Colts sell out game, avoid blackout
— -- The Indianapolis Colts have sold their remaining tickets to Saturday's playoff game, while the Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers still have Friday to meet the ticket-sale deadline extension from the NFL.
Meijer, a corporate sponsor, purchased the final 1,200 tickets to the Colts' home game against the Kansas City Chiefs and has donated them to local military families, the team said in a statement. Now that the game is a sellout, it can be shown on TV in the Indianapolis area.
Colts owner Jim Irsay took to Twitter to deliver the news:
WHAT'S all this jibber jabber about a blackout?????? ,Here's the weather forecast for tomorrow at kickoff: 72 and dry. #usingtheroof
— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) January 3, 2014
Information from ESPN.com Colts reporter Mike Wells, Packers reporter Rob Demovsky and Bengals reporter Coley Harvey was used in this report.
— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) January 3, 2014
The Colts have now sold out 138 of their past 139 games.
Meanwhile, on Thursday the NFL granted the Packers a second extension after they came up short of selling out 80,750-seat Lambeau Field for Sunday's NFC wild-card playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers.
As of 10:30 a.m. ET on Friday, the Packers still had approximately 1,000 seats left to sell. A Packers spokesperson said the league gave them until 5 p.m. ET to sell the remaining tickets and avoid a television blackout in their home market, which includes both the Green Bay and Milwaukee areas.
The Packers began the week with 40,000 tickets available.
As for the Bengals, corporate sponsor Kroger bought an unspecified large number of tickets on Friday to donate to military families. The Bengals have until 4 p.m. ET to sell the remaining tickets to Sunday's first-round AFC playoff game against the San Diego Chargers.
As of Friday morning, there was no official word as to how many Bengals tickets were left, but a ticket official said the team is now "in the red zone."
The team's Twitter account accidentally floated the number 3,500 late Thursday afternoon before the number was quickly deleted. Team officials later said they weren't able to provide an exact figure, noting only that it was low enough for an extension to be granted.
Freezing temperatures are a concern for the outdoor games in Green Bay and Cincinnati, but Irsay felt compelled to remind Colts fans on Twitter that they'll be in much more balmy surroundings once they set foot inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
Here's the weather forecast for tomorrow at kickoff: 72 and dry. #usingtheroof
Information from ESPN.com Colts reporter Mike Wells, Packers reporter Rob Demovsky and Bengals reporter Coley Harvey was used in this report.
As of Friday morning, there was no official word as to how many Bengals tickets were left, but a ticket official said the team is now "in the red zone."
The team's Twitter account accidentally floated the number 3,500 late Thursday afternoon before the number was quickly deleted. Team officials later said they weren't able to provide an exact figure, noting only that it was low enough for an extension to be granted.
Freezing temperatures are a concern for the outdoor games in Green Bay and Cincinnati, but Irsay felt compelled to remind Colts fans on Twitter that they'll be in much more balmy surroundings once they set foot inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
Here's the weather forecast for tomorrow at kickoff: 72 and dry. #usingtheroof
Information from ESPN.com Colts reporter Mike Wells, Packers reporter Rob Demovsky and Bengals reporter Coley Harvey was used in this report.
Information from ESPN.com Colts reporter Mike Wells, Packers reporter Rob Demovsky and Bengals reporter Coley Harvey was used in this report.