It has been widely assumed that the signing of quarterback Brett Favre has guaranteed that selling tickets to home games won’t be an issue for the Minnesota Vikings.
And that assumption might turn out to be wrong.
Mark Maske of the Washington Post recently identified several teams as having potential issues in avoiding local blackouts. One of those teams is the Vikings.
According to Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the surge in sales upon Favre’s arrival was short-lived. More than 1,000 season-tickets are still unsold, said Vikings executive Steve LaCroix.
“Obviously the signing [of Favre] was a unique circumstance that created significant activity in several areas, and we appreciate the amount of interest it generated,” LaCroix told Zulgad. “We feel comfortable with where we are in regards to our first two home games [against San Francisco and Green Bay], but we still have some work to do [selling tickets] on the remaining games.”
The other teams definitely staring at blackouts are the Jaguars (who expect every home game to not be seen on local television) and the Chargers. The Raiders, 49ers, Lions, Rams, and Bengals also might face periodic challenges.