#Chargers using Groupon to sell tickets

The Chargers, in what has been an uphill effort this season to sell tickets, have turned to an outside service.

They’ve partnered with Groupon, an online daily discount company, to offer a package for Sunday’s game against the Panthers. This is the first time the Chargers have sold tickets through Groupon, a team spokesman said.

The $68-per-person deal combines one pass for “endzone-level seating” and a $20 voucher for food and drinks at a stadium concession stand,according to the website.

As many as eight packages can be purchased in one order. Saturday is the deadline to do so.

“Sixty-eight dollars is the face value,” a Ticketmaster rep said Tuesday evening, referring to the game ticket. It would carry an $8.25 convenience charge when purchased online through Ticketmaster and not include the $20 voucher.

The Chargers could use a spark in the box office.

This would be their third straight home blackout and fourth in the past six games. Since 2010, eight of the team's 16 home games not in prime-time have been blacked out.

The Groupon deal launched Monday.

As of then, nearly 13,000 general tickets were unsold for Sunday’s game. If not enough tickets are sold by 1:05 p.m. Thursday, the NFL will block the game from being televised within 75 miles of the stadium or areas whose television signals reach that zone.