3,500 tickets remaining

Vikings vice president of sales and marketing Steve LaCroix reports that approximately 3,500 tickets remain for Sunday's game against Oakland.

That's roughly 1,000 more than were unsold at the same time before the last home game against San Diego, which sold out after WCCO/Channel 4 bought up the final 700 tickets.

WCCO vice president and general manager Susan Adams Loyd said the station won't make a decision on buying up tickets for this game until there is a firm, final number and might seek assistance from the Vikings or another local partner.

All tickets must be sold by noon Thursday in order for the game to be televised locally and Loyd said she expects it to go right down to the deadline.

"We had hoped that the Vikings would have a great game this past Sunday so we could carry that momentum into this week," she said, "but that didn't transpire."

WCCO would lose significant advertising revenue if this week's game is blacked out and that also would require a programming change, with Mark Rosen's postgame show scheduled to follow.

The Vikings have sold out 100 consecutive home games since the start of the 1998 season.