Falcons 1,500 tickets away from avoiding blackout

Staff reports

With less than 24 hours to sell out the Georgia Dome and avoid a television blackout of Sunday’s season opener, the Falcons had 1,500 tickets available Wednesday.

By NFL rules, the Falcons must sell out the stadium by 1 p.m. on Thursday or have the game against Detroit blacked out locally.

On Tuesday, the Falcons offered $10 discounts on single-game tickets for the season opener in an effort to sell out the stadium. The offer is good through Thursday.

The Falcons had two games blacked out locally last season — a Week 9 game against San Francisco and the final game of the year against Seattle.