CosmicCowboy
02-02-2005, 02:11 PM
and get a free Blazers ticket...:lmao
TLong...thats PATHETIC!
Rose Garden numbers don’t add up
Attendance at Blazer games keeps dropping, but few agree on how much, and at what price
By KERRY EGGERS Issue date: Tue, Feb 1, 2005
The Tribune Despite unprecedented marketing campaigns — “buy eight gallons of gas and get a free Blazer ticket” — the Rose Garden has never looked so empty during Trail Blazer games.
According to an official internal NBA document given to the Portland Tribune, average paid attendance (tickets sold) for home games through Jan. 11 was 9,843, down about 13 percent from the 11,343 average at the same time last season (the arena seats 19,980 people). Portland ranks 28th in the league in average paid attendance, ahead of only Atlanta and New Jersey, according to an NBA source.
The league average, excluding expansion team Charlotte, is 13,646, up 2.84 percent from this time a year ago. Detroit (with an average of 19,536) leads the NBA in tickets sold.
Trail Blazer President Steve Patterson disputed the 9,843 figure, saying it didn’t count people in courtside, preferred and suite seating. How many customers would that mean a night? “I don’t want to make a guess,” the Blazer executive said.
However, the source said, the NBA does include courtside, preferred and suite seating in its average paid attendance figures.
Portland’s “official” attendance — averaging what the team announces as its attendance at each game — through 15 games this season is 16,558 (82.8 percent of its capacity), which ranks 18th among NBA clubs. Those figures are for “tickets distributed,” meaning sold or given away and would include no-shows.
Teams do not release turnstile attendance figures, which reflect how many spectators actually are at an arena on a given night. Before last Wednesday’s home date with Dallas, security personnel were told by Blazer officials to expect a crowd of about 11,000. Attendance was announced at 16,402.
Why the disparity?
“The higher figure would include comp (complimentary) tickets, plus padding the house,” the Portland Tribune’s source said. “It varies from club to club, but (releasing inflated attendance figures) is pretty standard throughout the league. The Blazers may not be more egregious in that than anyone else.”
Are Blazer attendance figures padded?
“No,” Patterson claims, adding he would guess an average Blazer turnstile count would show “14,000 or 15,000 in the building” for each home date.
The box-office landscape at the Rose Garden has changed dramatically over its 10 years of existence.
For the first seven seasons beginning in 1995-96, the Blazers had more than 13,000 in season ticket sales, suites were sold out, and courtside and preferred seating were between 95 percent and 97 percent capacity.
For the first three seasons after the $262 million arena opened, attendance was near or at full capacity of 21,500 for every home date. After owner Paul Allen ordered the arena downsized to 19,980 in 1998-99 — he liked the look of every seat being filled — the Blazers went through two full seasons and a string of 88 straight regular-season sellouts that ended early in the 2001-02 season. There were whispers that the Blazers purchased and gave away some tickets to keep the streak alive, but a Garden seat was still a precious commodity.
These are different times. Season tickets for the 2004-05 campaign are at about 7,000, according to Patterson. Preferred ticket sales — for 2,500 seats — are way down, and 30 of the arena’s 70 suites are dark, with some of the other 40 in the final year of their lease.
TLong...thats PATHETIC!
Rose Garden numbers don’t add up
Attendance at Blazer games keeps dropping, but few agree on how much, and at what price
By KERRY EGGERS Issue date: Tue, Feb 1, 2005
The Tribune Despite unprecedented marketing campaigns — “buy eight gallons of gas and get a free Blazer ticket” — the Rose Garden has never looked so empty during Trail Blazer games.
According to an official internal NBA document given to the Portland Tribune, average paid attendance (tickets sold) for home games through Jan. 11 was 9,843, down about 13 percent from the 11,343 average at the same time last season (the arena seats 19,980 people). Portland ranks 28th in the league in average paid attendance, ahead of only Atlanta and New Jersey, according to an NBA source.
The league average, excluding expansion team Charlotte, is 13,646, up 2.84 percent from this time a year ago. Detroit (with an average of 19,536) leads the NBA in tickets sold.
Trail Blazer President Steve Patterson disputed the 9,843 figure, saying it didn’t count people in courtside, preferred and suite seating. How many customers would that mean a night? “I don’t want to make a guess,” the Blazer executive said.
However, the source said, the NBA does include courtside, preferred and suite seating in its average paid attendance figures.
Portland’s “official” attendance — averaging what the team announces as its attendance at each game — through 15 games this season is 16,558 (82.8 percent of its capacity), which ranks 18th among NBA clubs. Those figures are for “tickets distributed,” meaning sold or given away and would include no-shows.
Teams do not release turnstile attendance figures, which reflect how many spectators actually are at an arena on a given night. Before last Wednesday’s home date with Dallas, security personnel were told by Blazer officials to expect a crowd of about 11,000. Attendance was announced at 16,402.
Why the disparity?
“The higher figure would include comp (complimentary) tickets, plus padding the house,” the Portland Tribune’s source said. “It varies from club to club, but (releasing inflated attendance figures) is pretty standard throughout the league. The Blazers may not be more egregious in that than anyone else.”
Are Blazer attendance figures padded?
“No,” Patterson claims, adding he would guess an average Blazer turnstile count would show “14,000 or 15,000 in the building” for each home date.
The box-office landscape at the Rose Garden has changed dramatically over its 10 years of existence.
For the first seven seasons beginning in 1995-96, the Blazers had more than 13,000 in season ticket sales, suites were sold out, and courtside and preferred seating were between 95 percent and 97 percent capacity.
For the first three seasons after the $262 million arena opened, attendance was near or at full capacity of 21,500 for every home date. After owner Paul Allen ordered the arena downsized to 19,980 in 1998-99 — he liked the look of every seat being filled — the Blazers went through two full seasons and a string of 88 straight regular-season sellouts that ended early in the 2001-02 season. There were whispers that the Blazers purchased and gave away some tickets to keep the streak alive, but a Garden seat was still a precious commodity.
These are different times. Season tickets for the 2004-05 campaign are at about 7,000, according to Patterson. Preferred ticket sales — for 2,500 seats — are way down, and 30 of the arena’s 70 suites are dark, with some of the other 40 in the final year of their lease.