Vikings to Take Advantage of New Black Out Rule

According to Kevin Siefert of ESPN, the Minnesota Vikings will take advantage of a new rule that allows them to lower the number of sold tickets to achieve a "sellout."

"The Vikings announced they had reduced their "ticket manifest" at the Metrodome, for the purposes of the television rule, by 10 percent. That equates to about 6,000 seats, according to the team, and by my math means the Vikings will need to sell about 54,000 tickets per game to avoid a local blackout instead of 60,000. The stadium's actual capacity hasn't changed and stands at around 64,000 seats."

The catch is that any revenue from tickets sold above the 54,000 will have to be shared with the rest of the NFL at a rate of 50% instead of the regular 34%.

Selling out this season could be a challenge for the Vikings. In addition to be in a rebuilding phase, the team faces home games against such NFL powerhouses as the Jaguars, Titans, Rams, Cardninals and Buccaneers. Like the Vikings, these teams are coming off disappointing 2011 campaigns.