Chargers Ask Sponsors To Help Sell Out Thursday Night Football In San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Several corporate sponsors stepped up to help save the San Diego Chargers the embarrassment of having Thursday night's NFL Network game against the Kansas City Chiefs blacked out on local TV.

The NFL Network began showing Thursday night games in 2006 and has never had one blacked out.

The Chargers said the sponsors guaranteed the purchase of enough tickets to lift the blackout, which at one point seemed a certainty. Those tickets will be donated to local military bases and military hospitals.

The team wouldn't say how many tickets had to be sold by the deadline of 5:20 p.m. Monday, but it was believed to be approximately 10,000.

Among the companies helping buy tickets were the local CBS affiliate, which will show the game, and two restaurants in which Chargers president Dean Spanos owns stock.

San Diego (3-4) has lost three straight games, including two in which it blew double-digit leads in the second half. The Chargers lost 7-6 at Cleveland on Sunday and hasn't scored a touchdown in six straight quarters.

Kansas City is 1-6, tied with Carolina and Jacksonville for the NFL's worst record.

The Chargers had tried to move tickets to the Chiefs game by packaging them with tickets to a more attractive Monday night matchup against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos on Oct. 15.

The Chargers have had one game blacked out this season, a loss to Atlanta on Sept. 23.