Bengals optimistic that Sunday's game will sell out

The Cincinnati Bengals ticket office is "optimistic" that Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons will "reach the 85 percent threshold of selling out non-premium seats" by Thursday's deadline, writes the Cincinnati Enquirer.

"It's been a good week for us, busy and productive," said ticket sales manager Andrew Brown via the Enquirer. "I think a win (in this past Sunday's opener in Baltimore) certainly helps, but even beyond that just the start of the regular season gets people fired up, I think."

The team has had a strong week in sales, but needs that to continue. Helping matters is that Cincinnati doesn't need to sell 8,000 tickets after taking part in the 85 percent capacity deal that the league promoted last year.

"The thought process is simple -- we want the games sold out for local TV so as many fans as possible can watch," said Andrew Brown, Bengals director of ticket sales. "Having games on TV locally does not benefit the club financially, but it’s in the best interest of the fan base, and we believe it’s in the club’s best interest as well to make local broadcasts more achievable."

The Bengals have currently sold out 11 consecutive regular season and postseason home games. The last television blackout was when the Bengals hosted Oakland on Nov. 25, 2012. Cincinnati went through an 11-game stretch where 10 games were blacked out from the middle of 2010 into 2011; they've since ended up selling out in all but two games in 2012 and every game in 2013.