Apart from basketball (for the non basketball fanatics) what else is there? Reasonably priced booze for instance?

They want bums on seats in stadiums, if they are getting around the crazy fees of the ticketing companies, more power to them. If that family each gets a soda and a couple chips to share then all of a sudden they've made their profit.

A Hawthorn GA junior membership is about $3.50 a game, and adult GA $16-17. Are they desperate to get bums on seats?

I think this is just an NBL club offering what other sports do to get more people to the games.

Great stuff. No excuses for anything less than 5000 now, with the Tigers also playing well. Seems like theyre aiming for crowds in the 7000+ range.

Wish the Wildcats offered cheap deals like that sometimes. It can be a very expensive night out at the Cats these days!

I love this line....

"Slepoy and Kestleman are excellent businessmen.

They know what they are doing"

Here's the problem. Lots and lots of "excellent" businessmen have failed at running NBL clubs. Far more than have succeeded over all the stages and phases of the league.

This is a good offer. It is a smart offer. It is the right thing to do at this time of the year. The only thing it might do is devalue their other memberships but I have not looked at that.

Didn't want to start a new subject for this but...
does Andrew Gaze have a second Twitter account where he talks basketball?
Seriously, doesn't seem to have much to add on his Twitter account about the main sport that was his life......once upon a time.
Guess he does a bit on the morning radio until the AFL starts.

HO a bit harsh to think that it is just basketball. It is sport ownership in general that can often trip up successful people.

Stoddart with Minardi , Willisee with Sydney Swans, Tinkler with Rugby , Palmer with Soccer are all examples of succesful people not being able to convert acumen into the playing arena

Sport ownership is unlike any other business on the planet. Its closest link is to entertainment. A band can go from being hot and selling out football stadiums to a 5000 crowd very quickly.

Sports owners need to keep selling the product, if the product isnt enjoyable people dont come. That is largely out of the control of owners. 36ers crowds are up massively this season matching their rise on the NBL ladder.

When Buss put Howard and Nash on the Lakers roster I bet you he was looking at championships and not a disaster within 12 months. On paper it was a savvy decision.

According to Ticketek there are now only limited tickets available in Gold and Silver sections (ie bottom sections) for this game, so the GA option may be the only one left soon anyway.

Great stuff, Tigers. That is a freakin bargain.
Hope the word gets out.

The Tigers have been running ads for a number of weeks online in various basketball sections where if you enter your email address you are a chance to shoot for something like $1000 at half-time.

Of course, everyone who entered will have since received the $50 3-game membership offer. Clever stuff.

BJF, no argument from me on it being sports.

I just responded in context. It is just stupid to assume that because a person has been successful in developing a business model in one area, that they can successfully run a sports business. I reckon the only successful "businessman" to run an NBL team was Wrublewski, and I am not sure he was that successful in business before he took on the Kings. Townsville were ok for a fair while under their joint ownership model, but it seemed the "businessmen" were somewhat distant.

I am not convinced about the entertainment thing either. I doubt Cameron Mackintosh could run a sports team just because he has successfully staged heaps of entertainment projects.

No problem with the concept except the impact it may have on membership. Much better look on TV. I'm sure Paul will be down courtside in the media huddle hob nobbing with the celebrities....

You have to be good at the business of sport, and let's be honest, if that's being measure on making money, not many clubs are good at it.

Kestleman and Slepoy have done some good things so far getting the brand out there and converting interested people into supporters, I guess we'll find out how effective theyve been with these next four games in Hisense.

Haha, no Ive bought two of these memberships and will be sitting with my dear mother. I will spend a little time hob nobbling though!

BTW, these are memberships, and the club's stated aim is to draw people in at three games and if they like it increase up to 7-game and full season memberships.

Agree to some extent. Perception of value in sport often relates to the scoreboard and the emotional investment in the event. Ideally a team losing but people leaving feeling as though they were part of a spectacle is a goal

How many people goto a Yankees game that visit New York as a tourist attraction, same types would get a Lakers game in when visiting. Some teams will just get bums on seats based on geography.

NBL is lacking genuine star power at present. It has the stars to build around just hasn't converted them as yet to household name level.

There are many many bridges burnt by passed regimes with the media that will take time to over come.

At the end of the day normal business principals apply. If BA assisted in converting just 5% of participants into NBL spectators every NBL stadium would be over capacity.

Sadly BA dont have a database to market to hence Tigers doing things like the above to build a database to market to