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From the Charlotte Bobcats' perspective, season tickets are a terrible thing to waste.
To maximize the value of their season ticket packages – and bring more people into Time Warner Cable Arena for home games – the Bobcats have made significant changes that will allow season ticket holders to trade in their unused tickets for additional seats at other games.
“Forty-one games is a lot for anybody to commit to,” Bobcats president Fred Whitfield said. “Clearly our season ticket base is the core of our business. We had to look for ways to be as flexible as possible and cater to our season ticket holders.
“Say you can't go to the Atlanta game (tonight). You get two additional tickets to another game. Rather than burn your tickets, you trade them in for two additional tickets.”
That means four tickets to a future game –the original two season tickets plus two for a previously unused game.
The trade-in program is available for 30 home games this year, Whitfield said, provided there are seats available in the same price range.
“It's a way to maintain your ticket value and hopefully you'll bring other people with you, they'll enjoy it and want to come back,” Whitfield said.
The trade-in program is one of several changes made to the Bobcats' ticket options this season. Whitfield said the changes are designed to make it easier for fans to attend games and, with added flexibility, help the Bobcats increase their season ticket base.
The Bobcats have approximately 6,000 season tickets sold this year and Whitfield hopes the team can get back to 7,000 – the same number it sold last year. The Bobcats had 70 percent renewal in season ticket sales from last year, Whitfield said. The NBA projected a 7 percent decline in season tickets league-wide this season, Whitfield said.
In hopes of generating more attendance and to make sure they were priced correctly for the market, the Bobcats had the NBA evaluate the team's ticket pricing.
That resulted in a 17 percent decline in the average cost of tickets this year, Whitfield said.
Club seats, which were priced from $95 to $125 per game, now cost $99, eliminating a three-tiered price structure. For the first time, lower-level tickets are available for $35 per game. Upper-level seats are available for $10 per game on a season ticket basis.
Fans can customize their own mini-packages built around glamour games against Boston, Cleveland and the Los Angeles Lakers. There are also packages designed for families with seating in a non-alcoholic section of the arena.
“We're trying to be as flexible as possible,” Whitfield said. “The economy has been tough on everybody. With all the challenges, we've tried to find a way to address them.”
To make it easier for season ticket holders, the Bobcats now have an online element that allows ticket holders to forward their tickets to someone else who may want to use them. Rather than taking their tickets to will call or arranging a handoff, they can forward the tickets directly to the users, who can print them out.
Each season ticket holder also has a personal account manager to help with any issues.
“All the personal touches we hope we need we've put there to give the best service we can,” Whitfield said.
