With the Lions 1,700 tickets shy of reaching a sellout for Sunday's home opener, the NFL granted a 24-hour extension on Thursday afternoon, giving the organization until 1 p.m. Friday to sell the remaining tickets or have the game blacked out on local television.

Despite the attraction of the visiting Vikings' Brett Favre and Adrian Peterson, as well as the Lions' own future franchise quarterback, Matthew Stafford, more than 4,000 tickets remained unsold as of Wednesday afternoon. Brisk sales cut that number more than in half by the 1 p.m. Thursday deadline (72 hours before kickoff), earning the Lions the one-day deadline extension.

The Lions, who have sold out every home opener since the 1998 season at the Silverdome, were blacked out for five of the last six home games last year. The lone exception was the Thanksgiving Day game, when the team used another extension from the NFL to reach sellout status. Until last season, the Lions had not been blacked out since moving to Ford Field in 2002.