Packers must sell 7,500 tix by Thursday afternoon to avoid TV blackout
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The deadline is approaching and available tickets are still plentiful for the Green Bay Packers playoff game Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.
As of Wednesday night, the Packers announced that there are "less than 7,500 tickets" remaining. Earlier that morning, there were 8,500 tickets left to sell, meaning that approximately 1,000 tickets were sold throughout the entire day.
The storied franchise is now facing a situation that it never expected to be in: the possibility of a television blackout in the Green Bay and Milwaukee viewing areas.
NFL policy states that a game needs to be sold out 72 hours prior to kickoff, which sets the final clock for 3:40 p.m. CT on Thursday.
A Packers spokesperson said teams can ask for an extension from the NFL, but the current plan from the team is to wait until Thursday to decide whether to make such a request.
The weather is likely playing a significant factor for fans, as projections for Sunday have temperatures at or below zero degrees. The temperature could drop as low as negative-15 degrees by the second half, at which point the sun will have set in Green Bay.
It seems unthinkable that the Packers, a franchise with a season-ticket waiting list that recently boasted more than 100,000 fans, would struggle to pack Lambeau Field for a postseason game. The threat is very real now, though, that seeing the game in person might be the only way for fans in the Green Bay and Milwaukee areas to watch it.
The Packers originally began with 40,000 tickets to sell this week, first offering them to season-ticket holders and with a limit of four tickets per purchase. As seats remained available, however, tickets were made available to the general public and with no restriction on the number of seats that could be purchased.
Tickets are priced between $102 and $125 and can be ordered through Ticketmaster or at the Packers ticket office.
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