are there so many people who will pay double for an exclusive, is a psychological question I leave as an exercise to the reader.
disclaimer: I'm not a football fan, except when my local team wins, and even then...
The point of blackouts is to try to get people to buy tickets to see the games in person. Any money milked from people who are still too lazy to go to the stadium is just gravy for the NFL.