Raider-49er Sellout a First of Sorts for L.A.

The Raiders have announced that Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers is sold out. It is the Raiders’ first advance-sale sellout of a regular-season game since the club moved to Los Angeles.

The game will be televised on Channel 2 at 1 p.m.

The Raiders have sold out four other games at the Coliseum, three of them playoffs (their loss to the New York Jets in 1983, their victories over the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks in 1984) plus one regular-season game, against the Denver Broncos a year ago, which they lost in overtime. Only the Seattle game sold out in time to lift the TV blackout--and that only because the deadline was extended 24 hours.

CBS had planned to buy the few remaining tickets before this afternoon’s deadline, to get around the 72-hour blackout rule, but the Raiders sold the last 1,000 tickets Wednesday. A Coliseum sellout is 92,516.

A huge block was purchased by Bay Area fans, including some by East Bay Raider booster clubs.

A United Airlines spokesman said that every United San Francisco-Los Angeles Sunday flight between 6:30 a.m. and game time is full, that every other airline flying the route is full, too, and that seven charters are also coming down.

Raider Coach Tom Flores said at his weekly media breakfast that Don Mosebar will probably start at center in place of Dave Dalby.

Dalby has played in 191 straight games, second in Raider history to the franchise’s first center, Jim Otto. Jim Romano started several games at center last season, but Dalby did play in them. Dalby has a sore ankle and a turf toe.

Flores also said his other injured player, left tackle Shelby Jordan, who has had an abdomen pull, has improved, but Bruce Davis will start.