As I type this there are still 7,000 seats available at the GB vs SF game this Sunday.
Lambeau has a streak of 319 consecutive sell outs (301 regular, 18 play-off)
Any chance this will not be sold out? Granted that it will be cold, and GB will likely lose, but I am still shocked that there are seats available.
Technically I’m outside the home market so it doesn’t affect me, but I’d like to see a sell-out
Brian
There’s no way the game won’t be “sold out” The NFL doesn’t want to hand ammunition to the FCC for the ridiculous blackout policy that the FCC is looking into. Now, will the stadium be full, I highly doubt it.
Why is the FCC looking into the NFL blackout policy? If a stadium didn’t have to be full for the game to be on local TV do you think the Jags would ever sell a ticket?
I could see the NFL revising the number down to 95-97% sold but probably not much lower than that.
Lambeau not full? Where are you from? Do you understand “Wisconsin” at all?
There’s absolutely zero chance it won’t be a sell-out, even if some finagling has to be done. But, as a Packer season ticket holder, let me explain the Lambeau sell-outs, and the playoff ticket situation.
The Packers have this lengthy streak of sold-out games because nearly all of the tickets are season tickets, and because there’s a multiple-decade (if not multiple-century) waiting list for season tickets. Thus, even when the Packers were awful in the 1970s and mid-1980s, they were still selling out every game at Lambeau. (Up until 1994, they also played several home games each season at County Stadium in Milwaukee; those were not 100% season tickets, and some of those games were not sell-outs.)
Up until 2003, all of the tickets at Lambeau were season tickets. The expansion of Lambeau which was completed in 2003 added some seats at the top of the bowl which are not season tickets; they’re single-game tickets, and only available for purchase by Brown County residents – this was a concession which the Packers gave in exchange for getting a county sales tax bump to help pay for the expansion and renovation.
Anyway, in seasons when the Packers look like they have a chance to go to the playoffs (and host a game), the Packers send an offer letter to the season ticket holders in November, letting those holders buy playoff tickets. You have to buy tickets to two playoff games at that time. And, if one or both games don’t happen in Green Bay, the Packers would sit on your money for a while. In the past, they’d send you your refund around February. This year, they announced a different policy – they’d apply the money you’d paid to your 2014 season ticket bill (which would not normally have to be paid until around June).
So, you have to be willing to pony up a good chunk of change, realizing that you won’t get the money back for some time if there isn’t a home game or two. Now, add to this the fact that the Packers sent out that offer letter at the end of November, when Rodgers was out, and the Packers were floundering (and had just gotten spanked by the Lions on Thanksgiving). At that point in time, it certainly felt like the Packers’ odds of even making the playoffs, much less hosting a game, were close to zero. So, I have to imagine that very few people took the Packers up on the offer of buying playoff tickets (I certainly didn’t).
The Packers didn’t secure a playoff berth (and a home game) until this past Sunday evening, tickets are several hundred dollars each, and the weather will be bad, even by Green Bay standards. And, as you note, it seems likely that the Pack won’t win this game – yes, Rodgers and Cobb are back, but they don’t play defense, and the Niners have thrashed the Packers twice in the past 12 months.
Given all of that, I’m really not surprised that it’s taking longer than 72 hours to sell out.
Because it is essentially extortion on behalf of the Owners.
I actually buy commercial time with TV and Radio stations in the Milwaukee and Green Bay markets. They were supposed to have a 3:30pm deadline today to get them sold but expected to get an extension from the league.
I bought spots in the game on the Fox station in Milwaukee and my sales rep told me the station was looking at buying up a huge block of the tickets to help ensure a sell-out (since they’d lose lots and lots of advertising revenue otherwise.)
Hmmm, Sunday’s high is projected to be 4°F, and the game starts about 47 minutes before sundown, so I guess a lot of the fans will be wearing shirts.
Thanks, I was wondering the same thing. There are about 3000 tickets available. at $150/ticket, this is $450,000. Distributed among the various stations I’m guessing it would be worth it.
Brian
As of this morning, the National Weather Service’s forecast for Green Bay on Sunday has a high of 0°F (which is supposed to occur at 3pm, right around kickoff), with winds of around 13 mph, gusting to 22 mph. By 6pm (i.e., the fourth quarter), the forecast is for an air temperature of -9, with a wind chill of -29. Packer weather! 
The original deadline was Thursday but they got an extension to 4PM (local?) today.
The La Crosse Tribune is reporting fewer than 1,000 tickets remaining.
Pretty sure the remaining tickets will be picked up by SOMEBODY - by the TV stations (if they haven’t already), bar owners, or the team itself.
Brian
And with that, the NFL should concede the blackout rule. The FCC should not allow an arbitrary rule to stand. If it’s hard and fast, it might suck, but it’s the rule, but this is just blatant money grab.*
*I know, surprise, surprise. But there’s obvious and then there’s fuck you blatant. This (and the Jags tarp trick) cross that line…
Kickoff, from the info I see, is at least 40 minutes later than that (is the posted start time kickoff or the time a few guys go out there and a zebra says, “here, stick your tongue on this coin”?). The game could go past 7pm – let us not even imagine OT.