Hawks gave away an average of 5000 tickets a game last season

[HawkItus]

http://www.cbssports.com/print/nba/story/11934840

Head straight to gate for sign of weakness in NBA money machine

July 8, 2009

By Ken Berger

CBSSports.com Senior Writer

Tell Ken your opinion!

As the NBA ushered in its official free-agent signing period Wednesday, the usually feverish pace of trades, signings and huge contracts slowed to a crawl. The summer of 2009 has been a wakeup call for players and teams who've rarely known anything but booming economic times.

Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza, who would've been in heavy demand any other year, had to settle for the mid-level exception starting at $5.854 million next season. Restricted free agents David Lee and Paul Millsap are still waiting for lucrative offer sheets that might never come. Mike Bibby, who has been a $10 million-plus player for the past five seasons, squeezed out a three-year, $18 million deal to stay in Atlanta. As you might imagine in this economy, he couldn't be happier.

Potential free agents Kobe Bryant and Carlos Boozer opted to blow off the process altogether, keeping their current contracts intact rather than foolishly entering a buyer's market. Boozer, due to make $12.7 million next season, realized he wasn't going to exceed that as an unrestricted free agent. The richest agreements to this point, Ben Gordon to the Pistons and Hedo Turkoglu to the Raptors, will be in the $10 million to $11 million range in the first year of their new deals.

NBA economics: The league's best and worst

The five-year contracts for Gordon and Turkoglu are worth $55 million and $53 million. For comparison's sake, Gilbert Arenas re-signed with the Wizards last summer for six years at $111 million, and Elton Brand landed $82 million over five years from the Sixers. Two summers ago, Rashard Lewis reeled in a six-year, $118 million deal from the Magic.

The grim facts about how the recession has affected the NBA business have been delivered to executive offices throughout the league. In its annual memo setting the financial structure for the upcoming season, the NBA unveiled the widely expected news Tuesday night that the salary cap and luxury tax both will decline for the 2009-10 season. The salary cap will be $57.7 million, a modest decline of $980,000. The luxury tax threshold, after which teams are penalized $1 for each additional $1 in payroll, will be $69.92 million -- a decline of $1.23 million.

But the league's assertion in its news release that basketball-related income (BRI) -- upon which the salary cap is based -- actually increased 2.5 percent during the 2008-09 season doesn't tell the whole story.

A memo sent to all 30 teams warned that a reduction of between 2.5 percent and 5 percent in BRI is anticipated next season, which would send the 2010-11 salary cap plummeting as low as $50.4 million -- a level not seen in five years. A 5 percent reduction in revenue would set the '10-11 luxury tax threshold at $61.2 million.

The 5 percent scenario is in line with what many teams already were projecting, and is significantly better than the doomsday prediction of a 10 percent decline that commissioner David Stern floated (to little fanfare) during the NBA Finals.

• Union angry | Cap drops

Analysis of a league-wide revenue report for the 2008-09 season obtained by CBSSports.com helps to explain how and why the dollars are eroding.

Regular-season gate receipts -- the money generated by individual ticket sales and all forms of season-ticket plans -- declined $2.66 million league-wide in 2008-09. That's a minuscule 0.2 percent in a business that generated $1.1 billion in gate revenue the previous season.

But the results varied widely among the 30 teams, reflecting a growing chasm between haves and have-nots. Fifteen teams suffered declines in gate receipts last season, the worst being the New Jersey Nets, whose ticket revenue declined $11.4 million, a 29 percent drop from 2007-08. It's no wonder the Nets want so badly to move to a new arena in Brooklyn. The figures also peel away any curiosity over the Nets' decision to trade Vince Carter, scheduled to make $16.3 million next season. Carter, an eight-time All-Star, went to Orlando along with Ryan Anderson for the expiring contracts of Tony Battie and Rafer Alston, plus bargain-basement shooting guard Courtney Lee, due to make only $1.3 million next season.

The Bucks' decision to dump Richard Jefferson and his $14.2 million salary on the Spurs in exchange for expiring contracts was thought to be a prelude to Milwaukee's bid to keep restricted free agent Charlie Villanueva. But Bucks GM John Hammond, trying to get the team's finances in order, didn't even extend a qualifying offer to Villanueva, who became an unrestricted free agent and signed with the Pistons.

If restricted free agent Ramon Sessions gets a decent offer sheet, the Bucks might not retain him, either. It's easy to understand why if you examine Milwaukee's $3.6 million decline in gate receipts last season, a drop of nearly 18 percent, according to the figures obtained by CBSSports.com. The Bucks were one of only five teams in the league to generate less than $500,000 in gate receipts per home game, according to the data. The Pacers, Hawks, Timberwolves and Grizzlies were the others. Only the Hawks made the playoffs.

After the Nets, the next hardest-hit team was Sacramento, whose gate receipts declined $9.7 million, or 23 percent, in 2008-09. The Kings were one of only a handful of teams with significant salary-cap space to sign free agents this summer -- joining Detroit, Oklahoma City and Memphis -- but have wisely stayed on the sideline.

Other teams sustaining massive declines at the gate were the Raptors ($9.1 million), Pistons ($7.7 million), Clippers ($6.8 million) and Heat ($5.3 million). The Wizards, Bobcats and Pacers each went down more than $4 million.

The most interesting case is Oklahoma City, whose gate receipts increased $27.2 million last season, a 145 percent jump over the franchise's final season in Seattle. Jim Grinstead, publisher of the trade publication Revenues from Sports Venues, said the one-time bump from a new arena in an expansion city overshadowed the struggles in many other cities -- and can't be counted on again. If the team had merely experienced flat ticket revenues compared to the previous season in Seattle, the league as a whole would have posted an $11.1 million decline in gate receipts, according to analysis by CBSSports.com. Once the novelty wears off, the NBA will no longer be able to bank on such a boost from one of its smallest-market teams.

"I wouldn't call them a savior," said Grinstead, whose publication tracks arena revenues in all major sports. "I would say it made this year a lot better than it could have been otherwise."

To a degree, NBA teams are insulated from downturns in the economy because they share the league's eight-year, $7.4 billion national broadcast rights contract, which just completed its second season. But Grinstead said teams still derive a significant portion of revenues from their arenas in the form of individual tickets, season-ticket plans, parking, concessions and sponsorships. Those are the sources of income that are most vulnerable during a recession.

• Graphic: Fans pick up tab

While the NBA claims that its arenas were at 90.4 percent capacity last season, that figure doesn't account for comp tickets and people who don't show up. According to the league data, an average of 14,072 fans actually attended NBA games last season, putting average arena capacity at 73 percent.

Paid tickets are good, but teams prefer to fill seats with people who are paying for parking and concessions. The teams that struggled the most to get people through the turnstiles last season were Memphis (7,570 per game), Minnesota (8,969), Charlotte (9,404), Indiana (10,057), Sacramento (10,188), Milwaukee (10,884) and Washington (11,030).

If a certain number of tickets can't be sold, Grinstead said teams prefer to give them away -- or "comp" them -- in the hopes that those fans will show up and spend money on food, souvenirs and parking. But too many comp tickets can also mean lost revenues. Three teams shared the dubious honor of handing out an average of more than 5,000 free tickets per game last season: the Hawks (5,616), Nets (5,213) and Timberwolves (5,205).

Even two perennial attendance powers, the Pistons and Heat, struggled to get fans to show up this past season. The Pistons, at the epicenter of the depressed Michigan economy, saw their streak of 259 consecutive sellouts end and posted actual attendance of only 77 percent capacity (16,957) in the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Heat, despite making the playoffs and having the No. 3 MVP vote-getter, Dwyane Wade, were at 70 percent capacity with only 13,578 showing up per game. Even the Thunder, among the 12 teams generating more than $1 million in gate receipts per home date, had trouble getting actual people into their arena, which was at 75 percent capacity (14,415).

With numbers like that, it's no wonder the usual free-agent spending spree took a hiatus -- one that almost certainly will last beyond this summer and might even get worse.

Edited July 10, 2009 by sultanofatl

[kamillion]

I got free tickets...... GOOD SEATS ($100+ each)-- 2 tickets... to a game vs. the wizards via a ASG salesperson.

I DID actually reward them for the gift, though. I bought my wife's cousin (14) food, some souvenirs, and bought myself a shirt and this hat right here

<--------------------

I think it takes time to get steady fans coming out-- even though its been 2 straight playoff appearances- its like atlanta got energized behind these guys when

a.- a big team comes to town

b.- the playoffs actually START

we all know how fickle it can be- but I would argue that it IS moving well into the right direction in regards to becoming an NBA city.

Just listen to how much more air-time the Hawks get during 680 the fan programming. Hawks talk during the OFF-SEASON?

remember- they don't talk it unless it keeps listeners' attention. Its not like they are the Hawks radio home, either.

[TheDude]

the fans will come...and they are....what brings fans out is stars or elite teams....if we become elite or if teague actually does become some type of star, more will come....

bring david andersen over....that is all.

[jy23]

So many people here came from other places and have loyalties to other teams but I think that with the team being consitent for another year or 2 we will win over more fans and will actually be a sellout team. We're on our way there!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I know most people won't care about this article, but it pisses me off.

1) People on this board criticized the hell out of me a few years back, when I was flat out telling some of the so-called die hard Hawk fans to go to the games and support the Hawks UNCONDITIONALLY. This pretty much supports everything that I was talking about back then. Those numbers tell you all you need to know about Atlanta.

2) We won 31 home games last year. 31. And we STILL were giving away 5,600+ tickets and couldn't even average more than $500K a game at the gate? 4+ million in Metro Atlanta . . and probably another 2 million within a 2 hour drive to Atlanta, and we have those numbers at the arena and at the gate?

That's fuggin pathetic.

And that was my point even back then. It's not like the Hawks have been a bad home team the past 2 years. With a home record of 56 -26 the last 2 years at home . . including 6 -3 home playoff record, you'd think that Hawks would have no problem at the gate. Yet, we STILL have to give away that many tickets and not generate a lot of revenue at the gate, because people aren't going to the games? Then people why we don't make the type of moves that other teams make?

I'll say it again, and I don't if any native Atlantan gets mad at me when I say this. Atlanta is a BANDWAGON town. Anybody can support a championship caliber team, or support the team in the playoffs. The fan base needs to support it during the regular season as well.

The excuse that "oh . . everybody is from somewhere else" argument can only fly for so long. The downtown crime excuse is null and void, because it's virtually non-existant during Hawk games.

So if you call yourself a Hawk fan, you have to start supporting this team AT THE ARENA.

There are some people on this board who do just that, and I thank them for it. I would be right alongside them for most games, if I lived in Metro ATL. Some of you others simply need to step it up, and support your favorite team at the arena by buying tickets.

3) On a purely selfish level . . . ish . . . let me get a couple of FREE TICKETS per year, if they're giving away 5,600+ anyway. I drive to ATL 5 - 10 times a year SOLELY to watch the Hawks play. And I usually get 200 LEVEL tickets when I do watch them ( $50 - $65 a pop ). And unlike most, I'm not a mere 15 - 45 minute drive from Philips Arena. LOL . . I'm 4 - 4.5 hours away from that mo-fo. I probably make it to more games, than a few of these people on this board who live in ATL.

So damn . . how about passing me one or two free 100 CLUB LEVEL tickets a year, as a token of appreciation for my long distance support? I had a scalper sell me a 100 LEVEL ticket last year for the Rockets game . . for $60, because I bought it about 5 minutes before tip-off. They were easily the best seats I'd ever had at Philips. And the food on the club level side is unbelievable. Or better yet, sell me those tickets for 1/2 price, so I can still monetarily support the team.

4) If the salary cap drops as dramatically as they described ( 50 - 52 million ), with the luxury tax dropping to 61 million, we just might lose JJ for that reason alone. And it might cost us Marvin this year, without getting anyone back in return. Even if the ASG is willing to pay 65+ million in contracts now, they may balk at paying that much in the future, just to keep this core together.

I live in Tennessee, so I knew exactly what the Grizzlies were going through. Those attendance and revenue numbers don't suprise me at all. That's another reason why they should lock up Allen Iverson ASAP. Even if he's not as good as he used to be, he's a box office draw nonetheless. People in Memphis may come out to see AI, especially if he can make that team competitive again.

But the Hawks last season posting those kind of numbers? That's pathetic.

Edited July 11, 2009 by northcyde

[EazyRoc]

Although I was working and in school for most of the season, I managed to make it to 5 games (I even got club level seats to the Jazz game, man Dominique Wilkins is huge). I'm going to follow suit and call out Atlanta based Hawks fans to come to games. The arena experience is actually fairly entertaining, and somehow Kiss cam never gets old. I had a great time, and left the arena hoarse almost every time.

[buckeye242424]

I know most people won't care about this article, but it pisses me off.

1) People on this board criticized the hell out of me a few years back, when I was flat out telling some of the so-called die hard Hawk fans to go to the games and support the Hawks UNCONDITIONALLY. This pretty much supports everything that I was talking about back then. Those numbers tell you all you need to know about Atlanta.

2) We won 31 home games last year. 31. And we STILL were giving away 5,600+ tickets and couldn't even average more than $500K a game at the gate? 4+ million in Metro Atlanta . . and probably another 2 million within a 2 hour drive to Atlanta, and we have those numbers at the arena and at the gate?

That's fuggin pathetic.

And that was my point even back then. It's not like the Hawks have been a bad home team the past 2 years. With a home record of 56 -26 the last 2 years at home . . including 6 -3 home playoff record, you'd think that Hawks would have no problem at the gate. Yet, we STILL have to give away that many tickets and not generate a lot of revenue at the gate, because people aren't going to the games? Then people why we don't make the type of moves that other teams make?

I'll say it again, and I don't if any native Atlantan gets mad at me when I say this. Atlanta is a BANDWAGON town. Anybody can support a championship caliber team, or support the team in the playoffs. The fan base needs to support it during the regular season as well.

The excuse that "oh . . everybody is from somewhere else" argument can only fly for so long. The downtown crime excuse is null and void, because it's virtually non-existant during Hawk games.

So if you call yourself a Hawk fan, you have to start supporting this team AT THE ARENA.

There are some people on this board who do just that, and I thank them for it. I would be right alongside them for most games, if I lived in Metro ATL. Some of you others simply need to step it up, and support your favorite team at the arena by buying tickets.

3) On a purely selfish level . . . ish . . . let me get a couple of FREE TICKETS per year, if they're giving away 5,600+ anyway. I drive to ATL 5 - 10 times a year SOLELY to watch the Hawks play. And I usually get 200 LEVEL tickets when I do watch them ( $50 - $65 a pop ). And unlike most, I'm not a mere 15 - 45 minute drive from Philips Arena. LOL . . I'm 4 - 4.5 hours away from that mo-fo. I probably make it to more games, than a few of these people on this board who live in ATL.

So damn . . how about passing me one or two free 100 CLUB LEVEL tickets a year, as a token of appreciation for my long distance support? I had a scalper sell me a 100 LEVEL ticket last year for the Rockets game . . for $60, because I bought it about 5 minutes before tip-off. They were easily the best seats I'd ever had at Philips. And the food on the club level side is unbelievable. Or better yet, sell me those tickets for 1/2 price, so I can still monetarily support the team.

4) If the salary cap drops as dramatically as they described ( 50 - 52 million ), with the luxury tax dropping to 61 million, we just might lose JJ for that reason alone. And it might cost us Marvin this year, without getting anyone back in return. Even if the ASG is willing to pay 65+ million in contracts now, they may balk at paying that much in the future, just to keep this core together.

I live in Tennessee, so I knew exactly what the Grizzlies were going through. Those attendance and revenue numbers don't suprise me at all. That's another reason why they should lock up Allen Iverson ASAP. Even if he's not as good as he used to be, he's a box office draw nonetheless. People in Memphis may come out to see AI, especially if he can make that team competitive again.

But the Hawks last season posting those kind of numbers? That's pathetic.

Geesh northcyde! Take it easy....LOL

Seriously, you have some valid points. I'd be there if I could supporting our boyz...but I live in Ohio.

[Dsinner]

I know most people won't care about this article, but it pisses me off.

1) People on this board criticized the hell out of me a few years back, when I was flat out telling some of the so-called die hard Hawk fans to go to the games and support the Hawks UNCONDITIONALLY. This pretty much supports everything that I was talking about back then. Those numbers tell you all you need to know about Atlanta.

last season posting those kind of numbers? That's pathetic.

What you were saying wasn't really the problem...HOW you were saying it was. Mabye do it with a little less "holier than thou" attitude next time and you'll be amazed at how your point may be taken.

[foeteen14]

I know most people won't care about this article, but it pisses me off.

1) People on this board criticized the hell out of me a few years back, when I was flat out telling some of the so-called die hard Hawk fans to go to the games and support the Hawks UNCONDITIONALLY. This pretty much supports everything that I was talking about back then. Those numbers tell you all you need to know about Atlanta.

2) We won 31 home games last year. 31. And we STILL were giving away 5,600+ tickets and couldn't even average more than $500K a game at the gate? 4+ million in Metro Atlanta . . and probably another 2 million within a 2 hour drive to Atlanta, and we have those numbers at the arena and at the gate?

That's fuggin pathetic.

And that was my point even back then. It's not like the Hawks have been a bad home team the past 2 years. With a home record of 56 -26 the last 2 years at home . . including 6 -3 home playoff record, you'd think that Hawks would have no problem at the gate. Yet, we STILL have to give away that many tickets and not generate a lot of revenue at the gate, because people aren't going to the games? Then people why we don't make the type of moves that other teams make?

I'll say it again, and I don't if any native Atlantan gets mad at me when I say this. Atlanta is a BANDWAGON town. Anybody can support a championship caliber team, or support the team in the playoffs. The fan base needs to support it during the regular season as well.

The excuse that "oh . . everybody is from somewhere else" argument can only fly for so long. The downtown crime excuse is null and void, because it's virtually non-existant during Hawk games.

So if you call yourself a Hawk fan, you have to start supporting this team AT THE ARENA.

There are some people on this board who do just that, and I thank them for it. I would be right alongside them for most games, if I lived in Metro ATL. Some of you others simply need to step it up, and support your favorite team at the arena by buying tickets.

3) On a purely selfish level . . . ish . . . let me get a couple of FREE TICKETS per year, if they're giving away 5,600+ anyway. I drive to ATL 5 - 10 times a year SOLELY to watch the Hawks play. And I usually get 200 LEVEL tickets when I do watch them ( $50 - $65 a pop ). And unlike most, I'm not a mere 15 - 45 minute drive from Philips Arena. LOL . . I'm 4 - 4.5 hours away from that mo-fo. I probably make it to more games, than a few of these people on this board who live in ATL.

So damn . . how about passing me one or two free 100 CLUB LEVEL tickets a year, as a token of appreciation for my long distance support? I had a scalper sell me a 100 LEVEL ticket last year for the Rockets game . . for $60, because I bought it about 5 minutes before tip-off. They were easily the best seats I'd ever had at Philips. And the food on the club level side is unbelievable. Or better yet, sell me those tickets for 1/2 price, so I can still monetarily support the team.

4) If the salary cap drops as dramatically as they described ( 50 - 52 million ), with the luxury tax dropping to 61 million, we just might lose JJ for that reason alone. And it might cost us Marvin this year, without getting anyone back in return. Even if the ASG is willing to pay 65+ million in contracts now, they may balk at paying that much in the future, just to keep this core together.

I live in Tennessee, so I knew exactly what the Grizzlies were going through. Those attendance and revenue numbers don't suprise me at all. That's another reason why they should lock up Allen Iverson ASAP. Even if he's not as good as he used to be, he's a box office draw nonetheless. People in Memphis may come out to see AI, especially if he can make that team competitive again.

But the Hawks last season posting those kind of numbers? That's pathetic.

almost all warm weather cities are bandwaggon cities. why spend money cheering for a team that sucks when you can go out and do other things. most die hard fans live in the northern cities, it gets cold outside, the cities are usually ugly, and so are the women, sports win by defult. atlanta, miami, orlando, new orleans, san diego, phenix, and houston just have other things to do to enjoy yourself other than sports. plus half of these cities populations are from other cities or the children of parents from other cities so their loyalties live elsewhere. its not just altanta, its the south.

[dlpin]

almost all warm weather cities are bandwaggon cities. why spend money cheering for a team that sucks when you can go out and do other things. most die hard fans live in the northern cities, it gets cold outside, the cities are usually ugly, and so are the women, sports win by defult. atlanta, miami, orlando, new orleans, san diego, phenix, and houston just have other things to do to enjoy yourself other than sports. plus half of these cities populations are from other cities or the children of parents from other cities so their loyalties live elsewhere. its not just altanta, its the south.

Exactly. Add to that the convenience factor, and even diehard hawks fans will stay away. As some of you know, Im not from Atlanta (though Ive lived in GA for 8 years now) and Im a celtics fan. But one thing I noticed is how hard it is to get to the arena on game nights compared to other cities Ive been to or lived in. In chicago and most NE cities, you are never more than 2, 3 blocks away from a subway line that will leave you at the arena in 15 minutes. Here, I live inside the perimeter, and between traffic and parking, I spend about 1 hour getting to Phillips, and another hour leaving afterward given how bad traffic getting out of the parking garage and then getting into 85 is. There is no Marta station near me, and trains only run every 15 minutes off peak, so it would be just as much of a hassle to drive to decatur (closest station) find a parking space, wait for the train,etc.

Add to that the weather and the size of most atlanta homes, and it is simply easier to stay home, fire up the grill, invite a few friends over and drink as many beers as you'd like without having to worry about getting behind the wheel later.