Vikings: Traffic fears hurting sales

Fear of a potential traffic snarl Sunday has played a "significant" impact in slow ticket sales for the Vikings' season-opening game against Atlanta, a team official said Wednesday.

Interstate 35W, a primary artery to the Metrodome, will be closed both north and south of downtown Minneapolis this weekend. The northern section has been shut down since the Aug. 1 bridge collapse, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation is extending the closure south of the city to the Crosstown exchange for construction.

Both MnDOT and the office of Gov. Tim Pawlenty rebuffed the Vikings' petitions to reschedule the work. Detours are available on I-94 and I-394, as well as on light rail. But Lester Bagley, vice president of public affairs, said the closure — combined with the bridge collapse — has caused "significant impact" on ticket sales.

"As people find out about this construction work," Bagley said, "it has further complicated our [ticket] situation and made it a more significant challenge than it already was."

The Vikings did not publicly update their ticket sales Wednesday, but they had 3,500 remaining as of Tuesday. With a noon deadline looming today to avoid a television blackout, team officials will meet this morning to consider requesting a 24-hour extension from the league — citing traffic concerns as well as the traditionally slow-moving ticket sales during Labor Day weekend.

The Vikings have been dealing with the possibility of a blackout for some time, but their ticket sales slumped noticeably after the bridge tragedy, Bagley said. Fans attending the game from north of the city are now down to one highway: I-94. The effects of the change will be most noticeable on Sunday until fans get used to the new route.

"Once the bridge collapsed, our phones went silent," Bagley said. "Our sales slowed down. There was a significant impact.

"It was a tragedy, and we plan to honor the victims and first responders at the game Sunday. But from a practical business standpoint, it had an impact on our business."

The Vikings met several times last month with MnDOT officials after learning of plans to close the southern portion of I-35W.

"They were very forthcoming and willing to talk to us," Bagley said. "But we were disappointed they've chosen this weekend to do the work. We tried to see if they could change dates, but these things are long-planned, and they were not able to accommodate us and move this particular project."

The Vikings are offering several incentives for fans to beat traffic and arrive early Sunday morning. The first 2,500 people on the Metrodome Plaza will receive a trading card featuring rookie running back Adrian Peterson. About 250 of those cards will be autographed.

"We want to sell tickets and get people to show up," Bagley said, "but we also want to bring this game to fans on local television. We're pulling out all the stops and doing everything we can to try to make things happen. It's a steep hill."

The Vikings could receive corporate help in selling their remaining tickets. One possibility is Fox-owned KMSP (Ch. 9), which is scheduled to air the game.

According to some estimates, the station could lose more than $250,000 in advertising revenue if the game doesn't air locally. That is because the local affiliate gets 16 30-second commercials to sell at anywhere between $15,000 and $20,000.

Staff writer Judd Zulgad contributed to this report.

Kevin Seifert • kseifert@startribune.com