Packers granted blackout extension, must sell 3,000 tickets by Friday
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Thursday afternoon deadline has come and gone with 3,000 tickets still unsold for Sunday's playoff game when the Green Bay Packers host the San Francisco 49ers.
Lambeau Field needs to be sold out in order for television markets in Green Bay and Milwaukee to broadcast the game.
However, the Packers have been granted an extension by the NFL. The new deadline is Friday at 4 p.m. CT. By that time, if the remaining 3,000 tickets aren't sold, fans in those viewing areas will be unable to watch the game on television.
C'mon pack fans. We need to sell all those tickets. We can't have a blackout! @TJLang70 will buy 3000 tix and give them out if necessary! ?
— josh sitton (@jsitton71) January 2, 2014
The morning after Green Bay defeated the Chicago Bears to win the NFC North title, the Packers had 40,000 seats to sell. So, a great deal of progress has been made to sell 37,000 tickets in a 72-hour period. But it wasn't enough. Now, the next 24 hours will be the final determining factor in whether the game is blacked out locally.
Projected temperatures for Sunday afternoon in Green Bay include a high of minus-3 degrees and a low of minus-19 degrees. Had the Packers been scheduled to play on Saturday instead, conditions would be much different, with a projected high of 25 degrees.
The concern over a television blackout is not just in Wisconsin. Two of the NFL's other playoff games also needed extensions to avoid a potential blackout. The Indianapolis Colts still haven't sold out their Saturday game against the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Cincinnati Bengals haven't sold out their Sunday game against the San Diego Chargers. The only wild-card round game that didn't struggle to sell out was the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the New Orleans Saints.
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