Vikings, Cardinals Struggling to Sell Out Playoffs
By Aaron Kuriloff and Larry DiTore
Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals face an afternoon deadline to sell out National Football League playoff games scheduled for this weekend or fans won’t be able to watch their teams on local television.
The NFL granted both teams extensions of league time limits requiring that games sell out in advance or face television blackouts. The Cardinals and Vikings have until 4:30 p.m. New York time to sell the remaining tickets.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that the U.S.’s most-watched television sport isn’t immune from the economic slump. The league said it’s cutting playoff ticket prices in response to an economy that’s been in a recession since the end of 2007.
The Cardinals said yesterday that they had 3,700 tickets remaining for their first-round game against the Atlanta Falcons tomorrow. The Vikings, who face the Philadelphia Eagles the following day, said yesterday they had 8,000 seats unsold.
Enough tickets were sold in San Diego to avoid a television blackout of tomorrow’s wild-card game between the Chargers and Indianapolis Colts, the team said on Dec. 31.
The Dolphins said that their game against the Baltimore Ravens the following day is sold out. It marked the first time since Miami played host to the Buffalo Bills in the American Football Conference championship game on Jan. 17, 1993 that all general seating tickets for a home playoff game were sold on the first day.
Tomorrow’s wild-card game between the Cardinals and Falcons is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. New York time and will be televised on General Electric Co.’s NBC network. The Jan. 4 game between the Vikings and Eagles will start at 4:30 p.m. and be televised on Fox.
NFC Records
The Cardinals finished 9-7 in the regular season and won the National Football Conference’s West Division, while Minnesota was 10-6, first in the NFC North.
Arizona, hosting its first playoff game since 1947 when the franchise was based in Chicago, has sold out all 30 games played in three seasons at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, according to the team.
Phoenix-based Leslie’s Swimming Pool Supplies also purchased a large block of tickets and is giving some to customers and some to the Boys and Girls Club of Metropolitan Phoenix, the Cardinals said on their Web site.
The Vikings haven’t had a game blacked out since their regular-season finale in 1997, and it’s been seven years since NFL playoff games weren’t shown in their local markets, according to Bob Hagan, a spokesman for the team.
Following the 2001 season, a wild-card game featuring Baltimore at Miami wasn’t televised locally.
Corporate Buyer
Steve LaCroix, vice president of sales and marketing for the Vikings, told the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis that he hasn’t been successful in trying to land a similar corporate buyer for a portion of his team’s remaining tickets.
The NFL said last month that it would cut about 14 percent of its workforce and freeze salaries through 2009. The league also said in November that it would reduce playoff ticket prices an average of 10 percent in response to the “economic challenges facing fans.”
Employers cut 533,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent, the highest since 1993, the Labor Department said on Dec. 5.
Housing prices and sales have plunged. In Phoenix, home prices were down 32.7 percent in October 2008 from the same month a year earlier, while in Minneapolis, they were 16.3 percent lower, according to an S&P/Case-Shiller index.
By Aaron Kuriloff and Larry DiTore
Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals face an afternoon deadline to sell out National Football League playoff games scheduled for this weekend or fans won’t be able to watch their teams on local television.
The NFL granted both teams extensions of league time limits requiring that games sell out in advance or face television blackouts. The Cardinals and Vikings have until 4:30 p.m. New York time to sell the remaining tickets.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that the U.S.’s most-watched television sport isn’t immune from the economic slump. The league said it’s cutting playoff ticket prices in response to an economy that’s been in a recession since the end of 2007.
The Cardinals said yesterday that they had 3,700 tickets remaining for their first-round game against the Atlanta Falcons tomorrow. The Vikings, who face the Philadelphia Eagles the following day, said yesterday they had 8,000 seats unsold.
Enough tickets were sold in San Diego to avoid a television blackout of tomorrow’s wild-card game between the Chargers and Indianapolis Colts, the team said on Dec. 31.
The Dolphins said that their game against the Baltimore Ravens the following day is sold out. It marked the first time since Miami played host to the Buffalo Bills in the American Football Conference championship game on Jan. 17, 1993 that all general seating tickets for a home playoff game were sold on the first day.
Tomorrow’s wild-card game between the Cardinals and Falcons is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. New York time and will be televised on General Electric Co.’s NBC network. The Jan. 4 game between the Vikings and Eagles will start at 4:30 p.m. and be televised on Fox.
NFC Records
The Cardinals finished 9-7 in the regular season and won the National Football Conference’s West Division, while Minnesota was 10-6, first in the NFC North.
Arizona, hosting its first playoff game since 1947 when the franchise was based in Chicago, has sold out all 30 games played in three seasons at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, according to the team.
Phoenix-based Leslie’s Swimming Pool Supplies also purchased a large block of tickets and is giving some to customers and some to the Boys and Girls Club of Metropolitan Phoenix, the Cardinals said on their Web site.
The Vikings haven’t had a game blacked out since their regular-season finale in 1997, and it’s been seven years since NFL playoff games weren’t shown in their local markets, according to Bob Hagan, a spokesman for the team.
Following the 2001 season, a wild-card game featuring Baltimore at Miami wasn’t televised locally.
Corporate Buyer
Steve LaCroix, vice president of sales and marketing for the Vikings, told the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis that he hasn’t been successful in trying to land a similar corporate buyer for a portion of his team’s remaining tickets.
The NFL said last month that it would cut about 14 percent of its workforce and freeze salaries through 2009. The league also said in November that it would reduce playoff ticket prices an average of 10 percent in response to the “economic challenges facing fans.”
Employers cut 533,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent, the highest since 1993, the Labor Department said on Dec. 5.
Housing prices and sales have plunged. In Phoenix, home prices were down 32.7 percent in October 2008 from the same month a year earlier, while in Minneapolis, they were 16.3 percent lower, according to an S&P/Case-Shiller index.
