At one point, it appeared that the Broncos and Peyton Manning had a chance of returning to Indy for the wild-card round of the playoffs. If that had happened, the Colts wouldn’t be hustling to sell tickets to the game.
But with the Chiefs coming to town for the first Colts home playoff game of the post-Peyton era, the locals have yet to rush the box office.
According to Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star, the Colts have roughly 7,000 tickets to sell in order to lift the blackout for Saturday’s playoff game.
League rules require all non-premium tickets to be sold within 72 hours of kickoff in order to lift the blackout. Typically, an extension of the deadline is granted only if a commitment has been made by the team and/or its sponsors to buy any remaining tickets at 34 cents on the dollar. Given that Indy’s deadline lands on New Year’s Day, the league could grant an extension without a commitment to buy the excess tickets.
Owner Jim Irsay has pointed out on Twitter that “MANY” tickets went on sale at 10:00 a.m. Monday. Ultimately, the question may be how “MANY” tickets he’s willing to buy at a discount to allow folks who can’t or won’t go to the game to enjoy watching the home team play in the playoffs.
UPDATE 10:19 a.m. ET: The Colts have announced that an extension has been granted, due to the holiday. The press release states that more than 6,000 tickets remain.