Vikings fans: Fed up or fired up?

If you're throwing a party to watch the Vikings' playoff game on that nice new high-definition television of yours, you might want to reconsider. Attending the game might be the only way to see it.

The Vikings announced Monday that approximately 20,000 tickets remain for Sunday's game against the Eagles at the Metrodome. That daunting number shouts out a very real possibility that the Vikings' first home playoff game in eight years will be blacked out in the Twin Cities and many secondary markets.

Although the threat existed in recent years, the Vikings haven't had a blackout since the 1997 regular-season finale. An NFL playoff game has not been blacked out in a local market since Miami-area residents were unable to see the Dolphins play host to Baltimore on Jan. 13, 2002.

The surplus of tickets for Sunday's game, scheduled to be shown on KMSP (Ch. 9), exists because only about 55 percent of the team's 55,000 season-ticket holders elected to buy playoff tickets.

Steve LaCroix, Vikings vice president of sales and marketing, cited the economic climate and general apprehension from season-ticket holders about the team's playoff chances as two factors.

"Obviously, the holidays get in the way as far as the fans and their personal schedules, and I do think there was a good chunk of our fan base that wanted to wait and see if we got in," he said Monday. "It's a lot of our fan base waking up this morning and realizing, 'Hey, I haven't secured my seats yet.' So it's been a very active day at the ticket office."

The Vikings have rattled their fans' confidence with painful stumbles. They flirted with a playoff berth last year, but lost a late home game to Washington to miss out. This season, they blew their first chance to make it, losing at home to Atlanta, before edging the Giants 20-19 on Sunday to get in.

The game must be sold out 72 hours before Sunday's 3:30 p.m. kickoff to avert a blackout. The NFL requires the Vikings to sell 62,000 tickets to consider a Metrodome game sold out. The league often grants 24-hour extensions if teams show progress in sales, but the Vikings sales staff faces a monumental task after the franchise qualified for the playoffs for the first time since the 2004 season.

Tickets are being sold for between $160 and $30 after going for between $126 and $25 during the regular season. The Vikings worked with the NFL on establishing the prices for the playoffs -- the team sets regular-season rates -- and all ticket revenues go to the league.

Former Vikings long snapper Mike Morris, now the host of the morning show on KFAN Radio (1130 AM), said many fans, including himself, were probably skeptical the Vikings would make the playoffs. "I think they are surprised they did this well," he said. "The fans wanted to see the Vikings prove it on the field before they went and bought a ticket. But the team found its way into the playoffs."

LaCroix has experience dealing with potential blackouts in recent years. Over the past two seasons, the Vikings needed corporate help to reach a sellout on eight occasions. The team needed an extension this season to sell out its game on Sept. 12 against Carolina.

But in those situations, LaCroix said, the most tickets that needed to be sold on the Monday before a game was 5,000. Vikings coach Brad Childress and others in the organization spoke Monday about the importance of home-field advantage.

"We really ask the fans to come out," owner Zygi Wilf said. "I know this is the first home playoff game we've had in some time and it came quite suddenly. We're asking the fans to really come out and support us."

In some places, there seemed to be playoff fever. At the Minnesota Vikings Locker Room in Rosedale, sales clerk Eric Watzelt was fielding phone calls Monday about new Vikings division championship caps and T-shirts. Customer traffic came in spurts, Watzelt said, standing by a rack of NFC North Division champion T-shirts with the emblazoned slogan: "Believe in now."

Kristin Lessard, 27, believes and has the purple face paint to prove it at Vikings games. "I thought they would go to the Super Bowl from Day 1," said Lessard, of Minneapolis.

Mike Lott, who has managed the store for two years, said business picks up when the Vikings win. He tries to keep the fans upbeat, win or lose.

"When the Vikes win, they are all smiles. If they lose, a lot of people are down and depressed," Lott said. Store sales follow a similar pattern.

Last month the NFL announced playoff ticket prices would be decreased by an average of 10 percent from last year. As part of concessions to the slow economy, the Vikings don't require season-ticket holders to make a payment on potential playoff tickets and instead enable customers to buy tickets on a per-game basis.

In addition to the potential blackout on KMSP, secondary markets such as Alexandria, Redwood Falls, Austin, Mankato, Rochester and Mason City, Iowa, also would not get the game on television. In general, localities within a 75-mile radius of the team's home stadium are subject to the blackout. The exact distance varies based on the market.

LaCroix had conversations with Carol Rueppel, vice president and general manager of KMSP about the situation.

The Fox affiliate has stepped in to buy tickets in previous situations to help avert a blackout -- in part because a blackout costs the station valuable advertising revenue -- but the number of available tickets would have to be drastically cut from the current figure for Fox to be in a position to help. Rueppel did not return a call seeking a comment. Fox stands to lose the $16,000 to $20,000 it would make for the 16 local advertising spots during Sunday's game. That means the potential loss of as much as $320,000 in ad revenue for the game.

Staff writer Jim Adams contributed to this report.