As mentioned on Wednesday morning, the Detroit Lions' preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns on Friday will be televised live locally. Typically preseason games are blacked out and shown on tape delay since sellouts are rare. At the time of the post, it wasn't clear why the game was being shown live since tickets appeared to still be available, but now we have an answer:

Another indication of the excitement surrounding the Lions and start of football. Lions have sold out Friday's preseason opener with Browns.

— Tim Twentyman (@ttwentyman) August 8, 2012

I have to say, I'm pretty surprised and extremely impressed that this game is sold out. Last year, it wasn't a huge shock that the Lions managed to sell out their nationally televised preseason game against the New England Patriots. There was a lot of excitement surrounding the matchup and the fact that it was on national TV, and ticket sales reflected that.

The fact that the Lions have managed to sell out this year's preseason opener just shows how ready fans are for football to return. After making the playoffs a year ago, the Lions are looking to build on last season's success both on and off the field in 2012, and they're off to a great start with a sellout being reached for Friday's game.

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