Friday Night Flights?

[lethalweapon3]

I was at first dismayed by the NBA Schedule Gods limiting my Saturday options this season to an underwhelming four Hawks games (Nuggets ‘n Hornets a couple weeks ago, then nothing until the Pistons in both March and April).

The upside is the sole Eastern Conference squad with an unblemished home record still has a schedule that would make Johnny Kemp do backflips, with a bunch of its home games this year on Friday nights. (Aside: does anybody actually get paid on Fridays anymore?)

The December 4 tilt with the Knicks will kick off a ten-week period where the Hawks play at The Highlight Factory on eight Friday nights. That includes a stretch of six Fridays in a row from New Year’s Day through February 5…

12/4 -- Knicks

12/18 -- Jazz

1/1 -- Knicks

1/8 -- Celtics

1/15 -- Suns

1/22 -- Bobcats

1/29 -- Celtics

2/5 -- Bulls

…and that’s followed by three out of four Fridays at home from February 26 through March 5.

Friday night contests are a neat enticement to get folks (especially Hawksquawkers) to hang out a little later downtown at the end of the conventional workweek. Consistent team efforts bolstered by a strong turnout of ravenously supportive fans fillin’ up Philips on Friday nights -- building from last night’s thrilling win against the No-Yao-No-TMac-No-Problem Rockets -- has the potential to offer the Hawks the confidence they’ll need to sustain, plus the competitive advantage they could use at playoff-seeding time.

Despite their recent success and expanded media exposure, Atlanta remains middle-of-the-pack (about 16th, behind the Knicks and Golden State) in percent home attendance. The Hawks’ marketing brass would do well to offer 6-game package plans and promotional specials just for those nights (Friday Night Flights? The Just Got Paid Plan?) and get booties in all the same seats virtually every week.

~lw3