Three of the four NFL wildcard games scheduled for this weekend are facing a blackout. The Kansas City Chiefs at Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers could be blacked out if the stadiums aren't sold out by Thursday's deadline, Deadspin reports.
As of Thursday afternoon, the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles game is the only one to have a sold out stadium. Cincinnati has around 8,000 unsold seats available, Green Bay has 7,500 seats still available and Indianapolis has more than 5,500 seats still available.
Teams usually must sellout their stadiums 72 hours before kickoff, but the deadline was extended to Thursday because of the New Years holiday. Indianapolis has until 4:30 EST on Thursday to sellout, Cincinnati until 1 p.m. EST and Green Bay until 3:40 p.m. EST.
Cincinnati.com reported on Wednesday the NFL could extend the deadline to Friday at 4 p.m., depending on the number of tickets remaining. Deadspin also reported that teams are able to ask the league for an extension on the blackout deadline if they are close to selling out.
The Chargers and Bengals game on Nov. 29 in San Diego became the first blacked out game of the 2013 season. A playoff game hasn't been locally blacked out since the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens' wildcard game in 2002.
Wildcard weekend schedule (via NFL.com):
Saturday, Jan. 4:
Kansas City Chiefs @ Indianapolis Colts - 4:35 p.m., NBC.
New Orleans Saints @ Philadelphia Eagles - 8:10 p.m., NBC.
Sunday, Jan. 5:
San Diego Chargers @ Cincinnati Bengals - 1:05 p.m., CBS
San Francisco 49ers @ Green Bay Packers - 4:40 p.m., FOX.
*All times are EST.
