CINCINNATI -- The Bengals win over Denver Monday night clinched their fourth straight playoff berth and has them in line to host at least one playoff game if they beat Pittsburgh this coming Sunday night at Heinz Field.
While there is uncertainty over just where and when the Bengals will play their first postseason game, the team is in the process of selling tickets for any potential home game. Plenty of tickets remain available, said ticket sales manager Andrew Brown, but increased optimism from the win against the Broncos and a potential win at Pittsburgh, combined with new procedures and lower ticket prices are hopeful signs for a sellout.
The Bengals had sluggish sales prior to last year's home playoff game against San Diego but avoided a local TV blackout with a late sales push.
One significant change this year, Brown said, is ticket pricing.
"We worked with the league to lower ticket prices in many areas of the stadium," said Brown. "For the wild card weekend, just as an example, the get-in price is $56 whereas last year that get-in price was $86. So a pretty significant reduction of costs for this wild card playoff game. If we host a divisional round, that same ticket is just $60."
The Bengals weren't the only team that struggled with first-round playoff ticket sales last year. Green Bay and Indianapolis also had trouble before finally selling out their games.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Fox Sports Ohio that the league works with each team individually to set postseason ticket prices.
The Bengals have also changed some purchasing procedures, changes that were brought about after hearing from fans last year. Season ticket holders have the option of paying as they go, purchasing seats only after games have been confirmed. In the past, the team would send out early ticket requests for season ticket holders and have them buy tickets for two games. Public sales are also no longer required as two-game packages.
Brown said the changes were made to provide better flexibility for fans making purchases and budgeting their money.
"They can now just buy that first potential home game, which is reducing that upfront cost for anybody," said Brown. "Should we not host a game, or host a wild card instead of a divisional, they would be refunded any difference for unused credit."
The Bengals (10-4-1) are in first place in the AFC North, one-half game in front of the Steelers (10-5). Whichever team wins Sunday night will win the division and host its first playoff game. As of now, the Bengals are the No. 3 seed in the conference and would host the AFC's No. 6 seed the first weekend of the playoffs on either Jan. 3 or 4. If the Bengals beat the Steelers and if Denver (11-4) were to lose at home against Oakland (3-12) then the Bengals would become the No. 2 seed and have a first-round bye.
New England is locked into the No. 1 seed. The Patriots and the No. 2 seed will host divisional round games on Jan. 10-11 against winners from the wild card weekend.
The 85 percent threshold for ticket sales in order to lift any local TV blackout will still be under effect for the postseason, said Brown, as it has been during this regular season. The Bengals averaged 60,703 fans for their eight home games at Paul Brown Stadium, which has an official capacity of 65.515. That is No. 27 in the NFL attendance rankings heading into the final week of the regular season.
Monday night's crowd of 66,107 was the third largest crowd in stadium history. It was the third straight sellout crowd after reaching 60,000 just once in their first five home games of the season.
