Ticket-sales lag could pull Falcons game off local TV

By STEVE WYCHE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/30/07

If you don't have tickets to Sunday's Falcons game, don't count on watching it on television.

After several years of turnstile success, the Falcons' 1 p.m. game against San Francisco at the Georgia Dome is subject to a local blackout if 3,000 tickets are not sold by 1 p.m. Thursday, the team announced.

According to the Falcons, they have sold out 56 consecutive games (including exhibitions) since Arthur Blank purchased the team in 2002.

However, the team holds tickets for walk-up and single-game purchases. The advance sale of those tickets is typically brisk, but they have lagged for this game, prompting the team to promote the sale of the seats.

The Falcons (1-6) are facing a San Francisco team (2-5) that has lost its past five games. Atlanta has not had to deal with such on-field misfortune over the past three seasons, when it advanced to the NFC championship game in 2004 and contended for the playoffs in each of the following seasons until the final few games.

But times have changed.

The team has dealt with months of negative attention caused by star quarterback Michael Vick's indictment and ensuing guilty plea to federal charges related to dogfighting. Vick has been suspended indefinitely by the NFL and will be sentenced Dec. 10, the same day the Falcons make their second appearance on "Monday Night Football," a home game against New Orleans.

The Falcons will make three appearances on national TV this season. There is also a Thanksgiving night showdown at the Georgia Dome with Indianapolis, but the NFL won't get the Vick-Peyton Manning matchup it envisioned.

Atlanta has won one of its three home games this season, but attendance has been announced at near capacity for the 71,228-seat Georgia Dome.

Blackouts were once commonplace for a franchise that suffered through some lean attendance years, even as recently as 2001. The last TV blackout came Dec. 23, 2001, when the announced attendance was 43,320. The all-time low came on Christmas Eve 1989 against Detroit at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The listed attendance: 7,792.

Tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.com or at TicketMaster phone outlets during business hours, 1-800-326-4000.