San Antonio Spurs officials are looking to balconies and borders

[TechSpurs]

San Antonio Spurs officials are looking to balconies and borders http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6433655/

San Antonio Spurs officials are looking to balconies and borders
By W. Scott Bailey
San Antonio Business Journal

Updated: 7:00 p.m. ET Nov. 7, 2004


If there are any critics who still believe that the San Antonio Spurs shot an air-ball by putting too few seats in SBC Center, they may want to rethink their position.


Instead of turning away thousands of fans from a smaller venue, as many predicted would occur after the team left the larger Alamodome, the Spurs say the challenge of trying to fill the 18,500 seats in their new home has become increasingly difficult.

The Spurs moved out of the cavernous Alamodome and into the more quaint SBC Center in 2002. The Black & Silver christened the new arena by winning their second NBA championship that same season.

Since winning that second le, the Spurs have remained legitimate contenders and are picked by many to win it all again this season. Add to that the fact that the Spurs routinely have one of the most aggressive marketing armies in the NBA and one might expect that sellouts would be automatic.

But that has not been the case. In fact, only days before the Spurs' 2004 home opener against the always tough Sacramento Kings, some 3,000-plus tickets remained unsold.

"Lifestyles have changed. Prices have changed. The universe of people who can purchase a season ticket, who can take 41 nights out of their schedule, has shrunk," explains Spurs Executive Vice President Russ Bookbinder.

And although the Spurs remain in the top 25 percent of the league in season ticket sales, Bookbinder says only 50 percent of the franchise's support comes from the corporate community. Most NBA teams, says Bookbinder, are closer to the 75 percent mark or above.

That has the Spurs scrambling to find enough Joe Fan candidates to fill seats.

"It's been a real challenge filling that building," says Bruce Guthrie, vice president of marketing for the Spurs. "It's becoming an even greater challenge."

Back to the balcony
The Spurs were born in HemisFair Arena, a venerable downtown building where the roof was literally raised in the late 1970s to accommodate a new balcony and thousands more fans. In the early 1990s, the Spurs moved out of HemisFair Arena and into the Alamodome, an indoor football stadium where giant balconies accommodated Spurs crowds that at times topped the 35,000 mark.

In 1999, the team successfully lobbied for the construction of a much smaller venue that would accommodate more premium seating and luxury suites. Spurs Chairman Peter Holt's stump speech was based on the premise that such amenities were necessary for the franchise to remain economically viable.

Plenty of people argued that average fans would find themselves shut out of Spurs games in the smaller SBC Center. The reality of unsold seats has muted that argument.

So the Spurs are making some changes. One of the bigger changes is a redirection of emphasis back on blue-collar fans -- back on the balcony seats.

"The area of opportunity for growth in our franchise is in that balcony level," says Bookbinder. "We've really taken great effort to create an environment and new programming to where that group of fans will feel special. It will be different than it has ever been."

To that end, Spurs fans seated in the upper level will see a rebranding of that area of the building to what will be known as Club 200. The changes, say Guthrie, will include a new logo, signage, live entertainment, promotional giveaways and other activities exclusive to fans closer to the rafters than the rims.

"The needs of our customers have changed," says Bookbinder. "We need to change, too. There are different expectations that now need to be met."

Barriers
The design of newer sports arenas, with an emphasis on premium seating and luxury boxes located close to the action, has created some socio-economic segregation. That reality has often left fans upstairs -- at SBC Center and elsewhere -- feeling somewhat disenfranchised.

"We have found out here and across the NBA," says Guthrie, "that the balcony areas are getting lost in the mix. Fans are feeling removed from the entertainment. We wanted to change that."

The upper deck in SBC Center presented problems for the Spurs from the moment the arena opened in the fall of 2002. There were complaints about steep inclines and insufficient leg-room space between rows.

The Spurs addressed the latter problem.

Now Guthrie says the Spurs hope Club 200 and some other changes will allow upper-deck fans to feel as though they, too, are part of an exclusive club. The ultimate goal is to create more inclusion throughout SBC Center and to drive ticket sales.

H-E-B will be the le sponsor of Club 200 during the 2004-2005 season.

"In a market with a per-capita income like ours," says Bookbinder, "there is a challenge to continue to find that audience. But there is an audience."

Borders
Some of that audience is coming from as far away as Laredo and even Mexico.

The Spurs played Houston in a preseason game in Laredo's new Entertainment Center in October. It was technically a home date for the Rockets, but much of the cheering was clearly for the Spurs.

"It compares very favorably with what we get out of Austin," says Bookbinder about the support the Spurs enjoy from Laredo. "It's a huge market for us. Those people love the Spurs."

As for the Rockets, "I don't think they'll be going back there against us again," Bookbinder says.

Monterrey, Mexico, according to Bookbinder, is another market that loves its Spurs.

"We've had great conversations with Monterrey (officials)," he says. "At some point, we want to get the Spurs into their new arena. Monterrey is a great sister city. There is a lot of activity between our two markets."

Some of that crossover, says Bookbinder, already involves the Spurs. He says a number of Monterrey citizens have homes in San Antonio, too, and are Spurs season ticketholders.

"There is a definite attachment," says Bookbinder. "That's good for us and the NBA."

For now, however, the Spurs want to take care of some business in their own backyard.

"These are different times," says Bookbinder. "People have a lot of other things they can do with their time and money. Things are tougher now."

Adds Guthrie, "It's not cheap going to a Spurs game today. We realize that. But I know one thing; we take nothing for granted around here. We can't afford to."

[Slomo]

I do not know the SBC centre but I remember the first time I saw a game at the Staples centre in LA, my first thought was how obvious the separation between the have and have not was. I had great seats for which I paid a pretty penny, the seats I would normally buy in the old Forum were somewhere above the corporate sky boxes, I think the people on those seats could only follow the game on the big video screens.

Is the situation in the SBC centre as bad as it is in the Staples centre?
How much would you say is the cost of the cheapest seats on the floor level? And how much for the most expensive?

[blackbucket]

I think the SBC center is a much friendlier environment for fans. The sheer size of Staples puts most of the seats further away. Thus, the sightlines in the SBC center are better. I could be wrong but I believe the cheapest ticket on the lower bowl level is $49. The highest (excluding courtside) is $100. You can't compare LA and SA; two completely different markets.

For non-season ticket holders, the only difficult tickets to buy are for games against teams you would expect; ie Miami, LA, Houston and a few others. That is pretty sad. All of those people complaining about the size being too small before it was built need to put their money where their mouths are (or were). Most games, there are plenty of $10 tickets available.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

"Let them eat cake. . .in the balcony seats."

[SequSpur]

Its all starting to come to fruition, I have been saying this crap for years.

[SpursWoman]

"Let them eat cake. . .in the balcony seats."

Hey, man...don't knock it. We had a red carpet & mariachis playing at the last game as you were coming off the escalators.

And we got free shirts.

[Louae]

Well, after getting a taste of sitting seven to nine rows from the court, i'm never attending a game where I'm sitting in the rafters ever again. I paid $80 bucks a seat for those games near courtside and i thought they were well worth it.

I just can't fathom paying $25 to $50 bucks for seats in the rafters when I can see it on TV. For that money, I'd rather watch it at a sports bar and spend money on beer where the seats aren't cramped, I don't have to pay for parking and I don't feel like i'm in a cave.