CHARLOTTE, N.C. — FRIDAY UPDATE: The Green Bay Packers, Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts sold out their playoff games slated for this weekend.
The NFL gave the teams extensions after they still had thousands of tickets to sell.
The decades-old NFL rule says that teams must sell out 72 hours before the game in order for it to be broadcast on local televisions.
The Carolina Panthers had no problem selling out next Sunday's playoff game at Bank of America Stadium.
But other cities are having a tough time getting their fans to buy tickets.
So far three of the four games have not sold out, which means the games are in jeopardy of being blacked out on local TV stations.
In Charlotte, tickets sold out in three minutes.
That is better than the Seattle Seahawks, which has a huge fan base and sold out tickets in 27 minutes.
The Panthers said 7,000 were for sale on Ticketmaster Wednesday morning after season ticket holders were covered.
The stadium has more than 73,000 seats.
The Cincinnati Bengals, Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts have thousands of tickets left for their games.
The Philadelphia Eagles are the only team to sell out its game on Saturday night.
The rules are that teams must sell out 72 hours in advance of each game's kickoff time to have the game broadcast on local television.
The Indianapolis Colts received an extension and have until Friday to sell out its tickets.
One of the main reasons why fans haven't bought up the tickets is because the extremely cold weather expected up north, even though Indianapolis has a covered stadium.
Other fans say the high prices that comes with the game day experience has kept them from buying tickets.
For example, on Ticketmaster, it shows ticket for the Packers playoff game range from a little more than $100 to more than $300.
On top of that, fans have to pay for extremely pricey parking and also eating at the concessions stands isn't cheap.
The threat of a blackout even has some lawmakers up in arms.
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission chairman blasting the blackout rule.
He said it's unacceptable at a time when the price of attending games continues to rise while the economy still isn't where it needs to be.
WSOC
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