According to the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit Lions announced today that 10,000 tickets remain unsold for Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins. If the Lions don't sell out by 1 p.m. tomorrow, their game will be blacked out.
The Lions can earn an extension on that deadline if they are deemed to be close to selling out. They will then have until 1 p.m. Friday to sell the remaining tickets. If they're not sold out by that point, the game will be officially blacked out in the Detroit, Lansing, Saginaw/Flint and Toledo areas. The Lions received extensions for their first two home games, but the remaining tickets those Wednesdays were 3,500 and 4,500, respectively.
Lions fans have become accustomed to black outs in recent years, but this would be the first this season. Half of their games were blacked out last season and I feel like everybody was searching for illegal streams online during 2008 home games, the year the Lions went 0-16.
The Lions may be just 1-5 this season, but they're playing a lot better. With the return of Matthew Stafford and most of the team finally healthy, it'd be disappointing that they couldn't lock up a sell out for this good match up. However, Sunday is Halloween and there's the very reasonable thought that the Lions could ruin an otherwise fun day. It seems people are not willing to let that possibility play out.