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good luck to the blazers on making it. Solid team
http://portland.bizjournals.com/port...l?ana=e_du_pub
With the NBA’s playoff picture far from settled, the Portland Trail Blazers are banking the team will play in the postseason.
The team said Thursday it will offer playoff tickets to season ticketholders while simultaneously rolling out 2009-2010 packages that include a 6.7 percent average price increase.
The Blazers will announce the package in letters to season ticketholders Friday. Only the San Antonio Spurs have put playoff tickets on sale more quickly.
“It’s always a risk to do something like this, and by no means are we representing that we’ll definitely make the playoffs,” said Sarah Mensah, the team’s chief marketing officer. “But this year, we think we have a legitimate reason to be thinking about it and we think making it is a strong possibility. And even if we don’t, we’re going to have a great team for the next several years.”
The team’s 30-18 record puts it in fourth place among Western Conference teams. Eight teams in the conference will make the playoffs.
The team acknowledges that it’s difficult to raise prices during a recession, but said many Rose Garden seats have been heavily discounted in recent years.
“Two years ago, we started aggressively campaigning to get people into the building to see a vastly improved team,” Mensah said. “There were things like the Steal of the Game” a television promotion that counter-sold such items as food and drink specials with affordable tickets.
“We’ve eliminated those price categories,” Mensah said by way of explaining the mostly across-the-board increase. “We were so mindful of the economy. It was at the front of our mind as a concern as we determine the best course of action to take here. We took really strong measures to make sure there’s an affordable plan for every fan.”
Most of the price increases apply to lower bowl seats. In the upper bowl, seats that sold for $35 this year will sell for $45, $12 seats will sell for $15 and seats that sold for an average of $6.80 will sell for $9.
“This year, anyone in the promotional price category still saw the product on the floor’s value continue to rise,” Mensah said.
The Blazers will maintain its Lexus Club seating that features a free buffet for game attendees. It will also continue to offer package discounts to longtime fans based on the number of years they’ve held the seats. For instance, a fan who’s held the tickets for 10 years will receive a 10 percent discount. The discounts are capped at 20 percent.
Fans will be able to “pay as they play,” meaning they wouldn’t need to pay for playoff games until the Blazers postseason run ends.
Mensah said the team’s attendance rate, of 88.4 percent, is the league’s highest. The term refers to the number of fans who actually come through the turnstiles, as opposed to the number of tickets sold.
The Rose Garden holds 19,980, but the team often sells 1,000 standing-room only seats.
Mensah said while the team had collected about 43 percent more in sponsorship dollars when this year’s season began, the team is hoping to merely remain steady next year. Nearly all NBA franchises expect to lose sponsors as the recession deepens.
“Sports is still a tremendous investment for people even during difficult times,” Mensah said. “Right now, we’re seeing businesses and companies shuttering, and that will more than likely have an effect on us. I wouldn’t project that we’ll do a tremendous uptick over last year in the corporate area, and in fact, we want to maintain all the relationships we have.”
Mensah said that television ratings have soared, by 46 percent on broadcast television and 34 percent for games televised on the Comcast’s Northwest sports network. Visits to the team’s Web site are up by 29 percent, she said.
good luck to the blazers on making it. Solid team
Hopefully this isn't a jinx to the team...... internet voodoo has been strong lately. I better start saving some money up I guess. Gotta get the usual lexus club for a game or two
Lol
Good news about the price increase. Makes sense with this economy.
They've threatened to sue anyone that doesn't buy Blazers playoff tickets. Season ticket holders will have their tickets revoked and re-sold as a penalty for not buying playoff tickets, as it is deemed "contrary to the good of the team".
I know Utah is a couple of games back but this is like asking for jinxing.
wow...
This thread officially belongs to Obstructed_View.
The ticket price increases are to cover a certain...hahmm...unexpected $9M expense that cropped up this season.
Wow they sure are confident. Smart move raising prices in a recession.
remember this date. i think they jinxed it.
holy . you guys have 6.80 dollar seats? damn i would go to at least 10 games a year
this is the biggest premature ejaculation move ever since the dallas victory parade. and if they fail... this will go down as the most embarrassing, bar none.
Naw still 2nd to Dallas victory parade.
Portland will be announcing the details for the victory parade ceremony on March 12...
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