| Minnesota Has the Right Idea - Are you listening Heisley? |
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| Written by Chip Crain |
| Tuesday, 02 March 2010 11:32 |
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The Timberwolves are slashing season ticket prices in half next season. The reason is simple. The team believes they need a full arena to help win games but the fans aren't going to come out until the team is winning. David Kahn, the Timberwolves President of Basketball operations calls it "a chicken-and-egg problem." How do you get the fans back in to cheer the team to victory when the team is losing? The Timberwolves brass felt giving the locals a significant break in pricing would be a good start. Are you listening Mr. Heisley? Now the Grizzlies have already passed their critical phase in the rebuilding process so maybe the Grizzlies don't feel it is neccessary to make such a drastic move but the facts are that the Grizzlies are still the second worst team in attendance in the league despite the improvement on the court. Only the lowly Nets have a lower attendance at their games. Even the Timberwolves are outdrawing the Grizzlies despite their 13-44 record at the time of the announcement.And why should fans in Memphis step up to the plate with so much uncertainty surrounding the team? The general concensus is that this team could be a one-trick pony. Memphis has Rudy Gay and Ronnie Brewer both entering restricted free agency this summer. Howmany fans believe it is likely that both players will be retained for next season? Even with Stephen Hunter, Marcus Williams, Jamal Tinsley and Lester Hudson possibly coming off the books next year the front office is still going to be hesitant to invest a lot of money on both players. Next year the situation gets worse. Marc Gaso and Zach Randolph are free agents. Hamed Haddadi and Mike Conley will be restricted free agents and every one else has an option the team controls. The Grizzlies have zero dollars of guaranteed salary for the 2012-13 season as of today. Now logic says that the Grizzlies will be picking up the options on most if not all of the contracts but to the casual fan the question remains. Will Heisley spend the money neccessary to make this franchise great? He wanted to sell the team at one time. Rumors abound that he still does want to sell the team. What's more important to Heisley: winning or profit? And don't forget that the lease agreement with the Grizzlies is getting shorter and shorter every day. While still too expensive to move now that won't always be the case. The people of Memphis are wondering how serious is Mr. Heisley about making the investment needed to keep the core players together while developing the young ones needed to continue the growth of the team? Is he just biding time to move the team again or to sell it to someone who will? With that question hanging in the air the Grizzlies need to make a demonstative statement that shows the team is serious about making things work in Memphis and cutting prices could be the right type of symbol to make. Now we aren't suggesting the team cut season ticket prices in half. After all, the Grizzlies already have the lowest ticket prices in the league but cutting in the neighborhood of 10-20% could show the city that the team is doing everything it can to reattract the fans. The Grizzlies would be taking a big risk with such a move. What if the fans buy the tickets but still stay away on game night? Then the Grizzlies would have probably lost significant revenue which wouldn't be replaced by concession stand and merchandise sales at the games. That would probably make Heisley even less likely to invest in the future of the team during what is increasingly looking like a lock-out summer in 2011 anyway. The ill will toward the Grizzlies in general and Michael Heisley in particular needs to be addressed before the people of Memphis will adopt the Grizzlies as their own. The Tigers aren't moving anywhere and the people know that. The Grizzlies still seem like a likely group to migrate out of the Mid-South. Memphis is a great basketball city. There is no reason for this animosity between the college and pro fans in the city. The people of Memphis need to understand that both franchises can survive and be successful here. The wounds from the way the Grizzlies came to town put a bad taste in people's mouths and hurt many local businesses feelings. Cutting ticket prices and signing the restricted free agents would go a long way toward convincing Memphis fans that the franchise is serious about winning here in Memphis. And that should go a long way toward healing these old wounds as well. UPDATE: The Grizzlies announced they are not raising ticket prices this coming season. |
Comments
Frankly imo, it's his wallet. He made his intentions clearly known when he tried to sell the team previously. That's when the fan base really started to erode; including significant corporations. People in this area are not stupid.