CINCINNATI -- There is still hope for Cincinnati Bengals fans wanting to watch this Sunday's home game against the Houston Texans.
On Thursday, the NFL extended the deadline for a sellout by 24 hours. That means the Bengals have until 1 p.m. Friday to sellout and avoid a local television blackout.
Games normally must be sold out 72 hours prior to kickoff for lifting of the local TV blackout, but the deadline for this week has been shortened to 48 hours.
“We thank our fans for stepping up with a good run of support the last few days, bringing us close enough to get this extension,” said Katie Blackburn, Bengals executive vice-president. “We are continuing to work to lift the blackout. It’s unclear if we will make it -- we have more than 3,000 tickets to go -- but we have great fans and hope we can reach the level that allows our sellout streak to continue.”
The Bengals, who are currently 4-1 and in first place in the AFC North, have sold out their last 46 consecutive regular-season and postseason games, breaking a franchise-record streak of 43 that was set at Riverfront Stadium between 1988 and 1992.
Ironically, the last home game to not sellout was against the Texans in November of 2003.
Cincinnati also got a 24-hour extension before the season opener against Denver and managed to sell out in time to have the game shown locally.
Tickets for Sunday's game against the Texans are still available. Fans wishing to purchase tickets can do so by calling the Bengals ticket hotline at (513)621-8383, going to
Ticketmaster.com or stop by the Bengals' ticket office at Paul Brown Stadium.
