Falcons game sold out, will be televised

Flowery Branch — The Falcons’ season opener will be televised locally after several team sponsors purchased the remaining tickets Thursday to make the game a sellout.

WXIA, WATL and Comcast purchased the tickets for Sunday’s

1 p.m. game against Detroit.

According to NFL rules, a game must be sold out 72 hours before kickoff to be televised locally. The team announced Wednesday that 1,500 tickets remained unsold. Those needed to be sold by 1 p.m. Thursday.

The tickets will go to the Metro Atlanta Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, according to the team. The Red Cross will distribute tickets to evacuees of Hurricane Gustav remaining in Atlanta and to the volunteers who worked in the evacuation effort.

“We’d like to thank our friends at WXIA-TV, WATL-TV and Comcast for helping us sell out Sunday’s game,” Falcons president Rich McKay said in a statement. “We are always proud to partner with organizations that seek to improve our community in a positive way. Because of their generous support, many deserving people will have the opportunity to see the Falcons make their 2008 regular season debut.”

The Falcons, two of whose games were blacked out last season, offered discounted tickets earlier.

FALCONS SEASON OPENER

• Who: vs. Lions

• When: 1 p.m. Sunday

• TV; radio: Fox; 92.9 FM